WCQ Semi All Whites v Fiji | Fri 21st Mar | 7:00pm | Sky Stadium | March at 6pm

AucklandPhoenix

Hopefully AFC fans will be more classy 

Haha. Such a new fanbase half will barely know or care who the Nix players are.

I'm not that fussed about the crowd booing AFC players in such a low stakes match (in terms of opposition quality). if we were playing a better opponent i'd be annoyed about it. 

Praline

Yes. All afc players booed as they appeared on screen when the squad was announced at the beginning. De vries booed as he came onto the pitch as a sub.

Thats really petty, hope noone on here did that
He's playing for New Zealand, deserves kiwis suport

number8

carlind

Doloras

It did my heart good to see de Vries setting up Kosta

 
I’ve seen a few people say that the crowd was booing de Vries (and other AFC players); is there any truth in that?

Yes it’s true. Very stupid.

Real small group of muppets sitting up at the back of aisle 22. I understand the sentiment, but it's not the right place.

Yea pretty poor. We should be supporting every player that puts on an AWs shirt.

Country over club at the end of the day, IMO.

Also, can FIFA get us a better version of the national anthem to sing??? So many weird pauses, it threw everyone off in the Zone

coochiee

With Wood we are a chance. Sans Wood we would likely be a popcorn attack, and next to none.

They ain't picking players from the Austrian or Portuguese 2nd tiers. Payne would lucky to be in their top 5 RB selections. 

They would pick Cacace, Stamenic and Wood in a 23 man squad. Maybe Bindon, Paulsen and Old. We have Tyler but they have 21 yr old defender Alessandro Circati who has already played over 30 games in Serie A. Currently injured.

They are still a very solid team. Lots of experienced hard nosed guys late 20s-early 30s playing in tough leagues. They are definitely a harder team to get into, than the AWs.

I'd argue that will they have significantly better depth, it's how you gel as a team that matters, something they are not doing right now. 

The AWs have proved this many time against OFC teams where we've struggled when we shouldn't have, and England proves it just about every time they play.

I think Aussie is struggling as a cohesive unit right now. Loads better players then us but they don't seem to play well together.

They looked pretty good vs Indonesia and managed to draw vs Japan in Japan, they’ve had one horrible game vs Bahrain, other then that, they’ve been solid but unspectacular. 

Marto

coochiee

With Wood we are a chance. Sans Wood we would likely be a popcorn attack, and next to none.

They ain't picking players from the Austrian or Portuguese 2nd tiers. Payne would lucky to be in their top 5 RB selections. 

They would pick Cacace, Stamenic and Wood in a 23 man squad. Maybe Bindon, Paulsen and Old. We have Tyler but they have 21 yr old defender Alessandro Circati who has already played over 30 games in Serie A. Currently injured.

They are still a very solid team. Lots of experienced hard nosed guys late 20s-early 30s playing in tough leagues. They are definitely a harder team to get into, than the AWs.

I'd argue that will they have significantly better depth, it's how you gel as a side on the field that matters, something they are not doing right now. 

The AWs have proved this many time against OFC teams and England proves it just about every time they play.

I think Aussie is struggling as a unit right now. Loads better players then us but they don't seem to play well together.

Think we are seriously overselling the merits of the current All Whites team verses Ausi. When was the last time we actually beat a semi decent nation?

Its true that improving the quality of PI teams will help us. But its not up to us to pay for it , thats FIFAs job. Hopefully the new Oceania league will help. An A League side with many of the best PI players based in Noumea would be great. As would a PI academy team playing alongside the Nix and AFC academy teams in NZ national league. We shouldnt take it for granted that Oceania will always get a direct WC spot. I have read plenty of comments in Europe press about the low standard of Oceania and the unfairness of the direct WC qualification. The AWs 7-0 drubbing of Fiji wont have helped. This is probably why FIFA has finally decided to invest here. 

Banzai!...AIEEE!!!

Australia have made a mess of their qualifying so far.  Should be cruising to qualification.  They’ll still manage it, surely?  Might take an extra round to do so, though…

HattyCW

Ninja

I would argue we'd probably beat Australia right now.

Socceroos were having mixed results against AFC teams before they played us in that two game series before the last WC and we still managed to lose both games, we can never underestimate them.

