NZ to play Brazil

[33/3from3.3]

That aint bad

I can say i'll definetly watch the whole match

[ash chaulk]

GO NEW ZEALAND we need more slide tackles

[Simon]

be nice if the kiwis can do us a favour and seriously hurt half the brazilian side

[Cloete]

Originally Posted by broncoman

be nice if the kiwis can do us a favour and seriously hurt half the brazilian side

Agreed.

Ash said it best. Just slide in as much as you can and you might get a spot in Asia.

[Blaze]

We are building nicely for 2010. Herbert is the right guy to have in charge and it is showing. Things are actually looking pretty positive for us. First ever win against a european country and without our two best players. The fact that we are actually playing lots of internationals this year is great as well. We went 2 or 3 years where we only played a handful of games so this is excellent.

I am predicting 6-0 to Brazil but it will be great to watch all the same.

[Craig]

I reckon this will be the Brazilian 'B' side out, giving the likes of Robinho, Fred, new boy Minerio (plays for Sao Paulo back in Brazil and was drafted in as a replacement for the injured Edmilson), Juninho, Cicinho, and probably Marcos (don't think he will be 1st or 2nd choice with either Juilo Cesar or Dida in goal) - the likes who may not play as much.

That said I would find it funny if Ronaldinho did play and a Kiwi upstart wanted to make a name for himself (ie to be remembered for it) by lunging inat Ronaldinho and breaking his leg/do knee ligaments, and then the outrage in Brazil for even daring to play him in a meaningless game. Said player would probably get a lot of phone calls by other national team managers telling him "Thanks for that"

[Blaze]

Craig - It was their first team. 4-0.

It wasn't too bad and they got a couple of late goals. Pretty good effort, though would have been nice if we could have kept it to 2 or 3.

[Craig]

Yeah I saw the highlights, I have expected them to give some of their reserve players a go, but obviously not. Guess that is why I'm not a football pundit.

[Sir Redman]

Originally Posted by Blaze

Craig - It was their first team. 4-0.

It wasn't too bad and they got a couple of late goals. Pretty good effort, though would have been nice if we could have kept it to 2 or 3.

Yeah, I was actually reasonably impressed with the way we played. The score blew out in the last 10 minutes with those 2 late goals, but other than that I think we managed to contain them quite well. Our keeper had a good game, he made some excellent saves, although it did look in the first half as though the Brazian strikers had "NZ-itis" i.e. they blasted every shot 5 metres over the bar like our guys always do. Our main problem was that our left back was getting owned pretty much every time they played it down his side, and it was inevitable that one of their crosses would eventually get them a goal. We had a few chances as well - the time the Brazilian defenders made a royal **** up of a bouncing ball and it fell to our guy; and also the header at the end that just went over.

I agree that Ricki Herbert definately seems to be the right man for the job if we want a chance at qualifying for 2010, he seems to have created a good team vibe and also wants to play a more attacking style - a couple of years ago we would never had beaten a non-Pacific Island team more than 1-0, but we managed 3 against Georgia.

[33/3from3.3]

The keeper played well 4-0 wasnt too bad either

[Cloete]

Fair play to NZ. Seen some highlights and they did get overrun a bit but put up a very courageous fight against Brazil's top team. Perhaps 3-1 would have done them more justice. Although one could point to the Brazillians poor finishing I think NZ played well.

I think Moss might just be offered a contract in the not too distant future

[Blaze]

Originally Posted by Sir Redman

Yeah, I was actually reasonably impressed with the way we played. The score blew out in the last 10 minutes with those 2 late goals, but other than that I think we managed to contain them quite well. Our keeper had a good game, he made some excellent saves, although it did look in the first half as though the Brazian strikers had "NZ-itis" i.e. they blasted every shot 5 metres over the bar like our guys always do. Our main problem was that our left back was getting owned pretty much every time they played it down his side, and it was inevitable that one of their crosses would eventually get them a goal. We had a few chances as well - the time the Brazilian defenders made a royal **** up of a bouncing ball and it fell to our guy; and also the header at the end that just went over.

I agree that Ricki Herbert definately seems to be the right man for the job if we want a chance at qualifying for 2010, he seems to have created a good team vibe and also wants to play a more attacking style - a couple of years ago we would never had beaten a non-Pacific Island team more than 1-0, but we managed 3 against Georgia.

Can't disagree with too much of that. What was encouraging was that Nelson and Elliot wern't playing, and Hay went off early and we still kept them to 4-0.

You have got to wonder why the Knights released Glenn Moss, but then again it is the Knights I am talking about...

Herbert could be the saviour of NZ soccer. We are finally puting ourselves back out on the map and gaining respect. Other countries are starting to see us as a viable opposition. Tunisia have asked if we will play them in a friendly this week and we have had offers from other world cup teams as well apparently.

Rumour has it that Herbert is attracting a bit of interest from overseas clubs as well. He will stick with NZ though. The guys genuinely believe they can make the 2010 world cup and good luck to them. The early signs are all positive.

[Sir Redman]

Originally Posted by Blaze

Can't disagree with too much of that. What was encouraging was that Nelson and Elliot wern't playing, and Hay went off early and we still kept them to 4-0.

You have got to wonder why the Knights released Glenn Moss, but then again it is the Knights I am talking about...

I've never rated Hay at all - always thought he was a lazy plonker of a defender who only got to that level because of his size - but from all reports he had been playing brilliantly on the tour, and I thought that we looked more likely to concede once he went off.

On Glen Moss - well, you have to feel sorry for any keeper who plays for the Knights. They are always going to look bad when you've got a defence that hopeless in front of you. I can only imagine that whoever's in charge of the Knights simply looked at the statistics and decided that our keeper needed to be replaced.

Originally Posted by Blaze

Herbert could be the saviour of NZ soccer. We are finally puting ourselves back out on the map and gaining respect. Other countries are starting to see us as a viable opposition. Tunisia have asked if we will play them in a friendly this week and we have had offers from other world cup teams as well apparently.

Rumour has it that Herbert is attracting a bit of interest from overseas clubs as well. He will stick with NZ though. The guys genuinely believe they can make the 2010 world cup and good luck to them. The early signs are all positive.

Hopefully. We've never had any trouble with player numbers - for as long as I can remember soccer has been the most played sport for kids up to 17/18 - but we need ways firstly of keeping them in the game and secondly developing them up to a decent standard. I don't believe that at Junior level and even to an extent club level (obviously local club type stuff, not big clubs) our guys are that much worse than those from other countries. I have played with and against heaps of overseas students on exchanges here, and many of them were only slightly above or even equal on ability with our best players.

I think that the current All Whites squad is probably the best we've had since the early 90s or so when we had the likes of Wynton Rufer playing. Obviously we've got no-one anywhere near the standard he was as a striker, but the rest of the squad compares favourably to the ones that I can remember.

[Craig]

Originally Posted by Cloete

Fair play to NZ. Seen some highlights and they did get overrun a bit but put up a very courageous fight against Brazil's top team. Perhaps 3-1 would have done them more justice. Although one could point to the Brazillians poor finishing I think NZ played well.

I think Moss might just be offered a contract in the not too distant future

Yeah I saw him play a few years ago in the qualifiers for the Athens Olympics and he had a stunning game at Parramatta Stadium, making some spectular saves, and keeping the score from becoming a rout. Certaintly a talented 'keeper.

[Blaze]

Our under 20's beat the Aussie under 20's a couple of weeks back in Australia in a 3 match series so it looks like we have a bit of talent coming through...