The All Whites have drawn 0-0 with Oman ahead of their World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica next week.
Played behind closed doors at Education City Stadium in Qatar, All Whites coach Danny Hay made nine changes to the starting line up that faced Peru last weekend, keeping legs fresh amongst his squad.
Marco Rojas
Photo: Tom Kirkwood / Photosport
Defender Winston Reid was rested, citing a tight groin, while star striker Chris Wood came on as a substitute late in the second half.
Stefan Marinovic appeared in goal and made several sharp saves, as he battles with Wellington Phoenix captain Oli Sail over the starting duties for next weeks qualifier.
Hay was happy with the outcome of the friendly.
“It served its purpose. It was an opportunity to give players minutes and that’s exactly what it did,” said Hay.
“We come out of it injury free which is the most important thing.”
“We created a number of opportunities and probably should have been up two or three goals at half-time.”
Oman are ranked 75th in the world, while the All Whites are currently 101st.
Costa Rica are 49th, and will be looking to qualify for their sixth Football World Cup.
“Full 100% focus is now on Costa Rica. We’ve held a lot back from the players, we didn’t want to overload them in the early aspects. We’ve given them little snippets but we’ll really start to ramp that up.”
The All Whites will visit the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium pitch tomorrow to begin preparations ahead of kickoff on Tuesday (6AM Wednesday NZT).
RNZ
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