FIFA Confederations Cup 2017

Hey guys, 

The draw is next Saturday, just wondering who we are all hoping to have in our group: 

Teams: 

Russia

Germany 

Mexico

Australia

NZ

Portugal

Chile

TBD - Africa

I'd quite like Australia, Chile & Portugal

Having Australia in the group would be good...that would create a lot of interest and be good having a competitive game against the West Island ?

russia will be seeded highly so there's a good chance that we'll get them, which could work out well for us

edit: oh who am i kidding

If they follow same draw procedure as last time it will be Russia, Germany, Portugal, Chile in one pot, Mexico, Australia, TBD Africa, and us in a second pot.  Two from each pot in each group, and then draw for positions in the group with hosts Russia given A1.  No guarantees they'll follow same procedure as last time though ...

For me the team to avoid would be Germany. They would smash us.....unlike some Latin teams who go into cruise mode when they go a couple of goals up Germany would be relentless. If it was 3-0 at half time they would come out and try and make it 7-0. We also really seem to struggle against Central and Sth American teams. Both Mexico and especially Chile are very good sides. They are technically good and play a fast game. I shudder to think how  Hudsons amateur midfield would cope.

However this Confederation Cup is probably one of the weakest IMO. Russia are a very poor side. They were terrible in the Euro's. If we played like we did in the last American tour we could get a point off them. Ditto Australia. They are not in great form at the moment. It would be excellent for the AW's to ruin their Confed Cup. African sides can be a mixed bag at major tournaments. I watched the African champions Ivory Coast play France last week and they are no great shakes. Tactically they look weak. That leaves Portugal. They have some good players.....including that Ronaldho guy but even though they won the Euros they did it with fairly negative football. Not saying we could take a point off them but it would be great to see Ronaldho play against us. It might even convince the rugby obsessed NZ media to take notice of football for a few hours.

Best pool for us. NZ, Russia, African side, Australia

If Hudson gets his tactics right and especially gets his selections right then in a pool like that we could hope for 2 draws and a narrow loss. The key will be to make sure we have key defenders like Ried fit and available and to keep the kids out of midfield. Play 3 at the back and get your strongest and most experiance central midfielders playing......Tuiloma, WeeMac and Themo

my team 

                Gleeson(if he's out of jail)

     Boxall   Ried    Smith(Dura)

Roux   Tuiloma   Them       Wynne

            Rojas   Weemac  

                   Wood

Mind you, first we have to qualify????????????

I think we qualified by winning the Oceania Nations Cup in PNG. (That game we won on penalties).

We gonna get two of Germany, Chile, Portugal and Russia. 1 in 3 chance of getting Aus.

http://www.fifa.com/confederationscup/news/y=2016/...

3 of those teams would thrash us. Russia we might have a chance against.

Possibility of Germany, Portugal, Mexico.  Ouch.

Would be funny if we get Portugal and then Argentina in the WCQ playoff. AWs vs Ronaldo and Messi in the space if a few months

@NZ_Football @thecowlickmoos will be in Confederations Cup Group A with Russia Portugal & Mexico

At least we avoided Germany and got Russia which is by far the weakest of the teams that were in pot 1. Still it's a pity we don't get to play the Suckeroos

Cool.

Exciting draw for NZ. Plus we get to open  the tournament with the first game. AW's vs Russia Saturday 17 June local time. It will be nervous times for the our team as their first game will follow all the hype of the opening ceremony plus the global media focus of the first match. Russia are easily the worst team in our pool and will be under huge pressure as hosts to get the tournament off to a good start. If we play like we did in the recent American tour then we could hold Russia to a draw.

Mexico and Portugal will carve us up. Great to see the kiwis play against Ronaldo. Now we need NZF to give the team a good buildup with plenty of games against decent opposition. I would imagine they will be based pretournament in Europe so they could pick up some matches there. I wonder if the Aussies would fancy a hitout against us.?

Wonder who is going to try to swap shirts with Ronaldo??  lol

Could be worse

Nice to be in the opening game

Um, weren't Bayern M just turned over by a bunch of Russkis?

Honestly this is pretty much as good as it gets. Happy with this group. If we could upset the hosts with a draw or just get one point in the whole thing I'll be happy.

So I guess we will just get thrashed in the three games

Nah we've got a chance against Russia.Up to us if we take it.

Mexico again! We must have played them more in the past 6 or 7 yrs than everyone bar a few OFC teams.

Mexico again! We must have played them more in the past 6 or 7 yrs than everyone bar a few OFC teams.

Gutted we don't get to play aussie.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/14/portugal-iceland-euro-2016-match-report

Might be a case of replace Iceland with New Zealand

“Iceland didn’t try anything,” whined the Portuguese captain. “They were just defend, defend, defend and playing on the counterattack. It was a lucky night for them. We should have three points but we are OK. I thought they’d won the Euros the way they celebrated at the end. It was unbelievable. When they don’t try to play and just defend, defend, defend, this in my opinion shows a small mentality and they are not going to do anything in the competition.” They have already accomplished more than expected and were at one with their fans after the final whistle while Ronaldo raged at the referee.

Might be able to tee up a warm up game or bon voyage type game like the 2010 world cup.  That would be worth going to.

Nah, they will only play us now if it's unavoidable.

there is always possibility of a semi or 3rd/4th play-off :-)

Possible friendly with Germany or Chile beforehand?

I've gotta say though, our group isn't actually that bad tbh. 

Russia aren't the best team out there. They did lose to Qatar recently.

Mexico will be fielding a stronger team than in that last friendly, but we can definitely be competitive against them.

Drawing Portugal is actually very interesting. It's very likely that the the Portuguese attack at the U20 World Cup will be playing at the Confederations cup (Gelson Martins, Goncalo Guedes and Andre Silva). They've all at some point have been called up to the Portuguese national team in the last 12 months and are looking very good in the Primeira Liga in Portugal. No reason that we can't  keep them quiet like for most of that Round of 16 game. Though there is still the matter of The Elephant in the room...

Deluded.

No doubt NZF will try and bluff the Germans and Chileans that AWs will mimic how Socceroos play - and so be good pre tournament prep. 

A good lie to run with. Truth is Australia have a quality midfield, and won't just be living off 30% possession scraps as the AWs will be.

LOL 

There is a great photo on the FIFA website taken after the draw was made. The photo is of seven of the coach's up on stage. Theres Loew the German coach looking cool and the European Champion Portuguese coach who looks confident. Then theres Ange Posticoglu looking staunch with his new retro beard. Then there is our Antony with his "what the F**k am I doing here" look. LOL

It will be interesting to see how Hudson manages three top level games in a week. We play Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday. There was a noticeable drop in effort between the two New Caledonia games due IMO to squad rotation. I don't want to start a witch hunt against the local youngsters playing for the AW's but I think we have a serious flaw in the makeup of the squad. If we feild our A team against Russia then we can expect a reasonable effort. But if we have to draft amateur players into midfield for the second game vs Mexico then we will be cut to shreds.

As promising as these kids might be they are NOT international level. The pace of these games will be  1000x faster than local football. 

I know the issue of the Scandanavian NZ players has been well debated and there have been issues with injuries but I don't think these guys have had a fair shot at AW level under Hudsons rein. I personally would prefer to see(if fit) the likes of Keat and Henderson?? rotated in against Mexico than guys playing NZ domestic football. 

Does anyone know if the CEO and his wife went to the draw?

Martin went. Which I'm fine with. It's a good option to get a foot in the door for warm up games etc.