All Whites vs Egypt | Mon 22nd June | 1:00pm (NZT) | BC Place, Vancouver

301 replies · 10,158 views
2 days ago
Ranix wrote:
 coochiee wrote:
 martinb wrote:
 valeo wrote:
The reasons we lost:

- Subs too late
- Baz didn't react to their changes at all - particularly Marmoush going wide, completely destroyed us
- Crocombe with the worst keeper clanger so far this wc
- Ref wasn't too kind to us

OK, they have a couple of top level players - I think that's a wee way down the list of reasons we lost
Their keeper? 

We go 2-0 up at that point I think we’re a good shout to go 3-0 up. 
Their keeper's save of McCowatt's flick on header a huge moment in the game.

Lovely ball from Stamenic, great run McC and it so nearly came together. 
This.
And then Crocombe not being able to do the same for there first goal.
Game changing moments.

Not to mention the all too familiar sight of Payne flapping his arms in despair after an untracked player just a few feet away from him ghosts in to score. 
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Endorsed by
Banzai!...AIEEE!!!Leggy
2 days ago
It was painfully obvious for 10-15mins that our players were exhausted and needed to be subbed off. I was saying to the person I was watching it with a collapse was coming if we didn't change things up. If it was obvious to us, it should have been obvious to management. It's disgraceful we waited till the win was out of reach before we freshened up the team. There is no excuse. The reffing was also shit but that isn't the reason we lost.
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AucklandPhoenixirLeggyMainland FC+4
2 days ago
Thinking about this cup so far, one positive that may happen is that perhaps a quality manager on the way up or with one or two missteps looking to get back on the path might see that we have the talent to make it worth trying to manage us, especially now we’re basically guaranteed this shop window…

So our next manager might make earlier changes or have us up another goal perhaps…when we have Walker, LBS and LKH in the fray under captain Surman or Bindon or Stamenic and whoever emerges in the next 4 years…


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Endorsed by
Ki
2 days ago · edited 2 days ago · History
martinb wrote:
Thinking about this cup so far, one positive that may happen is that perhaps a quality manager on the way up or with one or two missteps looking to get back on the path might see that we have the talent to make it worth trying to manage us, especially now we’re basically guaranteed this shop window…

So our next manager might make earlier changes or have us up another goal perhaps…when we have Walker, LBS and LKH in the fray under captain Surman or Bindon or Stamenic and whoever emerges in the next 4 years…
It's a cold comfort in the wake of a debacle second half that robbed us of the potential joy on offer, but I do hope this glass half full take comes into fruition. Pre-match I was half expecting an announcement of a Baze 4 years extension on the basis of only losing to Egypt by one goal. Maybe we do need someone who doesnt have the emotional connection to being part of each players development. Someone with a bit of fire that sift through the sentimental bullkaka that can harness the potential and talent that is quickly becoming a bit directionless and wasted. 
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Endorsed by
Ki
2 days ago
All the players are tracked during the game... if they are poked, it shows in their data and then they get pulled. And if not, you would hope any player who thinks their gassed would signal a change, for the benefit of the team.

Wood outside these two games has not played a full 90 for how long... but he seemed ok.

I understand the want to find excuses, but maybe, just maybe, their relative class to ours eventually showed.
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Endorsed by
coochieeSouthernix
2 days ago · edited 2 days ago · History
martinb wrote:
Thinking about this cup so far, one positive that may happen is that perhaps a quality manager on the way up or with one or two missteps looking to get back on the path might see that we have the talent to make it worth trying to manage us, especially now we’re basically guaranteed this shop window…

So our next manager might make earlier changes or have us up another goal perhaps…when we have Walker, LBS and LKH in the fray under captain Surman or Bindon or Stamenic and whoever emerges in the next 4 years…
That might happen in 2028-2029 as the next WC looms on the horizon.

But a getting a quality coach to wait 3-4 years before any worthwile matches happen? That's not very attractive unless you a youngest coach with plenty of time on your side.

I'd be tempted to give Bazeley a new 18 month deal until the end of 2027 (if he wants it), then review the situation.