Asia's tough man. I've been really impressed by the games I've watched. Jamie Carragher would do well to watch a few I reckon.

Marto

coochiee

With Wood we are a chance. Sans Wood we would likely be a popcorn attack, and next to none.

They ain't picking players from the Austrian or Portuguese 2nd tiers. Payne would lucky to be in their top 5 RB selections. 

They would pick Cacace, Stamenic and Wood in a 23 man squad. Maybe Bindon, Paulsen and Old. We have Tyler but they have 21 yr old defender Alessandro Circati who has already played over 30 games in Serie A. Currently injured.

They are still a very solid team. Lots of experienced hard nosed guys late 20s-early 30s playing in tough leagues. They are definitely a harder team to get into, than the AWs.

I'd argue that will they have significantly better depth, it's how you gel as a team that matters, something they are not doing right now. 

The AWs have proved this many time against OFC teams where we've struggled when we shouldn't have, and England proves it just about every time they play.

I think Aussie is struggling as a cohesive unit right now. Loads better players then us but they don't seem to play well together.

They're looking good under Poppa. Very strong at the back and Jackson Irvine is quality in the middle.

I've seen a lot of Aussies moaning on twitter about selections. It doesn't matter who they pick, they seem to complain about those that are missing. Which is possibly a twisted measure of their depth.

A lot also noticing that we are becoming a good unit too and saying we'd beat them. IMO they're just using this as a means of adding an extra layer of whinge.

We fell so far behind them in the 90's. I'm just glad we'd probably give them a good game right now.

AucklandPhoenix

Think we are seriously overselling the merits of the current All Whites team verses Ausi. When was the last time we actually beat a semi decent nation?

Serbia 2010?

I was genuinely surprised by the commentary about the back 4 describing them as flawless (or similar )  as Boxall almost gave away a goal. He passing is also laboured. I get the fact hes very athletic etc but hes not technically strong enough.

Id prefer to have Bindon and  Nando. Both stronger on the ball. We have enough experience in the back 5 (including GK) to not carry anyone.

Eli Just has to start for the geam every game hes fit. Hes been the most consistent and impressive attacking midfield  player for a long time now. His impact versus Garbett and Callum was obvious. naturally  Garbett brings a combative box to box approach (and ive heard play as a second striker) whereas eli is more technical and an inverted winger so they are very different players that will suit different systems and tactics. i just dont want Eli to he seen as a lesser version of sarpreet as hes way more than that. 

imanixsupporter

Hard to read much from that game given how superior we were and the fact that the whole team apart from Payne had flown halfway across the world a few days ago. Probably helped Payne to stand out. Stamenic the other standout for me, along with Singh and Wood (but that's always a given with those two).

Everyone else was solid too, except for McCowatt. Garbett wasn't as impressive as his usual self but wasn't downright bad like McCowatt. Eli Just the most impressive of the subs and should start on Monday.

We were a bit disjointed, even when ignoring whatever it was McCowatt was doing. A bit worrying that it took until Fiji were wiped out from all their pressing for our midfield to really click into gear. I think we could do with more midfield presence, you can get away with the 4-2-3-1 against Island nations but I'd rather see a 4-3-2-1, with the fullbacks bombing forward to provide width. Sacrifice Garbett as his lack of gametime seems to have affected him. 

I'd start this team on Monday:

Crocombe
Payne Boxall Bindon Cacace
Bell Rufer Stamenic
Singh Just
Wood

JasperNix

I was genuinely surprised by the commentary about the back 4 describing them as flawless (or similar )  as Boxall almost gave away a goal. He passing is also laboured. I get the fact hes very athletic etc but hes not technically strong enough.

Id prefer to have Bindon and  Nando. Both stronger on the ball. We have enough experience in the back 5 (including GK) to not carry anyone.

Eli Just has to start for the geam every game hes fit. Hes been the most consistent and impressive attacking midfield  player for a long time now. His impact versus Garbett and Callum was obvious. naturally  Garbett brings a combative box to box approach (and ive heard play as a second striker) whereas eli is more technical and an inverted winger so they are very different players that will suit different systems and tactics. i just dont want Eli to he seen as a lesser version of sarpreet as hes way more than that. 

imanixsupporter

Hard to read much from that game given how superior we were and the fact that the whole team apart from Payne had flown halfway across the world a few days ago. Probably helped Payne to stand out. Stamenic the other standout for me, along with Singh and Wood (but that's always a given with those two).

