New Zealand boss Darren Bazeley has backed Steve Clarke's side to combat the threat of the Haitians
class will shine through in the end against the Caribbean side when the action gets underway for real. Kiwi gaffer Bazeley has givenBazeley said: “I hope Scotland can beat them and I think they will beat them.
Haiti are a good team but you would have to fancy the Scots. Scotland have players in some of the top leagues. They are used to being more disciplined in structure.
“You can definitely hurt Haiti. Your passing patterns will be massive. You move them around and the switches of play will be big, getting players in between the lines. It will be Haitian flair against a well-structured Scotland side.
” That loss to Haiti was a blow for the All Whites ahead of their opener with Iran on Tuesday. But Bazeley doesn’t think the scoreline gave a true reflection of the game. He said: “We actually played quite well. I know we got beat 4-0 but it didn’t really tell the true story.
We had the same number of chances and 49 per cent possession. But they took their chances and we didn’t.
“With our main team on, we were only 1-0 down. Then we made seven changes at the interval and a few more in the second half. It all became a bit disjointed. We chased the game and left ourselves open to counter-attacks.
”Bazeley reckons Frantzdy Pierrot, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Duckens Nazon will pose the biggest threats to Clarke’s side. He said: “Bellegarde, who is at Wolves, is a good player. The forward players Wilson Isidor and Nazon are also big for them along with Pierrot, who plays in Greece.
“Against us they played two up front. They had big strong boys. They are comfortable on the ball and when they were three or four up they started to bring out tricks and flicks.
“If they get their tails up then will take some stopping. Haiti are good. They are technically good and athletic, strong on the break. They are very strong when they overturn the ball.
“You have to kill those moments quickly. Once they start to gallop they are hard to stop because they have some pretty fast boys. ”Haiti are likely to have a go against the Scots as Bazeley added: “They were 4-2-3-1 and then 4-4-2 at times.
“Structure-wise, you can hurt them. Scotland will give them a good game. You have the players to pull Haiti apart and get into good areas. But Scotland also need to be really cautious not to get hit on the counter-attack. ”
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