SOCCER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2773, 19 August 1924, Page 3

SOCCER.

FIRST TEST MATCH

NEW ZEALAND 2, CHINA 1

An attendance of eighteen thousand showing a great partiality for 1 lie visitors, witnessed the first tesl, China v. New Zealand, at the Auckland Domain on Saturday. The wealher was fine but the ground was slippery as the result of heavy rain overnight. The condition.of the ground affected both sides, but nevertheless, there was unmistakably fine footwork. The visitors on the whole, were the cleverer side, and showed better combination than the New Zealanders, but they still lacked finish. A goat scored by New Zealand in the first spell was rather tame, the opposing backs being-apparently taken off their guard. Honours were about oven in the first spell, the New Zealand forwards taking every advan(age of Iheir opportunities, and the Chinese losing advantages by passing (on far-forward when close to (heir opponents’ goal and allowing the New Zealand backs to clear. Apparently the Chinese are adapting themselves to the New Zealand style of piny, as they tackled harder than last. Saturday and used the shoulder. The Chinese had the better of the first pari of the second .spell. They started off at a pretty pace and surprised everybody by pressing from the outset and maintaining their advantage. The New Zealand • forwards made every effort to score, but the defence was very solid, and the Chinese forwards were more often in a position to score than the New Zealand forwards were. Lack of finish and a certain amount of timidity prevented them adding points. For the first spell, Campbell scored from a corner kick by Tunes and -Tap scored from a pass by Wn. New Zealand scored the winning goal just on time bv Campbell netting from a pass by Innes, who had obtained from McCreonor. The final scores were : N.Z. 2 China 1.