Star forward Marco Rojas has said the occasion of playing in New Zealand got to the All Whites in their home-leg win over New Caledonia at Albany.
Speaking after the match on Saturday afternoon, Rojas put the team's patchy first-half performance down to the fact they haven't played in New Zealand for quite a long time.
"The first half was disappointing, we know we can do better than that", he said.
"The best thing about playing football is playing in your home stadium, whether it's club or country.
"Whether the occasion got to us or whatever happened, we need to take a look at the video over the next couple of days and work out what happened."
The 25-year-old was instrumental for the hosts, scoring both goals and helping the All Whites get one step closer to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.
And he said that the team started to settle into their jobs after the first job.
"Obviously the goal settled us down. I thought we played some good football in the second half, so I'm pleased."
Rojas also put emphasis more on being in the right spot on the field instead of just focusing on scoring.
"It's always nice to score and it's always nice to be on a run like I am with club and country.
"Hopefully it continues for a little while longer. I'll just keep working hard to get in those positions to make sure that I'm there to score.
The away leg against New Caledonia kicks off at 5pm on Wednesday (NZ time).
Newshub.