AW's vs NC - Take Two - Home match Thread

Saturday night�s All Whites� victory had an eerily familiar look about it. Seven years ago, in Noumea�s Stade Numa Daly, the black-clad New Zealand Youth team defeated New Caledonia 2-1 in Oceania Section World Cup Qualifying. The scorer of both New Zealand goals that night? Shane Smeltz.

The teenaged Smeltz was playing only his second international, and those were his first international goals - a clinical close range header and an efficient far post finish. He backed up with a sublime strike against the Solomon Islands and helped New Zealand top the group and earn a two-legged playoff with the Auld Enemy.

Wind forward to 2008, and Smeltz is again making that trek from Noumea to North Harbour Stadium. In 2001, it resulted in a memorable victory over Australia; he will surely be hoping for a similarly rousing effort in front of home fans tonight.

Joining him from that youth side are David Mulligan, Ben Sigmund, Tim Brown and Jeremy Christie, while Chris Killen would have partnered him up front but for injury. This representation not only emphasises why that squad was considered our country�s best ever at U20 level, but also the shared focus and desire of our current national team.

Smeltz�s story is all about overcoming frustration and maintaining belief. At various junctures in his club and international career, the pacey frontrunner has endured obstacles that would have floored others.
But he keeps bouncing back.
A lack of opportunities with the Brisbane Strikers saw him resurrect his career with an outstanding season at Napier City Rovers; a purple patch in Adelaide was curtailed by niggling injury; a solid introduction to English League Football at Mansfield came to an abrupt halt as the club imploded; while a superb debut All Whites goal against Dunfermline was not enough to earn him a spot in the 2002 Oceania Nations Cup squad.
Many others would have packed it in, or accepted that as their lot in life. But Smeltz isn�t many others. Grabbing his �last chance� in Wrexham with both hands, he simultaneously delivered one of New Zealand�s best international results of modern times and secured an opportunity at club level from which he has produced the best form of his entire career.
And in that sense he is not alone. For as well as sharing an international and club history with several of his team mates tonight, he also shares the collective frustrations that people like Brown, Sigmund and Mulligan have endured during their careers. And each of them, like Smeltz, has cast that aside to step into the international spotlight and push their claims for a trip to the Confederations Cup - and whatever the future beyond that may hold.

If Smeltz continues his purple patch tonight, and writes himself into the record books alongside Keith Nelson, he may trace his success back to those debut strikes in Noumea seven years ago. Perhaps those guys who celebrated alongside him back then will share that thought at full time tonight. But whether that campaign figures consciously in their thinking or not, the fact remains that they have the chance over the next twelve months to reach heights they would only have dreamed of back then.

And it starts tonight, with a clinical and convincing victory for the faithful to enjoy. So enjoy�

Weather up here is absolutely sh*thouse at the moment. Hope it clears up before tonight or it could, literally, put a damper on getting a decent walk-up crowd in

Can you actually get a walk-up crowd at the North Harbour stadium?
Shouldn't it be drive-up/bus-up crowd?

Heard on the radio that if the crowd numbers aren't there then Welly will have a good crack at the Asian qualifers, sorry Aux supporters but please don't go!!!!

http://www.radiosport.co.nz/listenlive/

Man these radio commentators should talk about the game and tell us whats going on. It's not like TV where we can see and they can talk about whatever they like. They have mentioned about five players so far... jeez!

yep commentators rubbish so far..now trying to book themselves in to future jobs while not doing current job!

Anyone know where referee Hauata's from?

We're in Black as a tribute to Charlie Dempsey.