Still got the Belgium game to go, and for 3 out of 4 football halves we have gone well. It's was all very upbeat at HT today.

Edit - good point above that all the players where heart rate monitors etc, and coaching staff have live intel on who is fatiguing etc. I mean just prior Salah's goal, Old get fed the ball and we attack into their half. 20 seconds later we are down 2-1.
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2 days ago
I respect people's ability to look past the referee and blame our own shortcomings, but the fact that we call our a loss of momentum and tiring legs as reasons we loss is a least somewhat because of the calls.

When you can't make a challenge because the referee consistently calls soft fouls against you. And you can't get out because your players can't hold the ball because they're getting fouled. And the opposition can go down like a sack of potatoes when any pressure is applied.

It's little wonder that you tire and moment goes against you.
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Endorsed by
KiMarto
2 days ago · edited 2 days ago · History
Can’t believe that people are considering now offering Baz an extension based upon that master class of game awareness in that second half.

Corica gets a lot of shit on here but tell me if you don’t think he replaces tiring players on yellow cards and brings on another defender if he’s one nil up at 55 mins in a match of this significance?

You don’t need data to tell you that Singh was tiring. It was obvious and waiting till the 76th minute to sub him was criminal.

Auckland will rise once more

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Endorsed by
Banzai!...AIEEE!!!FUKhalil MediaKi+2
2 days ago
My thoughts, only from seeing it live in the ground:

Did feel like the ref was giving just about everything 50/50 to Egypt from early on... free kicks given very easily when we made robust challenges, but almost nothing given when we were on the receiving end. But I'm not that fussed about the non-call just before the goal, Old's touch was abysmal, he never was getting to it before it went out and that's plenty good enough of an excuse for any ref not to give that. 

4 consecutive games now, Haiti England Iran Egypt where a cross has found an attacker in plenty of space to head home. Groundhog day.

I feel like Crocombe could have done better for the Egypt opener and equaliser, not howlers but saving one of those changes the game and they wouldn't be considered worldies or make it to save of the tournament contention. I'd drop him for Paulsen now. Would also drop Singh for Randall or Thomas or even Bayliss, doesnt do enough. 

Finally, I was disappointed just how much we retreated after going ahead. It should be clear now that we can't try and sit on leads and grind games out. If we miraculously get a lead against Belgium we have to try and keep playing our game a bit more. Either that or sub Bindon & Rufer on for a couple of attackers and really properly park the bus. 

At least we are still alive for the moment. Until Belgium score against us I genuinely believe that this team has it in them to beat Belgium if they have a particularly good day, and Belgium have another poor one (which they easily could, they've already had two pretty average performances at this World Cup). 
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Endorsed by
BraveheartFUhepatitisMarto
2 days ago
Interesting that the Egyptian Super Cup (equivalent of the English Community /Charity Shield) is played in the UAE and last year the 3rd/4th playoff was refereed by todays ref https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Egyptian_Super_Cup.  Of the 52 referees at the tournament, take out the NZ ref, the Egyptian ref, Ali Ferghani, there were 48 other refs that could've been appointed that would have raised eyebrows less.

Poor on the NZ analysts for not picking up on that.  Mind you he also refereed Central Coast Mariners win in the AFC Cup final of 2024 so maybe we felt we liked his style.
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Endorsed by
Marto
2 days ago
Don’t think Singh carrying on at him helped. Start of the second half he was just having a go as the kick off happened. 


