Two of the biggest football matches in Matt Garbett’s career so far have been for New Zealand against the Solomon Islands.
The happy memory – the win on penalties in the final of the 2018 Oceania Under-16 Championship – is the first that springs to mind when he’s asked what he recalls.
A victory that rendered New Zealand’s 5-0 loss earlier in that tournament in Honiara, the Solomon Islands’ capital, moot.
Four years on, Garbett has graduated to the All Whites senior team, who are set to face the Solomon Islands in the final of the Oceania World Cup qualifying tournament in Doha, Qatar on Thursday [NZ time].
A win will set up a one-off match back there in June, almost certainly against Costa Rica, for a place at the game’s showpiece event in November.
Garbett’s close friend Marko Stamenic has come through with him from that New Zealand age-group cohort, but so has a Solomon Islands attacker a year younger than the Kiwi duo who is turning plenty of heads.
Raphael Lea’i only turned 18 last September, but has scored four goals at the qualifying tournament – a hat-trick as the Solomon Islands beat Tahiti 3-1 and another as they beat Papua New Guinea 3-2 in their semifinal. He also netted as they beat Cook Islands 2-0 in a match that was deemed not to count after their opponents’ withdrawal due to Covid-19.
In 2018, he scored two in his country’s 5-0 win over New Zealand, and eight in total, but missed a 90th minute penalty in the final that would have consigned Garbett, Stamenic and their team-mates to another painful defeat.
The Kiwis ultimately prevailed in the penalty shootout that followed, with Garbett and Stamenic both converting theirs.
Lea’i’s presence as a potential threat will have been noted by the All Whites as they prepare for the second of what they’re hoping will be three must-win matches in a row, including their semifinal and the potential intercontinental playoff.
But in Garbett and Stamenic, they have their own pair of youngsters, aged 19 and 20, who are both excelling and familiar with what their rivals’ talented young forward has to offer.
“He’s quite rapid,” Garbett said. “He’s good with his feet, but as a team we’re quite organised defensively, and I think we’ll be able to close him down.”
The All Whites have only conceded one goal across their four qualifying matches so far, while their goalkeepers have only had to make three saves otherwise, and they will be hoping the final is similarly one-sided, yet wary of their opponents’ counter-attack potential.
Garbett is the only player to have started all four matches in Qatar, with the bulk of the country’s first-choice players arriving after the opening 1-0 win against Papua New Guinea.
He played 90 minutes in that match, as well as in the 7-1 win over New Caledonia, and the 1-0 win against Tahiti in their semifinal, which means he has been on the pitch more than any other New Zealand player.
Whether he starts against the Solomon Islands might depend on whether fellow midfielder Stamenic is good to go after overcoming a hamstring niggle that has limited him to just one 90-minute appearance, in the All Whites’ 4-0 win over Fiji.
It’s likely Garbett will be involved in some capacity, however, having proven he has the ability and the mentality to play in big matches, even though he’s the youngest member of the current squad.
“It’s so close, yet so far,” he said of the dream of making it to the World Cup, something New Zealand has only done twice, in 1982 and 2010.
“We’re taking every step to be better than what we were in our last few games, and to step up again and hopefully get into the intercontinental playoff, then to achieve the ultimate goal.”
All Whites – Oceania World Cup qualifying tournament
Squad
Goalkeepers: Matthew Gould, Jamie Searle, Stefan Marinovic
Defenders: Nikko Boxall, Liberato Cacace, Francis de Vries, Niko Kirwan, Tim Payne, Nando Pijnaker, Winston Reid, Tommy Smith, Bill Tuiloma
Midfielders: Joe Bell, Cam Howieson, Matt Garbett, Marko Stamenic
Forwards: Joey Champness, Andre de Jong, Alex Greive, Elijah Just, Callum McCowatt, Logan Rogerson, Chris Wood
Fixtures
All Whites 1 (Ben Waine 75’) Papua New Guinea 0. HT: 0-0
All Whites 4 (Chris Wood 45’, 73’, Elijah Just 71’, Clayton Lewis pen 90’+3) Fiji 0. HT: 1-0
All Whites 7 (Alex Greive 8’, 45’+2, Logan Rogerson 35’, Andre de Jong 74’, Bill Tuiloma 81’, Chris Wood 83’, 90’) New Caledonia 1 (Jean-Philippe Saïko 12’). HT: 3-1
All Whites 1 (Liberato Cacace 70’) Tahiti 0. HT: 0-0
Thursday, March 31, 6am: Final v Solomon Islands; Grand Hamad Stadium
Winner advances to intercontinental playoff in June for a place at this year’s World Cup
