AW v Iraq - last chance saloon

Joking, surely

Not sure why Christie is seen as the replacement for Brockie - he offers nothing going forward, James or Smith would have been better options - hell Mully would be a better option at right mid - at least he doesn't have to defend there.

No on FIFA website Shane Smeltz was awarded Man of the match!

Quote- Playwithfire "Good set-up to build a strong NZ team of the future" =Phoenix perhaps?
Actually Wood might have made a good youth marquee but with his new 2 year WBA contract that's unlikely.
RedGed2009-06-21 08:52:14

Surely a striker doesn't get MOM in a 0-0 draw?

That's what I would have thought... and Moss surely was more deserving? RedGed2009-06-21 08:53:37

Especially with the save off his bonce?

Yeah i guess but good for NZ

although Smeltz held the ball up, and had some very nice touches

but then again....... he missed the sitter at the end......

and boy was it a sitter. Not only that, there were a few more good chances throughout the game. esp the first half. We really should have got some goals.

meh.

And I agree that Brockie shouldn't be replaced by Christie.  James or someone

Was thinking Perhaps Brockie would play better as a partner with Killen or Smeltz when we want to play more defensive? He would provide a different style than the other two at the top

time to celebrate our first competition point at international level.
This is something of a turning point.

you would hope so

it will never happen , brown playing at top of the diamond , the guy lives a charmed life with ricki, yellow carded and stays on, actually walking in the centre of the park for the last 15mins, pays to play for the nix. iraq were terrible lets not get carried away

sound call

join the nix is what

Report from Stuff

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/2521114/All-Whites-draw-with-Iraq

Puts the draw in context, but I still get the feeling we ended up playing for the draw, rather than chance the win

ur so right just be on their books  give us a break

a v good result in the context of NZ football history

good for our play-off confidence

Time to celebrate our first point at competition level, I enjoyed mthe game, but still a few questions

1. Why was Siggy and Arron Scott not playing earlier in the tornie? I know Siggy was coming back from hip op but were they both not fit to Iraq game? Italy result maybe blinded coaching staff - OK - scored 3 but conceded 4 - took them too long to shore up a leaky defence

so what are u saying there is agood chance the keeper will always be the star for us, he was brilliant however, mind ur what does it do for pastons confidence now, iraq were poor and well need  a top effort from our keeper in nov but hey RH happy with a draw in agame that iraq couldnt score if they had 12 players on

its th black kit i tell ya 

Good result, and fair enough to the lads for celebrating it a little at the end. They deserve it.

Hopefully this gives them some confidence towards that WC Playoff. Still not overly confident myself about those matches after our showing here.

Iraq were poor which highlights some major deficiencies in All Whites performance.

Lochead is still living on his performances from over a season ago, we need another option at left back..
Mulligan is NOT a right back and cannot play there!
We lack an athletic central midfield player with some quality and the legs to get forward (Elliott is steady in the holding role) if James is not going to be trusted/played..?
Smeltz and Killen have struggled to play together and since they are unlikely to get much game time together before the WC qualifiers maybe the Smeltz/Woods combination is better.
Playing in the diamond we are quite defensively set up and in a WC qualifier we need to win this could be a problem..
Too many of the team are not/will not really playing enough football at club level (Killen, Brockie, Mulligan, Bertos?, Christie?) To be competitive in WC quals they need to be playing somewhere..
Ricki is a reactive coach, not a proactive one.. his substitutions appear premeditated and have little or no positive affect on games..? (James for Brockie or even Brown? Sigmund and Scott had to be substituted but for Mulligan..? If he had been proactive with James for Brown or maybe Killen earlier then maybe Sigmund and Scott would not have been so much on the backfoot in the later stages of the game and lasted longer..?)

On the plus side;
Moss good keeper
Scott, Sigmund, Nelson (Vicelich) will do ok
Elliott has a bit of quality
Bertos has some ability, maybe better suited to a 4231 formation?
Smeltz and Woods are quality strikers, maybe also include Rory Fallon if FIFA rules change as it appears they may be doing..?
<!-- bmi_SafeAddOnload(bmi_load,"bmi_orig_img",0);//--> MrWaikato2009-06-21 10:08:07

we should try and get winston reid to play for nz. proven defender and still very young, unfortunate that he has capped u19 for denmark...

Whilst a draw is worth being satisfied with it is not worth that show of elation...embarrasisng I felt.  Iraq didnt seem comfortable with physical style and maybe the pitch.  Whilst I would have liked to see James and Woods on as subs..surely playing in the leagues they do is an indicator of quality I think the subbing of Sigmund reduced options..it was always going to mean only 2 others were possible and when Scott was one it didnt leave much chance.

Well for once we actually deserved to win, I was surprised to see the coaches celebrating at the end, because they should have been disappointed not to have won, but I guess, it is better than we have ever done before.

deserved win yeah. Herbert should be shot for how he reacted to that nil all draw!!! My god how embarassing....Showed his lack of professionalism.

I hate Ricki Herbert and his inability to make decisions!!! and weak and scared and so much else....shame on him being SATISFIED with that nil all draw. The All Whites deserve better.

yeah i thought he was too, although he would probably fight for browns position. or play on the left and bertos down the right? 

Two good performances  Black Kits. 2 shyt performances in white. Coincidence?



I think they should celebrate the win. Great effort. Fustrating they couldn't find a winner tho.

Smeltz MOM, you have got to be Kidding.

scribbler2009-06-21 10:56:10

The best team Drew!

Ricki Herbert, New Zealand coach
I think tonight is another milestone. We've never come to a tournament and got a point - and we've certainly never dictated a game in a senior FIFA competition before. In doing so, I think we've proved a few doubters wrong. It was important we came back with strength and credibility after the last game against South Africa, but even though we'll enjoy the moment, we won't get carried away. We'll move forward with unity, strength and caution as we move towards our play-off for next year's World Cup. We'd love to be back here next year.

A much better performance, although Iraq were poor at best.

The improvement in performance warranted some degree of celebration at the end of the match.

 Now that the Confederation Cup's at an end for NZ..I am going to miss the full-on  activity on the All Whites threads, with all this banter,angst, stress, tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth etc.....some anxious moments, hints of promise, hopes dashed, salvaged reputations?? Its all good.

Our competing on the world stage has bought forth a wealth of opinion recorded in this forum in terms of the state of our national team, the OFC/AFC debate,coaching,.. and the state of football in general in NZ.
I 've learnt plenty from some obviously well informed sources and had a few laughs along the way too..
Cheers YF founders for the White Noise/Yellow Fever site.. and roll on WC qualifiers!!

I actually died a little when we celebrated at the end of the game.

Yeah awesome, congrats on your first point, shake a couple hands down a few cold ones...but jump around like youve just found bin laden in the hills of iraq.

f**k me.

Get a grip.

pretty poor attitude to be fair, getting a point is good but we still came last in our pool which pretty much makes us look average, they had to be going for the win and from what i saw at the end the mindset was, 1 point and its a win.

I never actually saw the very end of the match so will have to check back on the recording to see whether it was over the top.