Everyone else was solid too, except for McCowatt. Garbett wasn't as impressive as his usual self but wasn't downright bad like McCowatt. Eli Just the most impressive of the subs and should start on Monday.

We were a bit disjointed, even when ignoring whatever it was McCowatt was doing. A bit worrying that it took until Fiji were wiped out from all their pressing for our midfield to really click into gear. I think we could do with more midfield presence, you can get away with the 4-2-3-1 against Island nations but I'd rather see a 4-3-2-1, with the fullbacks bombing forward to provide width. Sacrifice Garbett as his lack of gametime seems to have affected him. 

I'd start this team on Monday:

Crocombe
Payne Boxall Bindon Cacace
Bell Rufer Stamenic
Singh Just
Wood

I agree. Boxall and payne looked slow to me and would be shown up by top opposition. Payne missed a couple of through balls etc.

Bell gets a hard time but he worked hard and killed some dangerous counter attacks. 

Bell, rufer and stam all need to be in the starting XI come world cup time. 

Elemenop

JasperNix

I was genuinely surprised by the commentary about the back 4 describing them as flawless (or similar )  as Boxall almost gave away a goal. He passing is also laboured. I get the fact hes very athletic etc but hes not technically strong enough.

Id prefer to have Bindon and  Nando. Both stronger on the ball. We have enough experience in the back 5 (including GK) to not carry anyone.

Eli Just has to start for the geam every game hes fit. Hes been the most consistent and impressive attacking midfield  player for a long time now. His impact versus Garbett and Callum was obvious. naturally  Garbett brings a combative box to box approach (and ive heard play as a second striker) whereas eli is more technical and an inverted winger so they are very different players that will suit different systems and tactics. i just dont want Eli to he seen as a lesser version of sarpreet as hes way more than that. 

imanixsupporter

Hard to read much from that game given how superior we were and the fact that the whole team apart from Payne had flown halfway across the world a few days ago. Probably helped Payne to stand out. Stamenic the other standout for me, along with Singh and Wood (but that's always a given with those two).

Everyone else was solid too, except for McCowatt. Garbett wasn't as impressive as his usual self but wasn't downright bad like McCowatt. Eli Just the most impressive of the subs and should start on Monday.

We were a bit disjointed, even when ignoring whatever it was McCowatt was doing. A bit worrying that it took until Fiji were wiped out from all their pressing for our midfield to really click into gear. I think we could do with more midfield presence, you can get away with the 4-2-3-1 against Island nations but I'd rather see a 4-3-2-1, with the fullbacks bombing forward to provide width. Sacrifice Garbett as his lack of gametime seems to have affected him. 

I'd start this team on Monday:

Crocombe
Payne Boxall Bindon Cacace
Bell Rufer Stamenic
Singh Just
Wood

I agree. Boxall and payne looked slow to me and would be shown up by top opposition. Payne missed a couple of through balls etc.

Bell gets a hard time but he worked hard and killed some dangerous counter attacks. 

Bell, rufer and stam all need to be in the starting XI come world cup time. 

yeah, boxall does a little skip before he executes a pass, which makes him cannon fodder for a fast pressing forward. he's obviously a class player, but id be surprised if he gets away with this in the MLS. although sometimes players pick up strange habits when they're away from their day to day technical staff.

I'm not convinced that Boxall will still be up to playing top class international football come the World Cup when he will be 37, but happy enough for him to be staying in the team for now. Pijnaker has had an amazing season but I have so much PTSD from years of him blundering in a white shirt that I'm in no hurry to see him replace Boxall. Let's hope Surman and Bindon have an excellent next 12 months to take both of Boxall & Pijnaker out of the conversation for our starting side (they're perfectly acceptable backups though). 

I'm at peace with Payne being our starting RB. Last night was an outlier, he usually seems to shrink in a white shirt for me and not handle the step up to international football well, but despite his inconsistency going forwards he's always solid defensively which is the most important thing. Maybe Kirwan can get a good run of games and impress in Serie B next season to take that spot off him, but if that doesn't happen then there's not enough time for an alternative to emerge. 

Socceroos play Mexico in Texas, Sept 2023 and it's a 2-2 draw. 12 months later we play the Mexicans in California and they canter to a 3-0 win.

