Brazil World Cup play-off. Mexico stun New Zealand

Mexico beat New Zealand comfortably to all but get in the 32 teams that will go to Brazil next summer.

Miguel Herrera dropped some of the high-profile players, such as Javier Hernandez and Javier Aquino and made many changes comparing to the last group match against Costa Rica.

“We needed an aggressive and dynamic team with lots of determination because we needed to win the match,” claimed the coach.

This approach bore fruits as Paul Aguilar, Raúl Jiménez, Oribe Peralta twice and Rafael Márquez scored to give Mexico a 5-1 victory ahead of a return leg next week. Chris James netted a consolation goal minutes before the end.

New Zealand manager Ricki Herbert could only confirm his side were not good enough to face solid Mexican side:

“It was always going to be tough for us and we made it tough for ourselves in certain areas.”