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2 days ago
whatever-11456-1 wrote:
 ir43 wrote:
Came down to Egypt coach made tweaks at ht, changed the game, Egypt were on top there after, Baz never reacted to that, didnt even attempt to shore up the midfield or defence and just waited for them to score, baffling management. Surely Bindon would of been better when it was backs against the walls then Singh?
Crocombe awful, needs dropping not just the first goal, his general kicking and parrying every single shot. Payne is just a terrible player, surely Bindon would be better there?
Singh showed why he has consistently dropped down divisions, a gust of wind could push him over, the weakest footballer I have ever witnessed. 
Another winnable game thrown by non reactive tatical changes. 
Let me get this right?  Singh is the weakest Footballer that you have ever witnessed?





he has the upper body strength of a frail old woman, he gets pushed off the ball every single time.
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2 days ago
Nommag wrote:
It was painfully obvious for 10-15mins that our players were exhausted and needed to be subbed off. I was saying to the person I was watching it with a collapse was coming if we didn't change things up. If it was obvious to us, it should have been obvious to management. It's disgraceful we waited till the win was out of reach before we freshened up the team. There is no excuse. The reffing was also shit but that isn't the reason we lost.
i think every single watcher except Baz could see that we were dead on our feet, and the goal was invitable and needed to make changes asap to at least attempt to stem the tide, Bindon would of been perfect in those circumstances.
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Endorsed by
PK
2 days ago · edited 2 days ago · History
More to what Imanix writes, I've gone back to again rewatch that moment with Old, and it is yes his poor touch that sees the ball go out. The poor touch reinforcing to me his value is more now as a full back.

Post his poor control Old then flops looking for the foul. He did a bit of that back at the Nix. Tough on him, but really he would have seen from the pine the UAE ref wasn't giving us much. 

Where the injustice happens is that he is then clearly stood on between his legs (most likely accidental). He then should have rolled around trying to highlight he was in pain. Learn the dark arts. Some of AWs reserves could also have done more to plead with the ref as they were very close by. Both the ref and AR were not near Old. The Egyptians managed to get the ref late in the game to halt proceedings when their CB got that bad shiner to his face, and collapsed like he'd been shot. Their keeper also one time?

Maybe thats why the  Pharaohs took the quick throw, trying to hide that stamping of Ben O, by moving the game on quickly. 

All could have beens, should have beens.
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Endorsed by
Banzai!...AIEEE!!!PKSouthernix
2 days ago · edited 2 days ago · History
Ben isn’t happy! Though he’s a tough nut…lucky we’ve got VAR. Also noticed we never got replays of the several times Woodsy got called offside. But it’s like the Colombia goal line re-set in the age group. We’re never getting the rub of the green in football.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360995557/all-white-ben-old-left-ripped-shorts-and-bloody-kit-after-painful-clash


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Endorsed by
PKSouthernix
2 days ago
Genuinely what did Singh do to our fanbase to evade basic criticism. Dude's past it and injury prone. The defence of a piss poor stater for four games in a row sums up why the nix doesn't win anything. Ex player and one good season = Messi in these circles.
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Endorsed by
ir
2 days ago
observerfromuh wrote:
Genuinely what did Singh do to our fanbase to evade basic criticism. Dude's past it and injury prone. The defence of a piss poor stater for four games in a row sums up why the nix doesn't win anything. Ex player and one good season = Messi in these circles.
Strange comment given the last mention of Singh here was saying he has the strength of a "frail old women".

Kind of just seems like your looking for the vaguest of excuses to bash Nix fans.
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Endorsed by
kwlapPK
2 days ago
I just watched a replay which always helps sum up a match I find.
Biggest glaring problem we have is defending crosses. Thats the last four games we have conceded like this. Multiple errors. Failure to put pressure on crosser. Then leaving big gaps between defenders. Then failure to communicate between defenders. Its schoolboy stuff yet none of the coaching staff appear to know how to address this.
Salah was always likely to carve us up at some stage but to concede two goals by poor defending is really unexceptable. Trezeguet didnt even have to jump, he just bent over and nodded it in. Then our defenders just looked at each other and waved their arms.
Diito everyones comments about too late subs. Really poor game management. You are 1-0 up with 25min to go at the WC and you leave on a tired no10 playmaker when its screamingly obvious you need to shore up the defense.
So thats 3 times we have lead in this WC in the second half and have only 1 point to show for it.
Excellent first half and Bindon is a really classy player
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Endorsed by
Mainland FC
2 days ago
We conceded at 58 mins. Match went over 100 min mark

Watching extended highlights of Belgium versus Iran both keepers were superb 

3-6 mths ago goal keeping looked a strength of this AWs squad. Not now
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2 days ago
Reality is that we're not as strong defensively at this wc as we have been.

