All Whites vs Egypt | Mon 22nd June | 1:00pm (NZT) | BC Place, Vancouver
312 replies·11,784 views
about 1 month ago
Every interview Baz has he seems likeable but he never comes across as someone who understands the tactical intricacies of the game. Always just words like 'tempo' 'intensity' 'passion' etc
about 1 month ago· edited about 1 month ago· History
coochiee wrote: Good point, but we know that her NZ sabbatical is all due to Dronegate. The Ferns job would be a huge retrograde step from taking Canada to Olympics gold.
Short odds Priestman is off to coach in one of the top European leagues next. Being a Brit, you'd think the WSL.
She's been quite public about being well settled in NZ with her special needs child. Maybe she does go, but it wouldn't surprise me to see her stay in NZ medium-term at least, while her partner is running the academy and their child is primary school aged - stability and autism go hand in hand.
I think there's probably room in the women's game still to share the Ferns/Nix jobs but I doubt NZF would be interested, there are Intl window clashes to consider. Still, clearly we need to do better than Mayne.
We didn’t get our full complement of subs until the 85th minute. By which time it certainly was 3-1. And we didn’t regain our momentum until then.
Bindon helped, but not just by himself.
We hadn’t been attacking most of the first half, the second half similarly was mostly sitting back and taking wave after wave of attack. We played them into confidence. When they were 1-0 down and couldn’t hit the side of the barn they were feeling the pressure.
If we had the ball halfway up the park they aren’t scoring and we have less need for aerial defense.
And I was just watching the game. The best chance created before the subs was by McCowatt. It seemed to me watching live that McCowatt was the one getting on the ball and driving forward after the goal.
What cost us was not the stomp or the poor officiating, it was the reaction to it. A familiar one from the Nix’s season for the first goal and once the wall was breached their belief was sky high.
The starting team rallied against Iran, but were exhausted mentally and physically today.
about 1 month ago· edited about 1 month ago· History
Didn't know her child was autistic. Yes understandably then some stability is a priority. NZF and the Nix, job/cost sharing makes some sense. Mayne is taking the Ferns nowhere.
As long as we are competitive against Belgium (I doubt we get a result), I'd sort of be happy to give Baze another 18 months until the end of 2027. Of course you do a full post WC review, get lots of player feedback.
It's just that I don't think the AWs gaffer role is going to attract many quality candidates until the WC actually comes into focus. That will happen from 2028. There could be a higher class of applicant floating around. Of course if Pragnell can get the AWs into say the 2027 Gold Cup that changes somewhat.
Being the affable guy he is I reckon Bazeley would even agree to effectively being a locum until 2028. NZF could even approach Des Buckingham in advance and ask him would be be keen on a 2 year contract starting mid 2028 to the 2030 WC. I think in his heart Des would love to coach at a WC, especially reconnecting with the large cohort he had at the U20 WC in 2019. He'd know how to coach against an Arab nation after his time in Saudi!
I think that yes there is some real value in a coach who has coached around the international football traps, and is streetwise to some of the issues that arise at tourneys like the World Cup. Managing referees, preparing players for all eventualities on the pitch etc. But then those coaches don't come cheap.
Ufuk Talay was quite open about his interest in job sharing the Nix and AWs and seemed disappointed it was a no-go. Considering this was pre-Auckland FC the issue of "coach impartiality" was not in the way.
A decent quality coach would either need a side gig for most of his tenure, or only come in late in the piece before the WC finals, much like Australia did in the days gone by with a whole raft of Dutch coaches.
Job sharing the AWs role, aka Ricki a big no these days.
Ricki's preparation for the Mexico WC playoffs in 2013 was awful, in large part because he was still coaching the Nix days before departing for Mexico City.
martinb wrote: That’s a very authoritative ‘Wrong’ Cooch.
We didn’t get our full complement of subs until the 85th minute. By which time it certainly was 3-1. And we didn’t regain our momentum until then.
Bindon helped, but not just by himself.
We hadn’t been attacking most of the first half, the second half similarly was mostly sitting back and taking wave after wave of attack. We played them into confidence. When they were 1-0 down and couldn’t hit the side of the barn they were feeling the pressure.
If we had the ball halfway up the park they aren’t scoring and we have less need for aerial defense.
And I was just watching the game. The best chance created before the subs was by McCowatt. It seemed to me watching live that McCowatt was the one getting on the ball and driving forward after the goal.
What cost us was not the stomp or the poor officiating, it was the reaction to it. A familiar one from the Nix’s season for the first goal and once the wall was breached their belief was sky high.
