The All Whites are just a draw away from advancing to the next stage of World Cup qualifiers, but that doesn’t mean their approach will be changing for the return fixture against Fiji on Tuesday night.
Returning to New Zealand following a convincing 2-0 win in Lautoka on Saturday, defender Andrew Durante is eager for the side to ram home their advantage in Wellington and make a statement for the following international window.
"We know a draw is enough but we're not thinking like that. We want to win. We want to dominate the game," said Durante.
Despite an impressive team-wide defensive display, the 34-year-old insisted there was still plenty of room for improvement, and the immaculate Westpac Stadium turf should allow more scope for the side to showcase their wares.
"We want to press them a lot quicker, get the ball moving a lot quicker, press them higher up in the field.
"Generally it was a pretty strong defensive performance from the whole team, everyone knows their jobs really well.
"Conditions were a little bit difficult, but it's going to be perfect conditions here so hopefully it's an even more dominant performance."
One dominant performance he also managed to catch was that of his Wellington Phoenix, who defied all expectations with one of their best games of the season in a 5-0 win against the Newcastle Jets on Sunday despite the absence of a number of key players on international duty.
For all its merits, Durante couldn’t help but admit to a sense of frustration at their inability to consistently produce such high quality football.
"We felt a performance like that coming, but we didn’t expect it to come with so many people missing."
"It's what were capable of. We've played some really good football …hopefully we can back it up against Victory and keep our finals hopes alive."
While he stopped short of admitting All Whites discard Kosta Barbourouses had a point to prove, Durante did acknowledge what was arguably his most impressive display of the year.
"It was good to see him play so well. He was direct, he took players on, he scored a good goal - nice assist and his work rate was great."
Newshub.
