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

^This.

The NZF have, over the last 18 months, turned 'mission improbable' into 'mission impossible'… from agreeing to a condensed tournament played in equatorial conditions, which almost certainly played a role in the AWs missing out on the Confederations Cup, to agreeing to wipe yellow cards prior to that tournament for political reasons, to the haphazard build-up for these games.

Question for those bagging the 'negative' tactics - were you saying the same thing when we were parking the bus in South Africa in 2010?

Jamaica played exactly the same way at the Azteca earlier this year and got a 0-0 draw. Maybe the players should take some responsibility for their own individual performances?

Chris James. The man everyone thought should have been in the All Whites but never got selected. Somehow is benched behind Jeremy Christie and showed us exactly why he's class when he came on. Chris James <3

Herbert loved his tactics and he also loved the way christie played. from stuff.co.nz

Ricki Herbert has staunchly defended his tactics and selections despite the All Whites' 5-1 thrashing at the hands of a classy Mexico side today.

Unless the Mexicans drink tequila between now and Wednesday, the All Whites' dream of reaching back-to-back World Cups is over.

Herbert had hoped a deep defensive approach would frustrate the Mexicans and keep the tie alive heading into the return leg in Wellington on Wednesday.

It worked to an extent for the first half hour but when Paul Aguilar opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, the crowd and the players relaxed and the floodgates opened.

"Obviously there's incredible disappointment," Herbert said.

"I think we're more disappointed in the way we conceded the goals. 2-1, 3-1, take the tie home, you've got a shot at it. We've made the task incredibly tough."

The All Whites were guilty of showing Mexico too much respect in the first half especially, while one of their usual strengths, defending crosses and set-pieces, became a weakness.

"Let's not kid ourselves, they're a side that can turn anybody around and we got punished for it," Herbert said.

"The first goal was really sloppy, we should have cleared it and then you're facing that battle, chase the game or don't chase the game? I was disappointed in the way we defended the crosses."

At times communication appeared to be an issue as the Estadio Azteca crowd of 105,000 roared on their heroes.

But Herbert refused to blame the deafening noise as an excuse for his defenders.

"I don't think so, at the end of the day you've got roles and you've got responsibilities and people to pick up. We align those very clearly to the players and it becomes a one v one confrontation. We got outdone in those areas."

Herbert also stood by his controversial selection of midfielder Jeremy Christie, who was ineffective as he chased shadows before being replaced by goalscorer Chris James early in the second half.

"Yeah absolutely, yeah I do. It's my responsibility to pick the team and that's where the accountability sticks. After 30 minutes we probably did have it right," he said.

"Athletically and around the pitch, we were second and I thought a good part of the game was Chris James was excellent when he came on. I thought he injected some energy, he was good on the ball, he played with a lot of freedom. I thought he was good but the balance of the side really struggled tonight."

While I agree 100% that James > Christie, Mexico noticebly sat back after they scored their third and provided a bit more space in midfield. so I think the impact of the personal was probably more than it is.

Its been a while since Iv posted but here is my 5 cents worth.

We lost this game when we failed to win through to the confeds cup and get some meaningful games as build up. We failed to win the Oceania nations cup because of poor coaching and an inept board. How we ever agreed to that crazy format of playing on 1 pitch for 9 days is beyond me. Thats NZF's fault. They are also at fault for allowing Ricki to continue as coach for this long knowing ( as we all know) that hes just not up to it. Its common knowledge that Nelson and Elliott kept it together at the world cup in 2010. Ricki should have been moved aside after  the tournament and let him leave with his head held high and a legend. Instead of leaving as he surely will with this result in peoples minds. Frank Van Hattum and his Chum Fred De Jong  only care about climbing the FIFA ladder so they wont step aside, infact they will be around for a long while unfortunately so im sorry to say that I think this shit we have put up with will be around for a long while.

I feel sorry for the players who I know will be hurting. Some were poor, some shouldn't have been there in the first place but they all will be in bits over this. What a shame.

But thanks to the fans who came into Four Kings for the game. It was a great crowd and I could see the disappointment on your faces. Im looking forward to next week when we'll all have a few beers and chher on the lads, win lose or draw.

No, they will probably have around 17K turn up for the game. As pointed out NZF has made the money, its too

bad the class of 1982 will spend it unwisely.

Someone give Brett a temporary timeout. It will do his mental health wonders

If Brian Turner takes over I give up.

So, the All Whites need to beat Mexico 4-0. It's a tough assignment, but it's not like it's never been done before. In fact, Ricki's All Whites debut was in the 4-0 win over Mexico in Auckland in 1980.

NZ score 2 early goals in Wellington...How good is Mexico's defence??  Could be very interesting....

Once I'm over the bag ricki, bag NZF, bag class of 82, Steve sumner lol commentary, the non selections, the warning signs, the piss poor build up and everything else, I get to this:

As a stakeholder I want more. I want our national team to be playing football, to show our kids that we will attempt to play football (and if we lose to a better team, fine; that's sport). This morning we went out and did a massive disservice to our sport, our coaches who develop skills and our young players. Junior stretfords just laughed at that performance. Shame ricki. Shame NZF that we haven't progressed the sport more. It's a long way back and it starts next week - not with an emotional "indulge ricki in his final fling" but by showing the kids watching that we actually do have some players who will, given the chance, play some footy.

When we score three early goals, Mexico will be very nervous. Very very nervous.

Yep - JV pretty much nailed it

Smeltz and Rojas have it covered...2 goals each from these lads !!!!