The starting team rallied against Iran, but were exhausted mentally and physically today.
Technically I don't think we used the full complement of subs. Once Egypt used a concussion sub, we were allowed one more, although admittedly that occured past the 90 minute mark.
On the timing of subs issue, with 5 subs / 3 windows, I think you need to take a look at rugby approach, where they are planning to replace props/hookers/halfbacks after 50 minutes in order to make use of the full resources of the full 23 man playing group. So with our preferred 4-2-3-1, tell the 3 (singh, just, mccowatt) they are running for 45 minutes plus 15 minutes in the second half, leave nothing in the tank, sub them off (even if on hattrick etc) at 60 minute mark and put Randall, Old, Thomas to run for 30 minutes. Problem is that our fullbacks are doing a lot of running and so both have need replacing as well, which does not leave a sub spare for injury.
about 1 month ago· edited about 1 month ago· History
martinb wrote: That’s a very authoritative ‘Wrong’ Cooch.
We didn’t get our full complement of subs until the 85th minute. By which time it certainly was 3-1. And we didn’t regain our momentum until then.
Bindon helped, but not just by himself.
We hadn’t been attacking most of the first half, the second half similarly was mostly sitting back and taking wave after wave of attack. We played them into confidence. When they were 1-0 down and couldn’t hit the side of the barn they were feeling the pressure.
If we had the ball halfway up the park they aren’t scoring and we have less need for aerial defense.
And I was just watching the game. The best chance created before the subs was by McCowatt. It seemed to me watching live that McCowatt was the one getting on the ball and driving forward after the goal.
What cost us was not the stomp or the poor officiating, it was the reaction to it. A familiar one from the Nix’s season for the first goal and once the wall was breached their belief was sky high.
The starting team rallied against Iran, but were exhausted mentally and physically today.
You said the subs were made at 3-1. The only subs made post their 3rd goal were Bindon for Payne and FDV for Just.
Tyler B could yes have come on earlier to shore up the defence. It was surprising Payne played 85 mins, and it may have been physical/mental fatigue that saw Trezeguetsneak in ahead of him.
But I don't know if Singh coming off earlier changes things much.
The tide started turning when Wood wasn't getting so many headers/chest downs, and we weren't getting the 2nd balls any more. Crocs long balls weren't now all hitting Wood. We were getting starved of possession. The pushed Marmoush wider at HT and it worked.
After their first goal, we had a good strong period around 60-65 mins.
But then Old gets stamped, lies on the ground in shock, they take the quick throw, some of our players are too busy gesticulating with the ref whilst running back, and bang they go 2-1 up at 67 mins. Maybe immediately after that Sarpreet & Libby should have been dragged, but they were off well before their 3rd goal.
We did have some late game momentum but that was as much them going defensive (back 3/5?) and letting us have the ball. Salah off.
None of Thomas, Randall or Old had much effect on the game when they came on. Randall with a pretty simple task to force a corner, but somehow the ball came off him for a goal kick. Bindon easily the best of the subs and maybe lubbering FDV 2nd to that, with his dangerous corners and crosses.
Bazeley didn’t turn to his bench until the 66th minute, after the lead his side held for 43 minutes had been erased, when he introduced Old, who soon found himself back on the sideline waiting for a pair of torn and bloody shorts to be replaced.
Old came on for McCowatt, with two more changes following in the 76th minute – Jesse Randall and Ryan Thomas for Liberato Cacace and Sarpreet Singh – and the final two following in the 85th – Tyler Bindon and Francis de Vries for Eli Just and Tim Payne.
Bazeley was asked about whether any of them could have been made sooner in his post-match press conference and said: “We talked about it at halftime.
“We knew backing up [our first half performance] was going to be difficult, but we looked at it at halftime. We spoke to the players and the medical department and everybody was fine.
“We were doing so well, so it's a difficult one to predict – that we wouldn’t be able to replicate the first half performance.
“I think you'll see that we reacted pretty quickly and tried to get some help on the left side with Oldie defensively, with their right back pushing right on. Then by how we got players on to try to get back in the game, in regard to Ryan and Jesse coming on.
“I think we made changes when we could. Who knows, if we made them earlier, maybe we would have been able to change it, but I think when you look at the first-half performance, the players on the pitch were doing really well, so well it would be hard to take them off.
“We made changes pretty early.”
The question is whether changes could have been made proactively, before Zico’s equaliser, instead of reactively after it, and whether more could have been made immediately after the scores were levelled.
