The All Whites have snatched a late equaliser to rescue a 1-1 draw in their international friendly against the US in Cincinnati.
Ben Waine scored the goal in 89th minute, although the striker didn’t know too much about it. An attempted clearance from a US defender was smashed into the Kiwi forward and it looped up over US keeper Matt Turner to earn the Kiwis a late equaliser.
The All Whites started the match much better compared to their 3-0 loss to Mexico on Sunday, as Matt Garbett pounced on a loose ball in the second minute but fired over the bar.
The All Whites got out of jail early as the home side thought they had taken the lead through a 19th minute strike from Ricardo Pepi, who fired his shot low across Max Crocombe into the bottom left corner. However, the goal was ruled out for a foul on Liberato Cacace in the buildup.
The Kiwis had already registered more shots than they managed in the Mexico match inside the first 25 minutes.
The US held most of the possession as expected, and when the All Whites attempted to counter attack, they lacked cohesion in the final third.
The best chance of the half came to Cacace, as a loose ball fell to his feet inside the box but his shot was confidently saved by Turner.
A long range strike from Yunus Musah, who plays his club football for AC Milan in Italy, forced a good low stop from Crocombe to keep the scores level heading into the break.
Crocombe was picked to start over Alex Paulsen and produced a performance to justify his selection between the sticks. The 31-year-old plays for Burton Albion in England's League One.
The Kiwi keeper had more work to do in the second half, highlighted by a brilliant one-on-one save to deny Brenden Aaronson.
Despite a valiant effort from Crocombe in goal, the US finally broke the deadlock in the 69th minute as Christian Pulisic found space on the left and fired a low shot into the bottom right corner.
Pulisic plays his club football for AC Milan and it took just 11 minutes for him to make an impact after coming off the bench.
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley then emptied his bench in search of an equaliser late on, with Waine replacing Chris Wood in the 74th minute before finding his fortuitous equaliser.
This was Waine’s sixth goal for New Zealand and the striker recently completed a loan move to Mansfield Town from Plymouth Argyle.
The result was a repeat scoreline of the previous meeting between the two sides in 2016.
In the lead up to the match, former Tottenham and Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino was announced as the new manager of the US team.
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