I love threads like this being brought back up years later. Whooooo and Luis Garcia moaning like miserable pricks is forum gold!
A great historic thread - what I don't get is when Kiwis (most rugby heads but many football fans too) denigrate the All Whites for not being on the same level as the world's best sides - as if that's a fair comparison.
Success and achievements in life are always relative - to circumstances etc. Most of us will never be millionaires, win an Academy Award or Nobel Prize - but can have our moments...
Why not just appreciate any success NZ teams have in context as a football minnow without expecting performances on the same level as the world's best sides?
We can just weigh up what success means, what constitutes a decent level of performance in our own terms.
2010 and 1982 All Whites - both teams surpassed all expectations in different eras. Great results in our own circumstances.
I recently came across some British World Cup 2010 previews online and it's actually hilarious now to read their dire predictions of the hammerings we were going to receive, how mediocre most of our players were supposed to be etc.
2009 - 2010: a great era in NZ football: This is what FIFA had to say in their review of the 2009 World Club Championship where Auckland City's success was the icing on the cake to me (I'll never forget the stadium PA blaring Bowie's "Heroes" after Auckland's unlikely victories) : no informed person would expect a tiny semi-pro team (mostly amateur players) to beat the fully pro UAE club hosts Al Ahli (annual budget of millions) and the African champs TP Mazembe (from a continent of passionate millions where football is the only game in town) who made the Final against Inter the following year.
http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/clubworldcup/uae2009/
"...at the conclusion to the tournament multiple sources had reason for celebration: the United Arab Emirates for playing an estimable role as hosts; Auckland City for enhancing what has been a glorious year for football in New Zealand...
It's been a fantastic tournament for us. We weren't expected to win one game, but we've won twice and finished fifth. It's an amazing feeling.
Auckland City coach Paul Posa
Auckland City, alike Pohang, exceeded all expectations. New Zealand’s record at the FIFA Club World Cup read four matches, four defeats prior to kick-off. However, Paul Posa’s disciplined, industrious outfit upset local side Al Ahli to reach the quarter-finals, where they gave Atlante a stricter examination than most predicted in a 3-0 defeat, and the Kiwis belied the odds once again in the match for fifth place, beating Mazembe 3-2."
