The Road To Brazil 2014 via Wellington feat. Mexico

Then we drown our sorrows!

This

so a street party is organised?

If we win it will stretch from the Cake tin to the Embassy cinema.

If Honduras are the opposition, we may have just gained a slight advantage.

One of their strikers, Roger Rojas (RORO to his mates) is about to sign a season long loan with West Ham.

Wouldn't be difficult for a Maori centre back to nobble him at training the week before the playoffs would it? Wouldn't even get booked for it.

Not likely to happen the other way around. Rojas is built like all Rojas', 5'8" and slim build.

THE Ba soccer side will make a short tour of New Zealand next month playing two matches

"We will be travelling on September 19 and are scheduled to play the New Zealand A team on September 20.

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=243759

I hope this is not NZFs idea of warm up matches...

Welcome back to the 1970's guys. Shee... it!

Brazil v Socceroos September 7th.

All Whites 'A' v Ba (Fiji) September 20th.

Go figure.

OK so we come back from our precious Fifa window in the Saudi desert to then throw a new and untried bunch at an Island club team 3 weeks before an away World Cup elimination match...

.... ah, make that 8 weeks before...

Saudi tournment confirmed.

http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/index.php?id=11&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2504&tx_ttnews[backPid]=10&cHash=d780c5481a

Good.

yay!

should be  good

Team apparently? Moss spoonley sigmund durante hogg lochhead reid smith butler vicelich keat mcglinchey bertos barbarouses payne brockie killen wood

hey guys I'm having trouble getting hold of an all whites shirt anyone got ideas for me?

http://www.ryos.co.nz/wellington-phoenix/all-whites.html

Jake Butler, midfield, Waitakere

Jake butler, mediocre, waitakere

Played for NZ 'A' against Jordan earlier this year without impressing. No pace. Passed sideways & backwards more often than not.

Like I said mediocre. Not the worst description but someone like Cam Howieson impressed at U20 World Cup there so why not bring him on instead of Butler. 

One of the problem in the NZ A side was both Butler & Christie were playing the exact same game - just retaining possession without creating anything forward.

There can be space in a side for one of these types of players, jut having them both on the pitch at once was not great.

Butler impressed more than Christie so I'm not against giving him another shot within a better squad to see how he fits in.

I think there is some truth in there when you take out the bias (and I admit I'm one who does not think he should be there although the NZA game made me think a little)

He is a midfielder that doesn't do any one thing spectacularly well. He's not an AM a DM or even a link player. He's not a dirty smash it up player and is not a finesse passer of the ball or a demon in the air. Its like he is a jack of all trades and master of none which is not necessarily a bad ting. He wasn't too bad in the NZA game as he does have composure on his side but as PWF said, it was just retention without doing anything and that does not say too much when you do need something from the midfield. I also suspect considering how bad Jeremy Christie was, it was not too difficult to look decent.

Aaron Clapham better mid than Butler or Christie. Reasonable technique and gets his head up, but he tries passes that don't come off and that ain't good at international level. Also, he doesn't seem to posess an ounce of mongrel so useless as a DM.

Ah... how does this contribute anything?

Butler was very average against Melville the other day despite his team winning 4 - 1. Made me cry a little for the state of NZ football knowing he was potentially in the running for a call up.

Surely Henderson, Keat, Howieson or Fitzgerald all offer better options than this guy. Even Tuiloma who has been getting a run in the mids at OM youth levels offer more.

Nelsen saved nz football by getting us across the line 4 years ago and with him gone I don't see anyone really standing up and saving us from Herbert.

I hope he gets interviewed about his selections and gets asked the question how do you pick a nzfc player over a guy playing in the J1 League who can play in the same position.

Bless you mate. I was there too. But the fact is 'the state of NZ football' is what it is -  we just have to bite the bullet and get on with it.

Full squad is:

Goalkeepers: Glen Moss, Jacob Spoonley

Defenders: Winston Reid, Tony Lochhead, Ben Sigmund, Tommy Smith, Andrew Durante

Midfielders: Jake Butler, Leo Bertos, Chris James, Ivan Vicelich, Tim Payne, Cameron Howieson

Forwards: Chris Killen, Jeremy Brockie, Kosta Barbarouses, Kris Bright, Chris Wood

we're not brazil and even brazil have players who do the dirty work

passing sideways and backwards is fine, as long as not everyone's doing it.  it's part of retaining possession and choosing the time and location from which to go forward

our lack of threat against jordan owed more to the lack of ability in wide areas than through the middle where we looked solid, thanks by in large to butler

i understand that he's not everyone's cup of tea, but for me he's the most viable solution for a weak spot

i wonder if there are any current asb prem players on these forums, because those who i speak to hold him in high regard and hate playing against him