At the time, early from the second half, watching from the media tribunes, it certainly felt as though fresh legs in midfield – Thomas – and pace on the counter in attack – Old and Randall – would have been useful.
They were the first three men brought on, but in hindsight, the timing of their introductions does feel like it was slightly too late.
Captain Chris Wood was asked by Stuff after the match if fresher legs were needed sooner and replied: “Not necessarily.
“I think we just needed to do better in the moment to weather the storm. This is international football and it's good sides [we’re up against] every single time we play.
“We just have to weather the storm better. If we do better on their first goal, I think we can get ourselves back into the game, but that's how games go.”
With just four days before their last match against Belgium – one for recovery, one off and two for training – he is more likely to make changes this time around, with Old, Thomas and Randall all likely to come into consideration to start.
The match at 8pm Friday local time in Vancouver (3pm Saturday afternoon NZ time) is effectively a must-win match for both teams with regard to making the knockout stage.
Randall starting would be an error, he's just not at the level of the other options. Thomas in for Singh, both McCowatt and Just deserve to keep their starting spot.
Not that Singh has been bad, he wasn't as involved vs Egypt as he was vs Iran but he's only got 45-50 useful minutes in him so he's probably a better game chasing option.
about 1 month ago· edited about 1 month ago· History
I think playing with Randall from the start would frustrate Wood. Jesse taking the wrong option, one touch too many and losing the ball.
We saw the Woodsman give Just a bit of a broadside for taking the shot, when not trying the pass across goal to his captain. I fear our captain is starting to feel the burden of never scoring in a really major game for the AWs.
It could be worse with inexperienced Randall on the park, and yes Just and McCowatt have for the most part done well.
We might retain possession more with Thomas starting but won't gain much in attack. His goals/assist record at Zwolle was very low this season. Against Egypt, Thomas was a bit free down the right late on, but rather than try a centring cross or pass into the box when we needed a goal, conservatively fed it back infield with a short pass. That's more his game nowadays.
about 1 month ago· edited about 1 month ago· History
That also suggests that the guys who were spent didn’t want to come off and that perhaps Bazeley deferred to their opinion, rather than fully refresh the team.
The fight back against Iran was a good one, but we were mentally cooked before and after Egypt scored, against the crowd and the occasion. And a fair few were physically done too.
So the performance against Belgium will define our cup.
We’ve attacked, we’ve played 4 at the back, but the twenty minute period of getting a shellacking from Egypt is strong now.
The good news is maybe the Belgium support won’t be so numerous or so unconditional, given the supporter’s previous criticisms of their team.
Interesting call on Woodsy. I think the Iran game is the best I’ve seen from him against us, both magical goals. Against Egypt he got two or three balls floated in, but I think even if he’d been more aggressive in attacking the ball the ref would’ve protected the keeper. He’s in a wee scoring dip since coming back for Forest too, certainly compared to his two better seasons for them.
Interesting to add a few things together- the wanting the ball from Eli, choosing to take that free kick when it’s not something we’ve seen a lot from him and how much he was fired up and was talking passion and belief into everyone at the start of the Iran game.
His goals at club are headers, usually not him alone against 4 plus the keeper, which is how we’ve been sending him crosses…but he also does well linking and finishing counters. The purest Wood goal we’ve seen is that lay off for Eli. Fast ball and player movement, making space for someone to shoot before the keeper can get properly set for preference!
There’s been a couple of times he’s been caught between wanting to try to turn and shoot and laying off, when the defenders have been tighter and the options not as good as Eli against Iran.
As as well, we were up against a team featuring Mo Salah. Even a brilliant piece of play, as we saw with McCowatt and Stamenic doesn’t guarantee a goal. Maybe Woodsy needs Bayliss and Randall, lots of shooting, a bit of chaos and disorder and a loose ball or rebound to pounce on and put away.
And the best awareness in the box if he wants a square ball is probably Ben Waine. Though I doubt we’ll see him, but he’s had that knockout success this season!
As someone who's been at our last 4 games, I've noticed that our subs have been a lot later then the other teams (Egypt made a change before the end of the first half for instance) and we are still incredibly poor at defending crosses (4 goals in 4 games, simply not good enough). Belgium will look to cross as its a sure-fire way to score against us.
Crocs, Singh and Randall have not been good enough. Why is Randall even getting on ahead of Waine/Kosta, he's provided zip in his cameos.
AP needs to start the last game and Singh come off the bench and why does Callum Mc. score so many goals at club level yet never looks like scoring in white?
Being at the front of the March in Vancouver holding the flying kiwi banner was something else!
