New Zealand 0 – 2 Paraguay

Fans in Wellington were left disappointed today as New Zealand went down to Paraguay 2-0 at Westpac Stadium. Goals from Nelson Haedo Valdes and Osvaldo Martinez were enough for the under strength South Americans to claim victory over Ricki Herbert’s men, Neil Sherwin reports.

The sides met as recently as June in the group stages of the World Cup, though the Paraguay side on show today was much changed due to the absence of Oscar Cardozo, Lucas Barrios, Roque Santa Cruz and Nestor Ortigoza.

Regular All Whites skipper Ryan Nelsen joined star striker Shane Smeltz in the stands due to injury, while Rory Fallon, who scored the goal that sealed New Zealand’s place in South Africa, started on the bench.

Hercules striker Nelson Haedo Valdes, scorer of two goals in his side’s recent shock win over Barcelona at the Nou Camp in La Liga, broke the deadlock somewhat against the run of play on 22 minutes. Ben Sigmund was adjudged to have committed a foul on Edgar Benitez in the area and Valdes calmly sent Mark Paston the wrong way from the spot.

Paraguay, who are ranked 17th in the world, doubled their lead just five minutes later when Osvaldo Martinez broke the offside trap to neatly finish a through ball from Enrique Vera. The All Whites tried and failed to muster a response before the interval, and could easily have fallen further behind had Paston not saved from Valdez.

The hosts came out in a positive mood for the second half and stand in skipper Tim Brown forced an excellent save from Justo Villar on 50 minutes. Chris Killen came close on a number of occasions but despite enjoying a lot of possession, the All Whites were unable to trouble the scoreboard and saw Winston Reid dismissed late on for a lunge on Federico Santander.

"It was disappointing. We made mistakes and gave them space in the first half and they scored two goals," said Tim Brown.

"Then we came back in the second half and played much better but we're obviously disappointed with the result."

Even in defeat, the 16,477 in attendance were in party mood throughout and both sides showed their appreciation at the final whistle, with Fallon throwing his full kit into the stands.