Australia is just better than us, and have a core of tough nuts (like yes Jackson Irvine) who have been there done that, including pushing champs Argentina very hard in their R16 game at Qatar WC.

I still think it's 2-3 years too early for the real potential of this AWs squad to show. Might be partly why the Woodsman wants to try for the 2030 WC. For now too many guys under age 25, not yet near their peak. But in 12 months hopefully we have progressed some more again from now. We will be one of the weakest if not the weakest team at the big dance, that's the reality.

coochiee

Socceroos play Mexico in Texas, Sept 2023 and it's a 2-2 draw. 12 months later we play the Mexicans in California and they canter to a 3-0 win.

Australia is just better than us, and have a core of tough nuts (like yes Jackson Irvine) who have been there done that, including pushing champs Argentina very hard in their R16 game at Qatar WC.

I still think it's 2-3 years too early for the real potential of this AWs squad to show. Might be partly why the Woodsman wants to try for the 2030 WC. For now too many guys still under age 25, not yet near their peak. But in 12 months hopefully we have progressed some more again from now. We will still be one of the weakest if not the weakest team at the big dance, that's the reality.

Agree, I think some people underestimate the depth Australia has. Apart from Wood and Cacace, who ironically would be nailed on starters, I can't see any of our boys other than Stamenic and Old making a Socceroos squad. Bindon in a couple years probably. 

Jazzy Jeff

coochiee

Socceroos play Mexico in Texas, Sept 2023 and it's a 2-2 draw. 12 months later we play the Mexicans in California and they canter to a 3-0 win.

Australia is just better than us, and have a core of tough nuts (like yes Jackson Irvine) who have been there done that, including pushing champs Argentina very hard in their R16 game at Qatar WC.

I still think it's 2-3 years too early for the real potential of this AWs squad to show. Might be partly why the Woodsman wants to try for the 2030 WC. For now too many guys still under age 25, not yet near their peak. But in 12 months hopefully we have progressed some more again from now. We will still be one of the weakest if not the weakest team at the big dance, that's the reality.

Agree, I think some people underestimate the depth Australia has. Apart from Wood and Cacace, who ironically would be nailed on starters, I can't see any of our boys other than Stamenic and Old making a Socceroos squad. Bindon in a couple years probably. 

I think in a couple of years Bindon will be the best player from either country much as Wood is right now.

Marto

Jazzy Jeff

coochiee

Socceroos play Mexico in Texas, Sept 2023 and it's a 2-2 draw. 12 months later we play the Mexicans in California and they canter to a 3-0 win.

Australia is just better than us, and have a core of tough nuts (like yes Jackson Irvine) who have been there done that, including pushing champs Argentina very hard in their R16 game at Qatar WC.

I still think it's 2-3 years too early for the real potential of this AWs squad to show. Might be partly why the Woodsman wants to try for the 2030 WC. For now too many guys still under age 25, not yet near their peak. But in 12 months hopefully we have progressed some more again from now. We will still be one of the weakest if not the weakest team at the big dance, that's the reality.

Agree, I think some people underestimate the depth Australia has. Apart from Wood and Cacace, who ironically would be nailed on starters, I can't see any of our boys other than Stamenic and Old making a Socceroos squad. Bindon in a couple years probably. 

I think in a couple of years Bindon will be the best player from either country much as Wood is right now.

And yet Australia will still be much better than us.

In 2028 we thrash Asian Champs Oz 4 - 0 in the first match held at Quay Park Stadium in the inaugural $2mill Foley Challenge Cup with the following line-up:
Paulsen (AFC Bournemouth)
Bindon (Forest)
Surman (Hamburg)
Kelly-Heald (Leeds)
Stamenic (Juventus)
Bell (PSV Eindhoven)
Singh (Benfica)
Cacace (Inter Milan)
Old (PSG)
Wood (AFC Auckland)
Sloane-Rodrigues (Spurs)

No harm in dreaming.

Even in a fantasy wet dream we still can’t find a fudgeing right back!! 😂

coochiee

Socceroos play Mexico in Texas, Sept 2023 and it's a 2-2 draw. 12 months later we play the Mexicans in California and they canter to a 3-0 win.

Australia is just better than us, and have a core of tough nuts (like yes Jackson Irvine) who have been there done that, including pushing champs Argentina very hard in their R16 game at Qatar WC.

