Blues youngster Monty Patterson picked up his 11th New Zealand cap as the All Whites were beaten 1-0 by Belarus in their final pre-Confederations Cup friendly at the Traktor Stadium in Minsk earlier this evening.

Striker or midfielder Patterson, 20, came off the bench in the 51st minute, while his Blues team-mate, 27-year-old central defender Tommy Smith, was an unused sub and didn’t add to his 32 caps.

Dzianis Paliakou netted the only goal of the game for the home side in the 46th minute.

In the Confederations Cup, which takes place in Russia, New Zealand will take on the hosts in St Petersburg in the opening group game on Saturday, Mexico in Sochi four days later and then Portugal back in St Petersburg on Saturday June 24th.

Photo: TWTD

Count_Arthur added 21:24 - Jun 12 Why isn't Patterson breaking into our first team, I saw him play last season and he looked very good. He's obviously good enough to be regularly capped, surely part of the 'grand plan' is to bring through players like Patterson rather than rely on loan players?
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bobble added 08:42 - Jun 13 how come belarus get to play at the traktor stadium ? whats their nickname the traktor huns ?
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