New Zealand held heavily favoured Peru to a scoreless draw on Saturday afternoon in the first leg of an inter-confederation World Cup playoff in Wellington.
Thanks in large part to the play of Stefan Marinovic.
The Vancouver Whitecaps FC goalkeeper turned in a man of the match performance for the Kiwis, making three key saves to keep the clean sheet. Marinovic was front and centre in the seventh minute, swatting the ball off the goalline in highlight-reel fashion.
And he came up big again in the 63rd minute, tipping an Aldo Corzo header over the bar.
WFC2 left back Deklan Wynne also started and played the full 90 minutes for New Zealand, while Yordy Reyna was an unused sub for Peru.
The second leg goes Wednesday in Lima. The winner will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia; New Zealand would also advance with any draw in which a goal is scored.