I still think it's 2-3 years too early for the real potential of this AWs squad to show. Might be partly why the Woodsman wants to try for the 2030 WC. For now too many guys still under age 25, not yet near their peak. But in 12 months hopefully we have progressed some more again from now. We will still be one of the weakest if not the weakest team at the big dance, that's the reality.

We'll never truly peak unless we play decent opposition on a regular basis. But I guess we've discussed this plenty of times...

If we can't go into Asia for WC qualifying then I'd love to see a Nations League like they have in Europe. Could play games against the best Island Nations, Australia and teams from Southern Asia. Means a trophy to play for, real competitive games, more live games, fan involvement, media coverage, all on a more regular basis.

I think the ferns are a good test case, since direct World Cup qualification have we realistically improved the woman national team performance? By ranking at least we’ve gone the other way.

Even with all the regular friendlies against good opposition using the World Cup windfalls?

We need to be playing regular meaningful games which can only really be through World Cup qualification.

I agree no point in discussion cause we’re not joining Asia. But just these OFC qualifiers ain’t doing it for us 

Nelfoos

More money is NZFs pocket to fund grassroots development and higher quality games for the All Whites/Ferns is exactly how we get better. 

Sure Asia would be great but it's a pipe dream that there's no point even discussing anymore given it runs directly contrary to FIFAs ongoing efforts to develop football in OFC.

InsulinMachine

coochiee

Socceroos play Mexico in Texas, Sept 2023 and it's a 2-2 draw. 12 months later we play the Mexicans in California and they canter to a 3-0 win.

Australia is just better than us, and have a core of tough nuts (like yes Jackson Irvine) who have been there done that, including pushing champs Argentina very hard in their R16 game at Qatar WC.

I still think it's 2-3 years too early for the real potential of this AWs squad to show. Might be partly why the Woodsman wants to try for the 2030 WC. For now too many guys still under age 25, not yet near their peak. But in 12 months hopefully we have progressed some more again from now. We will still be one of the weakest if not the weakest team at the big dance, that's the reality.

We'll never truly peak unless we play decent opposition on a regular basis. But I guess we've discussed this plenty of times...

If we can't go into Asia for WC qualifying then I'd love to see a Nations League like they have in Europe. Could play games against the best Island Nations, Australia and teams from Southern Asia. Means a trophy to play for, real competitive games, more live games, fan involvement, media coverage, all on a more regular basis.

"We'll never truly peak unless we play decent opposition on a regular basis"

I'm not entirely sure I agree with this. I think it's more important that we have players playing in top team and leagues around the world on a consistent basis, than playing Iran/China/Saudi Arabia/etc/etc more often.

We are making better use of our international friendly windows these days, against good opposition, as it's more financially viable for us given most of our squad is based in Europe now. Back in the day, it was completely different, with only a few UK/EU based players.

mykey

I think the ferns are a good test case, since direct World Cup qualification have we realistically improved the woman national team performance? By ranking at least we’ve gone the other way.

Even with all the regular friendlies against good opposition using the World Cup windfalls?

We need to be playing regular meaningful games which can only really be through World Cup qualification.

I agree no point in discussion cause we’re not joining Asia. But just these OFC qualifiers ain’t doing it for us 

Nelfoos

More money is NZFs pocket to fund grassroots development and higher quality games for the All Whites/Ferns is exactly how we get better. 

Sure Asia would be great but it's a pipe dream that there's no point even discussing anymore given it runs directly contrary to FIFAs ongoing efforts to develop football in OFC.

 
In my opinion, any real development has to be at club level, as that’s where players spend 90%+ of their time. International matches are too infrequent and windows too short for any massive development. Teams only really get better with better players. 3 matches at a World Cup - 270 minutes - is not a lot in comparison to 26 matches - 2340 minutes - in an A League season, let alone a 30-or-so match European season. Get more players into better clubs playing more minutes and the team will improve regardless whether we play qualifiers against Japan or Samoa. To bring back around to Australia comparisons - their best ever team was when they were in OFC.

Same with U20/U17 World Cups; a player isn’t built off 3 or 4 matches, they are built off the years of development prior. They won’t magically become better after playing 90 minutes against Paraguay or Czech Republic. 