Great first half performance but there's no way our starting eleven could maintain that intensity against Egypt.

The signs were there towards the end of the first half as Egypt started picking it up.

Then the Egypt tactical tweak at halftime, and no reaction from our bench.

Kept looking across to Bazeley at the ground, and so disappointed he didn't respond earlier.

The ref appointment and performance would have been no surprise to management - and the players should've read it accordingly. It was clear early in the game that we weren't going to get anything with the 50 50's.


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Endorsed by
FU
1 day ago
Felt the keeper has looked dodgy in both games. Seems to be quite slow to react and parries balls that should be held. The header for that first goal was powerful but it was in the middle of the goal and it seemed a weak attempt at a save. I'd like to see the keeper go with 2 hands there and there's a chance to keep it out. 
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Endorsed by
Mainland FCMartoPKSouthernix+1
1 day ago
Southernix wrote:
 observerfromuh wrote:
Genuinely what did Singh do to our fanbase to evade basic criticism. Dude's past it and injury prone. The defence of a piss poor stater for four games in a row sums up why the nix doesn't win anything. Ex player and one good season = Messi in these circles.
 
Strange comment given the last mention of Singh here was saying he has the strength of a "frail old women".

Kind of just seems like your looking for the vaguest of excuses to bash Nix fans.
Yes. Eli Just is the best ball running attacker in the team of course, but a commentator said our country only has about 60 professional players in the men's game. Sarpreet still in his 20s and could do with more club games next season to get form together. Some people are too entitled considering the limited number of pro players we have. Let's be more strict on moving on from ageing players instead, Michael Boxall, Tommy Smith. & I won't accept the way some ignore the Wanderers player knocked Sarpreet hard onto ground his knee to hurt him in the A League "Injury prone" as if the Wanderers player didn't cause the Injury.
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1 day ago · edited 1 day ago · History
2 games in and I still can't help but feel like Bazeley is the biggest anchor on the team. The XI has picked itself for the most part, he's avoided making brave changes for the Egypt game (understandably after a solid result), but he's also refused to be brave with his substitutes, his tactical adjustments and his ability to set us up to defend a lead within a game (in addition to the obvious squad selection issues). 

The fact that we folded mentally when under pressure and feeling hard done by from some truly disgraceful refereeing probably speaks to an issue in the mentality of the group too - maybe more cultural architects would help? We should've been prepared for these things, we know its hard for the small teams to get the rub of the green.

Either way, have to make some changes now. We aren't going to be any less tired chasing De Bruyne's passes around and his supporting cast is a level above Egypt when they want to be.

Valley FC til I die?

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Endorsed by
MartoPK
1 day ago
Interesting call on Bazeley... to call him the biggest anchor to this team, when I think everyone on here would admit the All Whites have played some of their best ever football during this tournament is to me, highly contradictory.

We have seen, in friendlies, that outside our starting 11, we lack depth. That our bench has lacked influence. Losing Garbett made that worse. Bazeley, probably quite reasonably could have thought, my best 11, is the only 11 capable of getting us back into the game. Fresh legs might bring energy, but at what cost, quality?

Thomas is the only exception to that rule - but given his lack of minutes, one can understand why he has perhaps not been given more time. 

For a long time, people have talked about the next World Cup as our best chance, when this current crop are all late twenties, early thirties and experienced pros. I still think it is... assuming we can find a decent striker outside Wood.


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Endorsed by
coochieeFU
1 day ago · edited 1 day ago · History
Southernix wrote:
 observerfromuh wrote:
Genuinely what did Singh do to our fanbase to evade basic criticism. Dude's past it and injury prone. The defence of a piss poor stater for four games in a row sums up why the nix doesn't win anything. Ex player and one good season = Messi in these circles.
 
Strange comment given the last mention of Singh here was saying he has the strength of a "frail old women".

