Vs Mexico 1st Leg Thurs 14th 9:30am SS2

Read up till here:

54:00 – The Kiwi coach takes no risks and subs Vicelich. In comes Aaron Clapham for the Kiwis.

I just hope that Plodder's selection is as much of a mind-fuck for Herrera as it is for us.

Am never going to be able to sleep tonight

James is in the squad ffs.

This. Anyone got any tips?

If anyone is watching it, Nigeria youth are using thier strength to dominate Mexico in the Youth Final right now.  Mexico are the better team but strength and hight seem to be the key.  The Mexican youth are starting to implode from what I and the commentatotrs can see.

Again, Christie has to be used for something that ricki isnt telling us.

I don't really want to make a big thing out of this, but I am genuinely interested in where your belief that our team is 'very capable of winning this' comes from? 

Is this the similar line of argument we heard from some of the Nix fans earlier this year that it was Ricki who was stopping the Phoenix playing a better brand of football (perhaps true) and being more successful (definitely not)? Or is it based on the performances from 2009/2010 when the All Whites stunned the footballing world in firstly, qualifying for the World Cup, and then having an unbeaten campaign at the tournament itself? Or something third?

I've never really bought into the first line of argument. Ricki certainly has his weaknesses as a coach/manager, and some of his selections in this All White squad have been puzzling to say the least. But just like Phoenix under Merrick are struggling to put together good results despite a very different style of football, the All Whites too are suffering from the fact that a certain number of the players in the squad aren't really good enough at that level. Could Ricki have helped the situation with some of his selections? Yes. Will it make a huge difference in the end? I'm pretty sure it won't.

When I think of the All Whites, I can't help but remember a team that struggles to keep possession and attack with good structure against the likes of Tahiti, and requires an injury time goal to win a home game against New Caledonia at home, in a game that frankly could have gone either way. Would the team be better in those areas under a different coach? Perhaps, against that level of opposition. Would the results be significantly different? Sadly, I think not.

While 2009 and 2010 were great times to be an All White fan, I can't help but think that they were a product of a perfect storm that perhaps won't be seen in New Zealand football for another generation (unless we get our shit together here, but I have my doubts there). We had a bunch of All Whites playing and training together in the same, professional club, under the same coach as in the national team. We had three experienced, and quality veteran players in Nelsen, Elliott and Vicelich, who had all performed at very good levels in Europe. And we got four quality players in Reid, Smith, McGlinchey and Fallon (OK, maybe stretching it here, but he did score the most important goal for NZ in the last 30 years). We ended up with a squad of 12-13 players that we could not have dreamed of having only 5 years prior to that.

Fast forward 4 years, and what do we have now? Elliott's never been replaced. Ivan's 37, and very much on his last legs as a serious footballer. Even so, he's head and shoulders above any other options in defensive midfield. Nelsen's gone, and while he's been effectively replaced by Reid, even so the backline is still weaker than it was in 2010, and of course Reid won't be playing in those two games anyway. Smeltz, Bertos, Lochhead are simply older, paler versions of themselves. We argue and discuss here about Roux and Tuiloma, two young kids. About Kosta and Wood, two guys making their way reasonably well as professional footballers. And that's awesome, it's good for those guys, and the All Whites that they're doing a good fist of it. But the brutal reality? Players like that are dime a dozen for countries like Mexico. We have Marco, who's a genuine talent, but is recovering from injury, and is just one player after all, still trying to find his place in the sun at the highest levels of the game.

So when I look at the actual state, I think I've started to understand what Ricki's looking to do. He's going to stick to his tried and tested conservative guns, play guys he knows and believes can perform another miraculous backs to the wall Houdini act. Is this going to be successful? I seriously doubt it. In one game, anything can happen. I've seen and played in enough those to know that. But over two games, we might just be looking at one miracle too many. But that's OK. We are still a growing football nation. We still have a lot of work to do to genuinely and consistently content at the highest levels of the game. As long as we keep striving for that, is all we can ask for. And maybe we'll get ourselves to another situation like in 2009 and 2010, and it will feel good. 

That match was last week, and the Nigerian team was in fact better.

http://www.yellowfever.co.nz/podcasts

Preview coming up on ESPN FC in a minute

The thing I see when I look at this team, is that there is enough young talent to make a run at 2018. Perhaps that is realistically our better chance under a different coach.

This. Anyone got any tips?

The problems really come down to:

 1. a poor qualifying path which does not give us many meaningful, tough games against quality opposition (as preparation) which we will get oodles of if we join the Asian qualifying confederation.

 2. Our best possible starting 11 is not playing against Mexico. Several players are not at professional clubs and aren't good enough at this level against the likes of Mexico for us to realistically expect success outside of a 'lucky miracle'. Those days need to finish and the underlying layout and format for youth development and All Whites future success needs to become paramount. 

3. The NZFC really needs to become a fully professional competition so we can develop the amount of quality young players that will be needed to stock the All Whites for a higher level of playing success into the future. The 'Nix are already doing that but it needs to be replicated across the NZFC franchises too. Good up and coming players are coming on stream in dribs and drab,s but that's nowhere near enough of what will be needed in future World Cup qualifying scenarios if we're serious about being successful into the future.

I hope the ref and touchies are going to be ones that are savvy to diving because you can bet the house that there is going to be a hell of a lot of it going on out there tomorrow.

.......I just bet on a 2-2 draw paying $28.......

This. Anyone got any tips?