That’s where the real long-term benefit will come from, not from the physical matches played at a World Cup or qualifiers, but off the platform it creates to allow the average 14-year-old in 2026 to be a better standard player than the average 14-year-old in 2010 and so on.

But getting players in the right leagues is hard for us to do.. Ben waine was supposed to be the heir of Chris Wood, he isn’t getting any game time in league 1, Sarpreet Singh was supposed to be our next Wynton Rufer and someone who can lead the next generation, playing in Portugal second division, Garnett our most creative player just got let go by his Dutch team.. it’s not easy, I worry what happens when Chris Wood eventually does go, it will be hard to replace someone in that quality 

Ninja

InsulinMachine

coochiee

Socceroos play Mexico in Texas, Sept 2023 and it's a 2-2 draw. 12 months later we play the Mexicans in California and they canter to a 3-0 win.

Australia is just better than us, and have a core of tough nuts (like yes Jackson Irvine) who have been there done that, including pushing champs Argentina very hard in their R16 game at Qatar WC.

I still think it's 2-3 years too early for the real potential of this AWs squad to show. Might be partly why the Woodsman wants to try for the 2030 WC. For now too many guys still under age 25, not yet near their peak. But in 12 months hopefully we have progressed some more again from now. We will still be one of the weakest if not the weakest team at the big dance, that's the reality.

We'll never truly peak unless we play decent opposition on a regular basis. But I guess we've discussed this plenty of times...

If we can't go into Asia for WC qualifying then I'd love to see a Nations League like they have in Europe. Could play games against the best Island Nations, Australia and teams from Southern Asia. Means a trophy to play for, real competitive games, more live games, fan involvement, media coverage, all on a more regular basis.

"We'll never truly peak unless we play decent opposition on a regular basis"

I'm not entirely sure I agree with this. I think it's more important that we have players playing in top team and leagues around the world on a consistent basis, than playing Iran/China/Saudi Arabia/etc/etc more often.

We are making better use of our international friendly windows these days, against good opposition, as it's more financially viable for us given most of our squad is based in Europe now. Back in the day, it was completely different, with only a few UK/EU based players.

Wood himself this week in an interview talked about getting as many players into top leagues as possible as yes the goal. EPL, La Liga, Serie A

I mean OFC WC qualifying has been completed in a paltry 3 windows. In this WC cycle the AWs will likely play 2-3x the quality friendlies, than the AWs would have played in previous cycles 

That June tourney in Toronto is perfect  prep really

reg22

AucklandPhoenix

Think we are seriously overselling the merits of the current All Whites team verses Ausi. When was the last time we actually beat a semi decent nation?

Serbia 2010?

Saudi 2013 probably our only notable once since.

Jessie Merino

In 2028 we thrash Asian Champs Oz 4 - 0 in the first match held at Quay Park Stadium in the inaugural $2mill Foley Challenge Cup with the following line-up:
Paulsen (AFC Bournemouth)
Bindon (Forest)
Surman (Hamburg)
Kelly-Heald (Leeds)
Stamenic (Juventus)
Bell (PSV Eindhoven)
Singh (Benfica)
Cacace (Inter Milan)
Old (PSG)
Wood (AFC Auckland)
Sloane-Rodrigues (Spurs)

No harm in dreaming.

What did Sloane do to deserve that???

I wouldn't be panicking too much, we've been playing a lot of decent teams in friendlies and got draws against Ireland, DR Congo, Tunisia and USA. Those are all roughly similar quality teams to Aussie. 

Bloody frustrating we didn't win any of those... particularly the Ireland and Tunisia games where it was very possible. But these games have shown we're on the right track and able to compete with that quality of team, even if we have broken through the ceiling for beating one yet.

Aussie still ahead of us, and likely to pull away more and more over the next 10 years. Their youth teams are doing well, and they have a lot more players heading abroad than us (and to better quality leagues).

We are having a good patch, Aussie I believe is heading towards a great one in the next 5 to 10 years.

MetalLegNZ

Aussie still ahead of us, and likely to pull away more and more over the next 10 years. Their youth teams are doing well, and they have a lot more players heading abroad than us (and to better quality leagues).

We are having a good patch, Aussie I believe is heading towards a great one in the next 5 to 10 years.

This definitely isn't the perspective over there, these days they are worried how few players they have in the top leagues especially compared to the past. 

