New Zealand, Nigeria Qualify For World Cup

New Zealand will move on to the World Cup finals next year after defeating Bahrain 1-0 in the second leg Saturday night in front of a record crowd of 35,194. Nigeria will also go to the Cup after a dramatic come-from-behind win over Kenya.

Rory Fallon’s header moments into halftime will send the team to South Africa. The last time New Zealand was on that path was with the national team in 1982.

New Zealand found itself in trouble after defender Ben Sigmund was yellow-carded in just the third minute. The Whites could have scored earlier after Shane Smeltz’s header from Leo Bertos’ free-kick. But the header bounced on top of the net in the eighth minute.

Again the deadlock looked like it ended in the19th minute. Chris Killen sent a left-foot past Bahrain goalkeeper Sayed Mohammed Jaffar, but it went off the crossbar. Bahrain Jaycee John’s volley was denied by New Zealand goalkeeper Mark Paston 30 minutes into the match.

Again Paston kept his team in front when he dived to his right after Sayed Mohamed Adnan’s strike.

Shane Smeltz came close to adding another goal for New Zealand in the 20th minute when his strike went wide. The Whites had a chance again in the last period when Killen’s overhead kick went over the crossbar with nine minutes left in regulation.

Nigeria also qualified for the Cup with a late rally to beat Kenya 3-2 in Nairobi. Obafemi Martins tallied two goals to help his team come from behind.

Nigeria was behind at half-time after a 15th-minute goal from Kenya’s Denis Oliech. But Nigeria moved ahead 2-1 with Martins strike. Martin netted the winner in the 83rd minute.