Fallon dynasty gains new life

NEW ZEALAND 1 BAHRAIN 0

Photo: Dominion Post

World class: Rory Fallon, whose header off Leo Bertos's cross is sending New Zealand to the World Cup finals in South Africa next year.

Photo: Kevin Stent

One nation, one team: Fans from across the country packed Westpac Stadium to ride their team into the World Cup finals in Wellington last night.

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FOR NEW Zealand football this is the second coming. And the Messiah is named Rory Fallon.

And, if a Messiah can have a deputy, his name is Mark Paston.

Fallon is the son of Kevin Fallon, John Adshead's assistant coach for the 1982 World Cup team, and he ensured he would emulate his father in becoming World Cup-bound with a match-winning goal on the stroke of halftime.

His header formed a perfect marriage with a cross from Leo Bertos to send New Zealand to the World Cup finals in South Africa next year on the back of a 1-0 result across the home-and-away tie against Bahrain.

Fallon's heroics were matched minutes after halftime when Paston, who was only playing because No1 goalkeeper Glen Moss was suspended, saved a penalty from Sayed Mohamed.

If the Bahrainis had equalised, the tie would have finished 1-1 and Bahrain would be going to South Africa on the away goals rule. Instead, New Zealand will be travelling South Africa in just over 200 days to join 31 other teams including the superstars of England, Spain and Brazil.

For most New Zealanders, the thought of our football team making the World Cup for a second time to match that historic appearance in 1982 always seemed a remote possibility.

But that once-in-a-lifetime journey now has a sequel after Ricki Herbert's men took a much shorter, but equally dramatic journey, to match John Adshead's road warriors from 28 years ago.

For Herbert and his assistant Brian Turner, it will be their second time on the world stage after both played in the 1982 side.

The first half was notable for the play-acting of the visiting team, which seemed determined to milk free kicks with some of the worst acting since the early days of New Zealand television.

In particular, Sayed Mohamed tried to prove he was Bahrain's equivalent of Tom Cruise with his early attempts at pantomime, in which he managed to fall over a lot and make Fallon look like a villain.

Still, the All Whites won plenty of free kicks in the first half, and in the 20th minute one fell to Chris Killen, who swivelled and hit the ball on the turn with his left foot, crashing it into the bar.

Leo Bertos, freed into a more attacking role than the previous leg, delivered plenty of ball inside the penalty area as the All Whites grew in composure.

But on the half-hour, Bahrain had a rare spell of pressure and Paston made two quick saves to keep New Zealand in the game.

He first was pure reaction to save to a bullet from the edge of the area from glove-wearing striker Jaycee John while the second was a scrambled recovery from a deflection off Bertos, which fell to the feet of Mohamed Salmeen.

At the other end Bahrain keeper Sayed Jaffer matched his rival for agility, delivering a brilliant reflex save just minutes before halftime as a Bertos' cross was met by Fallon and the keeper, going to right, managed to stick out his left hand and turn the ball away. The Kiwis had a let-off a minute later when John fell in front of goal as the ball went past. If he'd stayed upright, a goal was there for the taking. Finally, for the Kiwis, the pressure they'd applied to the seams of the Bahrain defence produced a goal.

Bertos, after a series of crosses that had been too high, hammered a flat ball to the edge of the six-yard box which Fallon met with a powerful header that flew into the back of the net.

The goal meant two things: (a) the All Whites were halfway to South Africa; and (b) Bahrain needed just one goal to equalise and therefore win the tie by virtue of away goals. So there was no time for the home side to think about packing bags or to sit back and defend.

And that was rammed home in no uncertain terms when Bahrain won a penalty five minutes into the second spell after Tony Lochhead tripped Abdulla Omar in the penalty area. Sayed Mohamed was handed the task of levelling the scores but he failed to make genuine connection and Paston was down to his left in a flash, even having time to clutch the ball rather than parry it. The game grew increasingly tense as Kiwi hearts started beating like the drums in the crowd, which resembled nothing like a typical New Zealand support crew. It was passionate, loud and hungry for a result that would take this country back to the premier stage in world sport for the first time in 28 years.

Bahrain kept piling forward and in the 87th minute, they almost stole the tie when a free kick ended with the ball in the goal, but it was rubbed out for after a foul on Paston, who had to make one more simple save with about 1sec on the clock.

AMONG THE many sweating on last night's result were the the marketing gurus at NZ Post.

Before the All Whites had even taken to the field for last night's crucial match NZ Post had already issued a commemorative coin celebrating New Zealand's involvement in next year's World Cup. New Zealand Post began marketing the silver dollar commemorative coin in the middle of last week. It is being sold for $99.50 as a limited collectors' edition.

- © Fairfax NZ News