Hay speaks his 1st words of wisdom..ever!

Hay speaks his 1st words of wisdom..ever!

Australia News 'Kiwis Must Join Asia'<!-- tools, pic, related, island ad --><!-- // tools, pic, related, island ad --> EXCLUSIVE: Former Leeds United and Perth Glory defender Danny Hay is adamant New Zealand must move to be part of the AFC � and he says doing so could solve Wellington Phoenix's knockers at the confederation."One hundred percent we should be in Asia," the Waitakere United defender told au.fourfourtwo.com.

"As much as it's been great for New Zealand football and Waitakere has benefited from it with a free route into the club world cup, I'm a firm believer that if our game is going to progress we need to be swallowed up by Asia.

"Playing those quality Asian sides in the long-run will improve us as a nation. But it's the only way for our nation to move forward.

"You're playing regularly for the national sides and clubs and you're getting that flow on effect. If we can beat the island nations but get a whopping at the club world cup or the World Cup, it's because you're not playing regularly."

And this may smooth over concerns expressed by AFC president Mohamed Bin Hamamm about Wellington Phoenix's presence in the A-League, says Hay.

"Those comments may be just to keep an extra Australian side out," he said. "He might be clutching at straws to find some reason, but it would take care of that problem."

New Zealand get a chance to show AFC they're worthy when Waitakere United - the Oceania champion - travel to the Club World Cup in Japan next month.

First off is the play-in qualification match against Adelaide United and a very tough ask. But if the impossible happens, Waitakere will face Asian Champions Gamba Osaka.

Hay says it's all about giving New Zealand credibility in front of Asia's powerbrokers.

"We're doing it for Oceania, and their spot at the Club World Cup is under threat. No doubt," says Hay, who works as a media pundit in New Zealand.

"We know we have to perform a heck of a lot better than last year where we conceded two goals in the opening 20 minutes before losing 3-1.

"It's about gaining credibility for Oceania, us, Phoenix - all of New Zealand."

To prepare for Japan, Waitakere will play a warm up game in China but have cancelled their game against a Sydney FC selection.

Waitakere will look to Hay and former NZ Knights defender Neil Emblen to hold it together defensively. Up front, the rising star of Fiji football Roy Krishna could be a handful.

Krishna bagged two goals on Wednesday as Fiji defeated an under-strength All-Whites 2-0 in the nations' final Oceania group qualifier.

New Zealand had already qualified to play Asia's fifth best nation.

Have YOUR say - What do you think about "'Kiwis Must Join Asia'"? Tell us NOW in the comment section below.

 

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/89434,kiwis-must-join-asia.aspx

</>Scottishbhoy2008-11-20 16:45:12

well said Danny

Disappointed. Saw the title of the thread and thought it was going to be "I'm an injury-prone, over-rated, old tart and it really is time I retired"

As does pretty much everyone on this forum.

But just saying we should join AFC doesn't resolve any problems that stand in our way at the moment. I'd like to see some sort of strategy put in place by NZF that would at least set us on our way, and some realistic targets and timelines.

A fair statement by Hay;

My hope for Waitakere United is that after the Nix trashing, it was all a decoy game for the Adelaide United to underestimate them in order to incur a upset win. (Could the reason for not playing the Sydney FC selection, so no more second opinion A-league comparisons and strategy scouting would be allow).

Nah, . . . who am I kidding . . . ? Waitakere United is a poor man version of New Zealand Knights. Neil Emblen, Danny Hay, Roy Krishna, Benjamin Totori, Adriano and Allan Pearce has their work cut out honestly.

I totally agree. Just saying is not enough.

The cost will be huge and it needs to offset by the lure of financial reward of being in AFC. And market package the NZFC clubs to NZ and overseas investors will attract money. . . if we are soooo lucky.AllWhitebelievr2008-11-20 18:53:13

Well said,  I think this is the first time I have agreed with Hay,  usually his mouth is in drive while his brain is in neutral

I wonder who put those sensible words in his mouth

Probably reads these forums.....would explain that idea,as well as all his idiotic ones

Actually people are being a little harsh on Danny. 

