New Zealand have taken firm control of the final stage of Oceania World Cup football qualifying, after thrashing Solomon Islands 6-1 in Auckland on Tuesday.
The All Whites were two goals up inside 25 minutes courtesy of Shane Smeltz and Kosta Barbarouses.
Bonitos captain Henry Fa'arodo sparked the visitors back to life with a sharp finish shortly after halftime before Chris Killen replied just two minutes later.
From there New Zealand put on the afterburners, with Tony Lochhead, Marco Rojas and Chris Wood all finding the back of the net.
Solomon Islands coach Jacob Moli says the All Whites proved that they are still the team to beat in Oceania.
"I thought when it's 2-1 the boys could have just lifted themselves up and started getting into the game but otherwise it turned out to be a different situation altogether. They started to lose their focus and concentration and the All Whites just tore our defence apart."
Moli says New Zealand were too good on the night but might find it trickier away from home.
Well the positive is that we still can score against the All Whites so I hope that when we have the return match in Honiara I hope things go well for the boys and we can really step up and give a good game in Honiara. I think New Zealand is beatable but we really have to step up our game. The only chance I see we can give New Zealand a good go is when they're coming to the Islands.
