All Whites concede late winner against Colombia in Florida

Sunday, 16 November 2025

At Chase Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Colombia 2 (Gustavo Puerta 3’, Johan Carbonero 88’) All Whites 1 (Ben Old 80’). HT: 1-0

An understrength All Whites side let an impressive draw against Colombia slip from their grasp when they were undone in basic fashion on Saturday night in Florida (Sunday NZ time).

After falling behind in the third minute in a match where they were without four nailed-on starters, a strong defensive effort led by centre backs Michael Boxall and Finn Surman kept New Zealand in the contest and set substitute Ben Old up to score an 80th-minute equaliser.

All that hard work counted for little eight minutes later, when Johan Carbonero got between substitute right back Storm Roux and Surman to bring down a route-one ball from Colombian centre back Yerry Mina, before firing past Max Crocombe in the New Zealand goal.

There appeared to be a communication breakdown between the trio, with Roux not sticking as tightly to Carbonero as he should have when the forward started making a run towards the box from the left and Surman not dropping deep as quickly as he might have, had he known there was danger behind him.

The world No 85 All Whites were without star English Premier League striker Chris Wood, first-choice fullbacks Liberato Cacace and Tim Payne and midfield maestro Ryan Thomas and were always in for a tough evening against their 13th-ranked opponents, who started with a near full-strength XI.

That they came close to leaving Florida with a draw was impressive, but they will rue this as one where a result was there for a taking, even if it was only a draw, not a win.

Darren Bazeley's side have now lost five of their seven matches since securing a place at next year's FIFA World Cup in North America, all of which have been against higher-ranked teams. A 1-0 win over Ivory Coast in Toronto in June and a 1-1 draw away to Norway in October were the two exceptions.

Old's equaliser came after fellow substitute Jesse Randall picked up a loose ball and played Sarpreet Singh in down the left.

Doing well to ride a challenge, the attacking midfielder then crossed and found Ben Old, who got to the ball just ahead of Colombian goalkeeper Álvaro Montero and poked it into the back of the net.

The All Whites first fell behind in the third minute when Gustavo Puerta fired a first-time shot past Crocombe into the bottom-left corner of the New Zealand goal

The chance was created when Santiago Arias picked up the ball on the right and ran straight at left back Francis de Vries, before crossing across the top of the box, where Puerta was unmarked.

The All Whites' best chance in the first half fell to Kosta Barbarouses, after he received the ball from Singh and broke clear in the right-hand channel.

Shooting from outside the box towards the bottom-right corner of Montero's goal, he was denied by the goalkeeper, who had an agonising wait before the ball bounced safely out for a corner past the left post.

Colombia went close to adding a second in the 36th minute when Álvaro Angulo mistimed his contact as he rose to head home a cross from James Rodríguez, who cut in from the right at sent a shot at Crocombe soon after.

The All Whites goalkeeper also had to get down to his left to keep out a long-range effort from Jhon Arias to keep his side in the contest heading into the halftime break.

Colombia dominated the early exchanges in the second half, with Luis Diaz threatening on the left. After he turned Surman, the centre back did well to recover and block his cutback when a second goal was there for the taking.

Rodríguez forced Crocombe to tip over a rocket of a shot in the 53rd minute, when he cut in from the right.

Elijah Just and Singh both sent shots from the edge of the box wide as the All Whites got back in the contest and hunted an equaliser.

Once it came, Randall volleyed a shot from inside the box just wide to the right and it felt like a win was there to be snatched.

Soon after, they were chasing an equaliser again, just as they had been for most of the night.

This time around, it never came.

What’s next

The All Whites play world No 23 Ecuador in New Jersey on Tuesday (2.30pm Wednesday NZ time) in their last outing of the year.