Kosta Barbarouses scored in the 64th minute to lift New Zealand to a 2-2 draw with El Salvador in a friendly on Wednesday.
Rafael Burgos had twice put El Salvador ahead. His opener came in the 13th minute when he lobbed the goalkeeper from outside the penalty area.
Defender Ian Hogg equalized for the All Whites in the 28th minute, playing a one-two before driving a shot past the goalkeeper.
Burgos added a second in the 56th with a shot that went off New Zealand defender Michael Boxall’s knee and inside the far post.
Russia-based Barbarouses pounced on a rebound off Shane Smeltz’s saved shot and floated a shot into the right of the net.
New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert was pleased with what he saw from his team.
“We got a number of senior players that aren’t here,” Hebert said. “Right now it’s just about building that depth and building that quality. We had more shots on goal tonight and came back twice against a quality team.”
El Salvador coach Ruben Israel said his team is also incorporating new faces and struggled to break down New Zealand’s defense.
“New Zealand defended the whole field with all 11 players, and did not give us space to create more plays,” he said.
Israel gave credit to Nelson Wilfredo Bonilla Sanchez, who was playing with the national team for the first time, for helping to create opportunities for Burgos.
El Salvador face Moldova tomorrow in Dallas and start the semi-final round of World Cup qualifying on June 8 against Costa Rica in a CONCACAF Group B match in San Jose, Costa Rica.
New Zealand take on Honduras in another friendly tomorrow in Dallas and face Fiji on June 2 in an Oceania Group B match in the Solomon Islands.
Brice Turang and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s consecutive RBI singles proved to be the difference in the US’ 5-3 win over Canada in a World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarterfinal on Friday night in Houston. The US faces the Dominican Republic, which crushed South Korea 10-0 in seven innings in its quarter-final, in a semifinal Sunday in Miami for a spot in Tuesday’s championship. The Dominican team has won all five games in this WBC by a combined margin of 51-10. It appeared the US squad was headed toward a cozy victory when it built a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning. A first-inning RBI groundout
Wilyer Abreu watched the ball leave the park and tossed his bat high in the air. His Venezuela teammates streamed out of the dugout in celebration. The comeback was on and the win over the reigning World Baseball Classic (WBC) champion Japan was within reach. Japan, their 11-game WBC winning streak on the line, held a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning of Saturday’s thrilling quarter-final matchup when Abreu put his team ahead with the biggest swing of the game: a three-run shot off Hiromi Itoh that sent the loanDepot Park crowd into a passionate roar and helped seize Venezuela’s 8-5
A BREATHLESS BATTLE: France clinched the championship in a vicious back-and-forth match with England, denying Ireland the title by just a few points France won back-to-back Six Nations titles after beating England 48-46 on a last-second penalty-kick by Thomas Ramos in a thriller for the ages on Saturday. England scored their seventh try in the 77th minute and converted for 46-45. If the score held for a few more minutes, Ireland would have been crowned the champion. But France pressed yet again with 14 men, lost possession, regained it, and earned two simultaneous penalties after the fulltime siren. Captain Antoine Dupont debated with referee Nika Amashukeli where the penalty spots were. Ramos, who did not miss a goal-kick all night, finally lined up his seventh
Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions’ outfielder Chen Chieh-hsien, who fractured his left index finger earlier during the World Baseball Classic (WBC), is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks. The Uni-Lions confirmed in a news statement on Friday that Chen had a distal fracture in his left index finger. The diagnosis followed X-ray and CT scans conducted at the Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital earlier that day. According to the club, the injury would require four to six weeks to heal. During this period, Chen must wear a protective splint but is permitted to engage in light, sport-specific training. The team plans to
RSS