For starters his analysis on the A-League highlight show is pretty good, and his walking out on the Knights was related to having a go at the club about how the direction they were taking and the lack of support for New Zealand players wasn't what he'd signed up for.

Yes, he's too close to certain journalists, and yes he has some other agendas but he's the only New Zealander to play Champions League football, had a proud record for New Zealand and can still play the game at a reasonable level (when not perpetually injured).

Just a shame he's Ginger.

The OFC has little to no value. Should've been merged entirely with Asia when Australia split.

Wynton Rufer?

Although I suppose thats the cup winners cup or whatever was called

I can confirm that both Rufer (with Werder Bremen) and Killen have played Champions League football.

Rufer would be European Cup

Nah, he played with Werder Bremen in the mid-1990s, it was Champions League then. Remember watching him play against AC Milan in maybe 1993/94 season.

I agree with joining Asia.

Here are some of the problems we face at Oceania level in the political sense behind the scenes

1: The Islands block vote. Its always going to be an us and them scenario. For no other reason that in their eyes, we always have the winning lotto ticket and unfortunately, are the token white guys in the confederation.

2: Ask yourself how many Kiwis have positions of power or influence in Oceania. Yeah Fred is a Deputy but its very ceremonial. Tai does all the work.

3: Tournaments: By and large a fait accompli but you will always have the islands arguing about why they don't get a shot.

4: OCL: The 2 best teams are in the same division because they know it would be an NZ final otherwise...

5: A classic case was the NZ Fiji game. FIFA say you have to have neutral refs but if the game is about the players, shouldn't you have the best refs regardless of country? Bring in an Aussie. Hell, Anthony Riley would have done a better job because those guys up there have no idea as we have established.

6: Why does Oceania not become a sub group of Asia? Because they block vote against it and then they lose any power they had if they did join. Do you think the Asians would allow the Islands to run the show? They over vote them on most things. By keeping Oceania alive, the islands have the power of what goes on down here and keeps it amongst themselves.

7: Ask how many island guys sit on FIFA committees as Oceania delegates vs NZ guys and then ask how many would after the fact if we did join Asia.

FIFA either need to drag us into Asia or we need to get out of it and leave the islands to themselves, and even if we did get out, FIFA would absorb the islands in the Asia anyway as an Asia-Pacific confederation. If they did a sub group or a geographical share up into sub confeds, the Asians would send the Aussies back this way so they didn't have to fight against them for tournament spots. Either way, it has to happen if only to stop the island guys dictating to us.
I have a few more stories but none I can share on the record.
Agent 472008-11-21 10:26:15

It was called UEFA Champion League in 93/94. UEFA Champion League format started in 1992. Prior to 1992, it was called European Champion Clubs' Cup aka European Cup.

In 1992, Werder Bremen won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup under the old format that last until 1999.

Question on Tampere and Chris James too...was that Champs league or some other biscuit?

Champions League qualifying rounds. Don't know whether it counts as 'official' Champions League football or not.

The three competitions were called European Champions' Cup (commonly referred to as the European Cup), European Cup Winners' Cup (competition Rufer won with Werder Bremen in 1992) and UEFA Cup.

In 1991/1992 season the format of the European Cup was changed, with the knock-out rounds replaced with a league system (two groups of four teams) once the final eight teams were determined through (maybe 2?) knockout rounds first up. The competition name was renamed to UEFA Champions League, and Barcelona were the first winners in the new format beating Sampdoria in the final at Wembley 1-0 after extra time. Although the name and format changed, the continuity of European Cup to Champions League is unquestioned.

Cup Winners' Cup was scrapped after the 1998/1999 season, and UEFA Cup altered as to accommodate the teams who previously would have qualified for the CWC (essentially, national cup winners, and sometimes runner-ups, if the cup winners were also national champions).

But of course further changes to the Champions League and UEFA Cup have followed since, and more are on the way too.