Kind of just seems like your looking for the vaguest of excuses to bash Nix fans.
Dude. After the warm up games and pre-Garbett’s injury there were quite a few people saying Singh wasn’t ready to start at the WC.

The teams that have been underdog darlings have had goalkeepers as their top performers. 

Just as well Matty wasn’t there yesterday though. He might have taken one or two with him and we’d not only not be underdog darlings, we’d be the team that started a brawl  with Mo Salah…

And I’ve even seen a lot of underdog stories about Egypt getting their first WC win…and not really focusing on the against us and extended format bit! 


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Endorsed by
PK
1 day ago · edited 1 day ago · History
MetalLegNZ wrote:
Interesting call on Bazeley... to call him the biggest anchor to this team, when I think everyone on here would admit the All Whites have played some of their best ever football during this tournament is to me, highly contradictory.

We have seen, in friendlies, that outside our starting 11, we lack depth. That our bench has lacked influence. Losing Garbett made that worse. Bazeley, probably quite reasonably could have thought, my best 11, is the only 11 capable of getting us back into the game. Fresh legs might bring energy, but at what cost, quality?

Thomas is the only exception to that rule - but given his lack of minutes, one can understand why he has perhaps not been given more time. 

For a long time, people have talked about the next World Cup as our best chance, when this current crop are all late twenties, early thirties and experienced pros. I still think it is... assuming we can find a decent striker outside Wood.


 
I think we have like 14-16 players that deserve to start at the WC.

You could add Bindon, Old (as a LB) and Thomas to the 11 who ran on. Paulsen, even coming off a poor club season. Garbett a big loss. I don’t think Randall is ready yet

But yes your point stands it’s a small pool of players. No matter who is in charge we should expect us to do better in 2030, as this cohort mostly hit their peak years. LBS maybe an excitement machine then

Egypt popn 128 million and I’m sure they have more than 60 pro footballers 
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Endorsed by
PK
1 day ago
So Egypt are our rivals now right? 

#RematchNZvEGYPT


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Endorsed by
PK
1 day ago
martinb wrote:
So Egypt are our rivals now right? 

#RematchNZvEGYPT
Yes I think so. Put on NZ vs Egypt in 2 or 3 years after Mohamed Salah retires, and this time, zero Arabic speaking referees to hold their hand. Bring it on!
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1 day ago · edited 1 day ago · History
MetalLegNZ wrote:
Interesting call on Bazeley... to call him the biggest anchor to this team, when I think everyone on here would admit the All Whites have played some of their best ever football during this tournament is to me, highly contradictory.

We have seen, in friendlies, that outside our starting 11, we lack depth. That our bench has lacked influence. Losing Garbett made that worse. Bazeley, probably quite reasonably could have thought, my best 11, is the only 11 capable of getting us back into the game. Fresh legs might bring energy, but at what cost, quality?

Thomas is the only exception to that rule - but given his lack of minutes, one can understand why he has perhaps not been given more time. 

For a long time, people have talked about the next World Cup as our best chance, when this current crop are all late twenties, early thirties and experienced pros. I still think it is... assuming we can find a decent striker outside Wood.


 
We'd have played that football without him, and probably even better with a competent coach. 

We're playing ok because of the players we have in our best available XI, not our tactical setup - the proof being our inability to adjust tactically & manage a game, a massively important skill that Bazeley lacks having never coached at a high level before.

You can't genuinely tell me that Singh on a yellow and walking around for 15 minutes because he was gassed is contributing more than a sub option, but Bazeley didn't do anything until the game was already gone. You can just see from watching his in game decisions and demeanor that he's way over his head. He's not helped that our senior players lost focus due to the refs calls but again, he's the one responsible for how we react to hardship as a team.

Valley FC til I die?

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Endorsed by
LeggyPKSouthernix
1 day ago
Referee took charge of the Egyptian Super Cup 3rd place playoff last year, did matches in the Egyptian Premier League in 18/19, and is only at the World Cup because the FIFA head of referees is in bed with the UAE and they wanted an Emirati ref at the World Cup. UAE's first choice was essentially blacklisted from major tournaments after fucking up the Spain-Dominican Republic game in the Olympics, so we got stuck with this guy. 

