Town defender Tommy Smith failed to recover from his calf injury in time to play as New Zealand were beaten 2-0 by Peru in their World Cup qualification play-off second leg in Lima overnight, the South Americans claiming the last place at next summer’s finals in Russia.

Smith was forced off by the injury in the first leg in Wellington on Saturday which ended 0-0 and was always considered a doubt for the second match.

The 27-year-old was an unused sub along with Blues youngster Monty Patterson, 20, as goals from Jefferson Farfan in the 27th minute and Christian Ramos on 65 sent the Peruvians through.

New Zealand's exit means Smith misses out on a second appearance at a finals having played all three games for the All Whites in South Africa in 2010.

Left-back Jonas Knudsen is the only current Town player who appears in with a chance of featuring at next summer's finals, the 25-year-old having been an unused sub as Denmark secured their place by beating the Republic of Ireland 5-1 on Tuesday.

The Danes have been placed in Pot 3 ahead of the draw on Friday 1st December.

Photo: Action Images

Radlett_blue added 09:19 - Nov 16 Time to "retire" for a few more years from international football, Tommy.
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GiveusaWave added 10:08 - Nov 16 Gutted about this result. A win for New Zealand would have netted ITFC a fair amount of money....
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shoopdelang added 13:34 - Nov 16 Playing in a World Cup obviously a great experience. However now New Zealand cannot offer him this I think he should give it up. Micky mouse football
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distractored added 15:23 - Nov 16 If Shoopdelang had watched the match he wouldn't have called it Mickey mouse football. Not that the result was ever in any real doubt.
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