LT01

I wouldn't be panicking too much, we've been playing a lot of decent teams in friendlies and got draws against Ireland, DR Congo, Tunisia and USA. Those are all roughly similar quality teams to Aussie. 

Bloody frustrating we didn't win any of those... particularly the Ireland and Tunisia games where it was very possible. But these games have shown we're on the right track and able to compete with that quality of team, even if we have broken through the ceiling for beating one yet.

With those above matches from memory neither Ireland or the USA were near full strength. Tuinisia may have been??  However yes some respectable draws in there.

I'm sure that will be all the AWs talk leading into that June tourney. A win over either the Ivory Coast or Ukrainae. Time to actually beat a bigger nation.

I think we easily have a squad that can give a team like Australia a decent contest, even if it's pretty undeniable that they are overall superior. But we need to be set up to play correctly, and it probably would help having consistent games against really decent opposition too. 

Hay's All Whites couldn't even get close to competing with the second string side Arnold played at Eden Park the other year. I think that was primarily down to him and not the relative quality of the sides. 

We still don't know if Bazeley is capable of getting the maximum out of our players. We'll know a lot more after the next two windows. How good would it be to beat a side that wasn't an OFC side or an Asian/African minnow for the first time since Herbert's reign. Baze almost got such a scalp when we were leading 1-0 against Qatar at halftime in 2023...

Definitely need something as it appears the last time we actually beat a semi respectable side was 15 years ago (I’m not going to count Saudi Arabia in 2013)

I don’t think however Baz is the man for the job 

MetalLegNZ

Aussie still ahead of us, and likely to pull away more and more over the next 10 years. Their youth teams are doing well, and they have a lot more players heading abroad than us (and to better quality leagues).

We are having a good patch, Aussie I believe is heading towards a great one in the next 5 to 10 years.

I've posted before. But Aussie prob has 100 players who would make our squads. We don't have a lot of depth beyond our top 20 players really. 

But hey it's growing... and our starting team is only going to get stronger in the next 4 years. 

imanixsupporter

I think we easily have a squad that can give a team like Australia a decent contest, even if it's pretty undeniable that they are overall superior. But we need to be set up to play correctly, and it probably would help having consistent games against really decent opposition too. 

Hay's All Whites couldn't even get close to competing with the second string side Arnold played at Eden Park the other year. I think that was primarily down to him and not the relative quality of the sides. 

We still don't know if Bazeley is capable of getting the maximum out of our players. We'll know a lot more after the next two windows. How good would it be to beat a side that wasn't an OFC side or an Asian/African minnow for the first time since Herbert's reign. Baze almost got such a scalp when we were leading 1-0 against Qatar at halftime in 2023...

I don't rate Qatar. They were poor at their home WC, and are currently only 4th in their AFC WC qualifying pool.
IR Iran ( 19 pts), Uzbekistan ( 16 pts), UAE (10 pts) &  Qatar (10 pts)

Somehow the Qataris are FIFA ranked 48th. Ahead of the likes of Saudi (59th). The same Saudi Arabia who bet Argentina in Qatar. But then we know the rankings are flawed.

The 4 draws Baze's AWs have earned above have more merit. Hay's AWs got a 1-0 win over Bahrain in late 2021. Bahrain agruably are at Qatar's level.

We did well against aussie in the away fixture. One of the better oerformances under Hay- it was overshadowed by one of the worst all whites performances at home where you could tell Hay had lost his mojo and the players were  well below par. I was at that game and they really let the crowd down that day with a laboured, aimless match . In the Brisbane fixture we fizzed- Garbett  and Just  played very well from memory. De Jong should have scored and otherwise did ok. 

imanixsupporter

I think we easily have a squad that can give a team like Australia a decent contest, even if it's pretty undeniable that they are overall superior. But we need to be set up to play correctly, and it probably would help having consistent games against really decent opposition too. 

Hay's All Whites couldn't even get close to competing with the second string side Arnold played at Eden Park the other year. I think that was primarily down to him and not the relative quality of the sides. 

We still don't know if Bazeley is capable of getting the maximum out of our players. We'll know a lot more after the next two windows. How good would it be to beat a side that wasn't an OFC side or an Asian/African minnow for the first time since Herbert's reign. Baze almost got such a scalp when we were leading 1-0 against Qatar at halftime in 2023...