I think both things can be true at once. We can be super proud of how the team is progressing in terms of creating chances and absorbing pressure while staying in the game for a long period, and at the same time it’s frustrating how we can’t seem to get results against those type of teams when it was in our grasp but ultimately didn’t.
I think most football fans in NZ accept they’re not the strongest team in the world and will always be the underdog, at the same time some people go “oh 5-6 years ago we would have been smashed so a 2-1 defeat isn’t too bad” when the quality of the players has improved dramatically.. it was refreshing to hear the DB said pre game they’re expecting a positive result out of those two games rather then show up and just earn a international cap..
The key is consistency.. we looked unbelievably good in first game vs Aussie, then really average in second game, we looked poor against Poland but good against Norway.. that’s where I think the big area of development is.. this Colombia game was the baseline, can they do it often? Time will tell
I think most football fans in NZ accept they’re not the strongest team in the world and will always be the underdog, at the same time some people go “oh 5-6 years ago we would have been smashed so a 2-1 defeat isn’t too bad” when the quality of the players has improved dramatically.. it was refreshing to hear the DB said pre game they’re expecting a positive result out of those two games rather then show up and just earn a international cap..
The key is consistency.. we looked unbelievably good in first game vs Aussie, then really average in second game, we looked poor against Poland but good against Norway.. that’s where I think the big area of development is.. this Colombia game was the baseline, can they do it often? Time will tell