The Road To Brazil 2014 via Wellington feat. Mexico

i love you're belief in the national team

pointing out grammatical errors. yawn

He said top four soooo Japan, South Korea, Australia ahead of us yes but we'd be 4th. No way China, North Korea, Thailand etc would get past us

I wonder what sort of travelling supporters group would come down to NZ for the playoff game. There were a few 100 Bahrain supporters last time. I remember them all looking on slightly bemused and a little worried with all the mayhem and carnage going on in Courtney place after the game. The ones I talked to were cool people.

It would be amazing if the USA...who are not playing well, were in the playoffs. I would expect a big group of yanks would come down here....direct flight from LA. A playoff game agaisnt the USA would be enormous....a real David vs Goliath challenge.The NZ media/public would really get into that game. If it was Mexico then that game would be well supported too...they have great supporters. I would imagine we could see a couple of thousand supporters from either country. 

The other countries...Panama, Honduras etc would probably not have have loads of people who would be prepared to come this far. 

expert opinion of course

Didn't the Olywhites lose a warm up game pre Olympics to South or North Korea?

Please dont be an April Fools joke...

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/lambert-hopes-for-new-zealand-call-744927.aspx 

Very last line "“If selected, Rickie will travel to New Zealand with the encouragement of everyone at the Club. As we say in my own country: ¡tontos de abril!” 

I think it's pretty obvious that it is.

They're really going for it with the joke, two articles and a video so far. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnQWdeSO-Xw&feature=youtu.be 

Edits are finally making the link work.

Former English Premier League player Neil Emblen is a welcome addition to the coaching staff. He's respected by the players and impressed with his organisation of last year's London Olympics squad captained by Nelsen. Keep Emblen there but add some extra starch, someone to hold the players to account.

Nelsen has the mana to lift players around him, to make them believe they're better than they really are. He did just that when the All Whites drew 1-1 with World Cup champions Italy at the last World Cup finals.

If he's not available, draft in Danny Hay, another ex-All Whites captain who has clearly pinpointed the All Whites' areas of concerns in his Sunday newspaper column.

 haha I can't ever see Ricki wanting Danny Hay's advice

I read that same comment and laughed very loud.

I read that comment and checked the date!!

I also liked the suggestion of Clapham as the potential answer to our lack of an international class right back.

Seriously lacking in a decent football writer here...

Would love to see a writer look at what's coming through. I bet Smith knows nothing about any of the U20's

It would appear he knows nothing about football so U20s is out of the question.

Pretty sure I'll be coming up for the game from Christchurch. Reckon there will be a nix home game on either side of it? Thinking about booking flights asap

Er, hadn't you better wait until you find out where the game being played?

I'm hoping to take a week off and head to our opponents country for the first game. There's no way we'll (the Nix) have a game in the middle of two crucial WCQ matches. I'm pretty sure FFA have said they'll work something out anyway, as Australia will likely also have crucial games around that time.

Ok cool, yeah will wait until venue is announced. True point about the FFA

Shane Smeltz should not be picked for the World Cup playoffs given his current lack of form. His shocker against MV tells me he is yesterdays man; the AWs have some exciting young talent playing in higher leagues who are more constant in turning chances into goals so why continue with someone who is struggling to score in the A-league.

Class is permanent, form is temporary.

vs....?

You need a comparison

Sorry I was not really looking for a name.... So you are asking if I would pick a player that has class but is out of form, over Fallon...

If the question is Smeltz out of form, over Fallon in hot form... difficult choice, would depend who is around him and how you are playing the game

If it is just in the normal run of things, then Smeltz

As it is both are in poor form. Smeltz is getting starts and missing clear opportunities, Fallon not starting and not doing anything as a sub.

I think Leggy's question was really 'would you pick a class player out of form'. I asked for the comparison. Now that I think about it (and I'll use the example of Tom Abercrombie at the Breakers) Abercrombie is a class player but has been woefully out of form in the early part of the year and very much up and down through the back half with more glimpses of what he has towards the end. As the coach, Lemanis has left him in there because a player with class, will find other ways to contribute or change the game other from the usual manner they might do so. There will also be those moments of brilliance and then eventually, everything clicks and that player is in form again. Some players you just keep telling them to keep launching the jumper, find the feel and shoot their way out of a slump. So I have to say yes I would pick a class player that is out of form.

Smeltz, not a great game from him but you can bet he will come right.

really, if we set up properly, it's between Smeltz and Brockie for that second striker spot - Fallon is a bit of a red herring.  

I don't think we can fit both into the side cause round the park neither contributes enough i.e. both go missing for long periods.  

If Killen wasn't being played as a DM then I'd think he's ahead of both Smeltz and Fallon purely because he seems to have a more complete skill set than either. With Wood and Rojas definite starters and possibly Kosta and WeeMac out there as well we shouldn't really be lacking for the goalscoring that Smeltz provides or the elbows in defenders' faces that Fallon provides (as in we shouldn't be playing a style that needs a player like Fallon, especially if Wood and Killen are there too).

edit: Brockie has had a great season scoring goals for the Nix but I think he'd be best used on the bench by the AWs because of his versatility.