Easily the least credentialled referee at the tournament, and it showed - he was intimidated by the occasion and the players. How the hell was this approved? Please give the below article a read, from Law 5; provides some infuriating context.

https://law5-theref.blogspot.com/2026/06/mr-busacca-it-should-not-work-like-this.html
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MartoNelfoos
1 day ago · edited 1 day ago · History
It seems like they had tunnel vision on Singh. Our creativity was coming from Stamenic and McCowatt at this point because they weren’t gassed yet, but they persisted with another 20 minutes of Singh. 

Perhaps they were worried about the Haiti game and how we folded after changes then. 

But Singh hasn’t been our sole midfield playmaker for a long time. Thomas on the bench. Though again poor against Finland, perhaps lingering doubt there. But surely as Nelfoos posits a gassed Singh on a yellow v a fresh Thomas…

The game plan at 1-1 seems to have been hang on and then dominate down the straight. Unfortunately it wasn’t 1-1 when the subs were made, it was 3-1.


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1 day ago
PKB wrote:
 martinb wrote:
So Egypt are our rivals now right? 

#RematchNZvEGYPT
Yes I think so. Put on NZ vs Egypt in 2 or 3 years after Mohamed Salah retires, and this time, zero Arabic speaking referees to hold their hand. Bring it on!

Refereees aren't allowed to speak the same language as any of the teams now? Should Welsh referees not be allowed to refereee NZ matches?

Huge over reactions about the officiating but if you look at Old, he went down like a sack of potatoes on not huge contact. Sometimes you've seen those given but it's not a blatant foul. If it was in the box, VAR would not have overturned. The incident won Egypt a throw in 10 yards from their goal line. It's not the refs fault if a goal can't be defended from there 


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Endorsed by
ajc28
1 day ago · edited 1 day ago · History
Andrew Gourdie was right this morning.  Ben Old was a bit naive.  Analyse your ref (he was from the UAE - that part of the world plays/refs the game differently from us), so if you’re fouled/hurt, stay down/scream in agony, SCREAM BLOODY MURDER, to buy the foul or at least to stop the game to buy some time….
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Endorsed by
coochieeMainland FCSouthernix
1 day ago
PKB wrote:
 martinb wrote:
So Egypt are our rivals now right? 

#RematchNZvEGYPT
Yes I think so. Put on NZ vs Egypt in 2 or 3 years after Mohamed Salah retires, and this time, zero Arabic speaking referees to hold their hand. Bring it on!
Yes the situation where the Egyptian players could speak Arabic to the ref, and then potentially influence decsions with our players having no idea what was being said, should have been a red flag to the AWs staff when the WC appointments were made.

Surely as Mrs Mils has highlighted above the ref in the past, officiating in domestic Egyptian league games creates a 'conflict of interest'

Match-Specific Appointments
  • The "Three-Day" Rule: Specific match appointments are highly protected and typically announced just three days before kickoff. 
  • Performance-Based Merits: As the tournament progresses, officials who perform well are retained for the knockout and later stages, while underperforming referees may be sent home. 
  • Neutrality: FIFA ensures that referees are completely neutral regarding the teams playing. For example, a referee from UEFA will not officiate a match involving a European nation if they can avoid it, nor will referees be assigned to matches that could create perceived conflicts of interest. 
  • VAR and Support Roles: The committee appoints not just the lead referee, but also the assistant referees, the fourth official, the reserve assistant, and the entire Video Assistant Referee (VAR) team. 
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Endorsed by
Martomrsmiis
1 day ago
martinb wrote:
It seems like they had tunnel vision on Singh. Our creativity was coming from Stamenic and McCowatt at this point because they weren’t gassed yet, but they persisted with another 20 minutes of Singh. 

Perhaps they were worried about the Haiti game and how we folded after changes then. 

