By Pearl Josephine Nazare
VANCOUVER, June 20 (Reuters) - New Zealand can take confidence from one of their best performances in years after drawing 2-2 with Iran in their World Cup Group G opener, but must be more clinical against Egypt on Sunday, coach Darren Bazeley said.
New Zealand and Egypt meet at BC Place in Vancouver with one point apiece after opening-round draws, leaving Group G finely poised and raising the stakes for a result that could boost their chances of reaching the knockout stage.
Making their third appearance at the finals, New Zealand were twice pegged back by Iran in an entertaining clash in California, while Egypt held Belgium to a 1-1 draw in Seattle.
"A lot of positives," Bazeley told reporters.
"You come away disappointed that you haven't won the game, but for us to go and perform to that level, potentially one of our best performances for a long time and to do that at the World Cup in our opening game was... Credit to the players. They really did go out and show the world who we are and who we can be as a team.
"In possession, can we be more clinical, more ruthless, more creative? So we need to keep progressing every time we get together. But first, we need to get to the level of the game similar to what we did in the Iran game."
Egypt have firepower in attack, led by captain Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush.
Salah, 34, scored nine goals in their qualifying campaign and assisted Emam Ashour against Belgium.
"Salah is a world-class player. He's a threat," the Englishman said.
"Maybe he probably hadn't had the game that he wanted to in the last game, but he's here to go and perform at a World Cup, as all the big stars are. So I'm sure he'll be ready to go and put his mark on this World Cup.
"He's one of the good players that Egypt have in the attacking areas, and we're going to have to deal with a number of them. So I think if we try and overload somewhere, we could get caught somewhere else. So I think the key for us is defending as a group..."
Both sides are chasing a first World Cup win.
"It would be massive for New Zealand to get that win. It would be history. So that's something this group of players have been talking about trying to do for three or four years now," Bazeley added.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Vancouver;Editing by Christian Radnedge)