Supporter of the world's best football teams: Waikato..., Kingz FC, NZ Knights, The Nix, The Argyle & of course the All Whites
about 1 month ago· edited about 1 month ago· History
That Egyptian first half sub was due to an injury. Other teams expect to beat the lowest ranked team at the WC, so when we take a lead they are always likely to make the first change, as we are happy with things and they are not
Only an excellent reflex save by the Pharaohs keeper denied McC. But yes he is overdue for the AWs
coochiee wrote: Good point, but we know that her NZ sabbatical is all due to Dronegate. The Ferns job would be a huge retrograde step from taking Canada to Olympics gold.
Short odds Priestman is off to coach in one of the top European leagues next. Being a Brit, you'd think the WSL.
She's been quite public about being well settled in NZ with her special needs child. Maybe she does go, but it wouldn't surprise me to see her stay in NZ medium-term at least, while her partner is running the academy and their child is primary school aged - stability and autism go hand in hand.
I think there's probably room in the women's game still to share the Ferns/Nix jobs but I doubt NZF would be interested, there are Intl window clashes to consider. Still, clearly we need to do better than Mayne.
If Bev stays in NZ and NZ football ignore the chance to have her involved with the Ferns at whatever arrangement can be made they need to be all sacked.
coochiee wrote: Good point, but we know that her NZ sabbatical is all due to Dronegate. The Ferns job would be a huge retrograde step from taking Canada to Olympics gold.
Short odds Priestman is off to coach in one of the top European leagues next. Being a Brit, you'd think the WSL.
She's been quite public about being well settled in NZ with her special needs child. Maybe she does go, but it wouldn't surprise me to see her stay in NZ medium-term at least, while her partner is running the academy and their child is primary school aged - stability and autism go hand in hand.
I think there's probably room in the women's game still to share the Ferns/Nix jobs but I doubt NZF would be interested, there are Intl window clashes to consider. Still, clearly we need to do better than Mayne.
If Bev stays in NZ and NZ football ignore the chance to have her involved with the Ferns at whatever arrangement can be made they need to be all sacked.
I think if a WSL team under performs and sacks their coach early days next season, surely she will be targeted.
Yes she is settled here and NZ Football should be actively getting her to coach the Ferns ASAP, but money does talk.
Having only now watched the replay, maybe we should have made subs earlier, but the first goal happens because our defense let a man get a free header in the box, and once the header is made, our goalkeeper straight up fumbles it. It was right to him, and you can tell from his body language that he knows he should have saved it. Then, the second goal happens because our players (Cacace and Bell in particular) lose their heads and forget to play to the whistle because they feel like they got hard done by by the ref.
Those two moments might easily have not happened. Crocombe might have made that save, Cacace might have remained professional after a bad call from the ref and not let Salah so easily waltz through down his side, and we weather a bit of an Egypt storm, which to my eye was not unsurvivable, and come out the other side 1-0 up and hold on for the win. I don't myself see the big regret as our coach not making earlier subs or not making a genius on the fly tactical adjustment to deal with the opppents', I just see two particularly bad errors our players made.
The third goal was of course pathetic too but that one didnt matter.
Typical Bazeley Ball. He only has one game plan. Go all out to score early then spend the next 80 minutes sitting back. No other tactics. He looked like a stunned possum in car headlights in the second half. No shouting encouragement or positional changes, just nothing. I think Paulsen would've saved the 1st and the 3rd goals. However the second one is fully down to the referee and his decision not to consult VAR. Old was clearly pummelled and had the evidence to show for it. You can say play to the whistle but that foul was so blatant even Stevie Wonder could've seen it. That first half was good, but that second half .........
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
about 1 month ago· edited about 1 month ago· History
imanixsupporter wrote: Having only now watched the replay, maybe we should have made subs earlier, but the first goal happens because our defense let a man get a free header in the box, and once the header is made, our goalkeeper straight up fumbles it. It was right to him, and you can tell from his body language that he knows he should have saved it. Then, the second goal happens because our players (Cacace and Bell in particular) lose their heads and forget to play to the whistle because they feel like they got hard done by by the ref.
Those two moments might easily have not happened. Crocombe might have made that save, Cacace might have remained professional after a bad call from the ref and not let Salah so easily waltz through down his side, and we weather a bit of an Egypt storm, which to my eye was not unsurvivable, and come out the other side 1-0 up and hold on for the win. I don't myself see the big regret as our coach not making earlier subs or not making a genius on the fly tactical adjustment to deal with the opppents', I just see two particularly bad errors our players made.