But Singh hasn’t been our sole midfield playmaker for a long time. Thomas on the bench. Though again poor against Finland, perhaps lingering doubt there. But surely as Nelfoos posits a gassed Singh on a yellow v a fresh Thomas…

The game plan at 1-1 seems to have been hang on and then dominate down the straight. Unfortunately it wasn’t 1-1 when the subs were made, it was 3-1.
Wrong. 

McCowatt subbed off at 66 mins (Old). Score 1-1
Singh (Thomas) and Libby (Randall) both off at 76 mins. Score 2-1

Egypt scored their 3rd goal at 82 mins. 

It wouldn't surprise if the tracking intel was that McCowatt was the most fatigued. That's his game, pressing hard.

What cost us -
Poor aerial defending for their 1st & 3rd goals. Which is why Bindon is needed.
Some poor officiating. Game should have been halted for the stamp on Old pre Salah's goal.
And yeah Bazeley & Elliot could have done better. But I think the first two factors were more important. 


Shouldn't have played a major role in the result, but the AWs did have to travel from LA (3 hour flight to Vancouver) and would have lost a day's recovery getting there post the Iran match. Egypt a short hop from Seattle across the border to Canada. 2.5 hour drive. No airports to navigate. Minor factor but a factor.

Now the AWs get to rest up in Vancouver whilst the Belgians lose a day heading up from LA.
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1 day ago · edited 1 day ago · History
Banzai!...AIEEE!!! wrote:
Andrew Gourdie was right this morning.  Ben Old was a bit naive.  Analyse your ref (he was from the UAE - that part of the world plays/refs the game differently from us), so if you’re fouled/hurt, stay down/scream in agony, SCREAM BLOODY MURDER, to buy the foul or at least to stop the game to buy some time….
In 4 years time this group of players will be older and wiser. They will have hopefully played another 25-30 high quality games. With luck a few of them in some type of comp that means something like the Gold Cup, with all the tension and gamemenship that can occur. The experiences you don't gain from endless friendlies.

And then it's a question of do NZF go out and spend a $1 million per year on a quality coach who has good experience at international level. 

Jon Herdman is on $US480K ($NZ840K) coaching Indonesia.
Arnie is reportedly on $US2M ($NZ3.5M) at Iraq.

That's the big question how much can NZF afford, and are they willing to spend that sort of coin? In some quarters there will be a backlash spending at that level on a coach, who may only have two meaningful tourneys/6 games in 4 years (Olympics & WC). That sort of money goes a long way in grass roots football.

Then rightly the Football Ferns players will be saying hey, where is our highly regarded expensive international coach!
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Endorsed by
Banzai!...AIEEE!!!
1 day ago
In a non-match related tangent, did anyone else notice Kosta after the game rush over to Salah to try and get his shirt before anyone else could 🤣
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carlindkwlapMainland FCscribbler
1 day ago
coochiee wrote:
 Banzai!...AIEEE!!! wrote:
Andrew Gourdie was right this morning.  Ben Old was a bit naive.  Analyse your ref (he was from the UAE - that part of the world plays/refs the game differently from us), so if you’re fouled/hurt, stay down/scream in agony, SCREAM BLOODY MURDER, to buy the foul or at least to stop the game to buy some time….
In 4 years time this group of players will be older and wiser. They will have hopefully played another 25-30 high quality games. With luck a few of them in some type of comp that means something like the Gold Cup, with all the tension and gamemenship that can occur. The experiences you don't gain from endless friendlies.

And then it's a question of do NZF go out and spend a $1 million per year on a quality coach who has good experience at international level. 

Jon Herdman is on $US480K ($NZ840K) coaching Indonesia.
Arnie is reportedly on $US2M ($NZ3.5M) at Iraq.

That's the big question how much can NZF afford, and are they willing to spend that sort of coin? In some quarters there will be a backlash spending at that level on a coach, who may only have two meaningful tourneys/6 games in 4 years (Olympics & WC). That sort of money goes a long way in grass roots football.

Then rightly the Football Ferns players will be saying hey, where is our highly regarded expensive international coach!
She's at Wellington Phoenix

Valley FC til I die?

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Endorsed by
Marto
1 day ago · edited 1 day ago · History
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.
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