Okay. Ready to move on now. Where is the 2nd leg thread?

At the end of the day the performance I saw from New Zealand was not what I believe was any where near our potential. I'm not saying we could have been good enough to go into this tie as favourites. But that performance was shocking. We madea very average mexican team look very sharp.

I am happy to park the bus, but parking the bus doesnt mean hack the ball as soon as you get it. If anyone saw the other teams play against Mexico, when they got the ball they at least played a couple passes together to give their defence time to move forward and also time for their forwards to get in position for any ball knocked long. Our players hid from the ball, no one apart from the front 3 wanted the ball. Parking the bus doesn't mean we give up passing the ball altogether. 

Yes New Zealand is limited to who we can select. But I am sorry that is no excuse for who Herbert selected out there. Herbert's job was to get the most out of what he has available. I am sorry but he has failed miserably. I am not saying anotehr coach could have gone there and won. But I most defintely believe there is more potential in new Zealand football to what we saw.

It's not Herbert's fault that our build up is poor, it's not his fault that we are limited to who can be selected. But it is most defintely his fault for the 11 that started. Im sorry but Fitzgerald would have been a better selection than Vicelich or Durante. Roux most defintely should of been playing ahead of Locahead or Bertos, anyone should have started ahead of Christie. Rojas should definitely have started.

It was obvious after 10 mins that the likes of Lochead and Christie were well off the pace of the game. Christie panicked what few times he got the ball even when he had time, and that is an obvious sign of someone with a lack of decent football. Surely Herbert must have seen this in training or in the build up games.

I don't care what excuses we all give herbert. At the end of the day I don't belive that performance is any where near what New Zealand is capable of.

Onwards and upwards, let hope that dont give Herbert some cushy role at NZF like his mate DeJong.

You've hit the nail on the head - we had better players in 2010, so ended up having better results (with a fair amount of luck also). Our midfield was also better - Simon Elliott, much younger Ivan - so we could at least transition with some accuracy on an occasion.

Right now we have next to nothing - much worse backline, no-one anywhere near international quality in midfield, and Marco. And you think this lot could do better than the team from 2010?

It's sad we have a worse team than in 2010. 

Agree %100

It's okay to lose to bigger teams, that's not the issue.

But the way we lost is frustrating...

It's simply not good enough to hoof the ball forward as soon as we get it back.

There was hardly any passing game, which led to hardly any chances created.

Even Messi would find it hard to get on the scoreboard in an AW's shirt, with that sort of service...

Fact is we don't play football, eg: Holding possession, passing triangles, One-two's... None of that at all...

Until our mentality doesn't change, nothing will.

The way to go for NZ Football from here:

Start to play more offensively minded football, string some passes together and don't just defend for 90 mins.

We might still lose games, but perhaps we'll look a bit better

It will still be packed in Welly.  Just some scalpers or genuines selling I think.

Yes and No. I would say we have better attacking taent and strikers than we did in 2010. We have a $4mil Championship signing and a bundesliga player. I believe McGlinchey isn't far off what Elliott was back in 2010. Vicelich and Tim Brown were the other central midfielders back then. In 2010 if we said we couldn't find anyone to replace Tim brown or Vicelich in the midfield we would have been shocked. Christie is certainly a big drop but he also wasn't our best option for this game.

Regrettably we havent found a left back option and that really hurts us, but Roux is just as good as what leo was back in 2010. We need to remember Leo has never ever been a very flash right back.

So really where we havent improved is the loss of Nelsen and Reid. I would say these are the only positions (and left back) we didn't have better players available than what we had in 2010. But I believe Herberts non selection of a lot of young players is hiding a lot of talent that actually was available.

So every 3rd post has been brettdale saying "Ricki is shit" without adding anything of substance. I remember now why I avoid match threads.

I thought the tactics were right and were actually working until a couple of silly errors led us to concede 2 before halftime. Even then Ricki kept up the game plan as 2-0 would have still seen us with a chance. Once we went 3-0 down he went more attacking since we desperately needed that away goal, it wasn't surprising then that we conceded a couple more . 

What you can criticise Ricki for is a squad and even a starting XI selection or two (the Christie experiment backfired a bit), the buildup and inconsistent squad and playing XI selections during the buildup. 

Also Steve Sumner is an idiot. If we had pressed all game at altitude against Mexico we would have been slaughtered. 

Everyone has been full of ideas of what we should have done but with the exception of Reid and maybe a fit Marco, you have the same team with the same limitations. Just cause people say 'we should try playing football' doesn't mean those players all of a sudden become magical footballers. Do you think Ricki really said to them 'every time you touch that ball, even if you are in 20 yards of space, send it as long as you can'. Do you really think if Ricki did as everyone suggests and said 'play football' that the performance would have mystically changed? Get your hand off it if you believe that is true.

Getting ass raped 5-1 vs 3-0 is still a loss. Nothing changes. Yes it's frustrating but we were never going to be in this game when you objectively look at everything EXCLUDING our tactics or players. Altitude, vs a team ranked 20 something and a poor build up. People aren't thinking and just venting. At least be honest if you are. To be competitive against that side we needed about 5-6 player upgrades (sans Marco and Reid) to have been competitive. Common sense should tell we don't have that or have historically produced that so it's all just bullshit 'coulda shoulda woulda'

Accept it and move on.

Why is it ridiculous to throw Roux in there? He is a professional footballer. Wood was 17 when he played against Bahrain in bahrain.