The third goal was of course pathetic too but that one didnt matter.
Not sure what was visible on the box but we were getting done by the ref and liners all over the park.
That first sub for Egypt was gamesmanship. He wasn't good enough so they played the injury card to get him off.
Supporter of the world's best football teams: Waikato..., Kingz FC, NZ Knights, The Nix, The Argyle & of course the All Whites
The first goal happened because McCowatt did not commit to the tackle - as he was on a yellow and he and Singh should have been subbed at 55 (like I said at half time on the day)
But also mistakes happen when you’re tired, mentally.
The Iran game was intense and then the Egypt one, from the numbers above was more intense, had an unsympathetic ref, a loud crowd and the pressure of history for Egypt. Did you know it was a record 92 years that they hadn’t registered a WC win? But they’ve only played in 4 WCs, so really quite similar to the AWs in modern times.
Look how focused we were at the start of both matches. And how dominant. And how we moved as a team.
You could say that our best players were the best to cope with the toughest moments, but we were frustrated with the ref and with ourselves and we didn’t play to the whistle. We had lost the plot. If we didn’t make the change before the first goal, then we needed more earlier. Our best players should’ve taken account of the fresh legs and mentality we needed to face an Egypt with the wind in their sails, fans behind them and a big duck to break.
We might have lost anyway. Mo Salah with all his guile against scarcely played in the Championship. Trezuguet, who scored the 3rd goal had 3 years at Aston Villa, against A league stalwart. There was a quality gap and Bindon and Old aside more to the subs. I feel like we should have gone to plan B earlier, but then they might have done the same chasing the game for the final 20 minutes…
Tactically we looked shot in the last 45/60 min. Some occasionally good progressive play, but there were long patches where we lacked composure and went long with a rushed clearance with Wood and Singh isolated. Sustained pressure leads to higher workload, more mistakes, and goals.
We didn’t seem to adjust well to Wood being more tightly marked than against Iran. He had only 2 touches in the box and had 17 aerial duels. This compares to 8 and 3 vs Iran. Our front 4 only had 5 touches in the box vs Egypt. Passes into the attacking third also went down.
As easy as it is to blame one player, and Singh seems to be the one people focus on, for me, that game highlighted a structural problem, not a personnel one. image.png12.35 KB
The first goal happened because McCowatt did not commit to the tackle - as he was on a yellow and he and Singh should have been subbed at 55 (like I said at half time on the day)
What are you talking about exactly? How many seconds before the first goal does McCowatt not commit to a tackle due to being on a yellow?
Something I noticed about the first goal was we had two defenders on the crosser, Just & Cacace, and given there were two then I think one of them could have closed in faster (and by this I mean as fast as possible, it did happen fast and they werent necessarily slow), because if they got skinned there was another defender. But both closed him down like there was only one of them there and they had to be mindful of the fact that being skinned could be fatal in that position.
But at the end of the day that goal is mostly due to our centre backs and Payne allowing one of their players a free header, more so than Crocombe failing to save a header that was right at him because it was at point blank range. Though I think he could have done better and I think he thinks that too. At World Cups you sometimes need keepers to make saves they wouldnt necessarily be expected to. Crocombe hasnt made bad blunders but he hasnt really made any great saves in the two games, I think everything he has saved he probably should be expected to have.
Paston 2010, has certainly been better than Crocombe 2026. And it's big factor in whether you get 3 draws, or something not so impressive.
Just look at Curaçao's 0-0 against Ecuador. Their keeper equalling the WC record for 15 saves in a game. Shame that Paulsen had such a poor finish to his season in Poland.
It's a tough one, I don't think that Crocombe or Paulsen are showing enough in general to be the clear leader so it probably has come down to experience and maybe size. I don't think Beze's keeper selection is really clear cut and hindsight is 20/20. There is no indication that Paulsen would have been better or worse. If Paulsen shit the bed we would be saying that he should have gone with experience/size/club form I'm sure.
I think that boxall should have been replaced with Binden for the second game. I think this is an extremely clear cut decision. It was excusable for the first game, but not the second.
We don't know what Ryan Thomas's fitness is like to know how much game he could play to make the call whether he should start over Singh, it's obviously not great if he is being put on the field so late in the game. Singh does offer a spark and I'm not as critical as others.
But if we are 1-0 at 60 and the lads are flagging, you pile on that third centreback and hold on for dear life. Three centrebacks might have got us a draw or the narrow win, it was clear we had been overrun. Dunno why beze thought our lads had the fitness or ability to outscore Egypt. Ridiculous.
