Vs Mexico 2nd Leg Wed 20th 7:00pm SS1

havent gone back far into the thread to see if it's been discussed, but there was some shocking bottle-throwing going on tonight, embarrassing stuff to see them raining into the mexicans' area below YF

No mention at all Paul. You are the first to raise it.

Didn't really pay much attention to the zone (we were much further along from our normal seats), but did see a few cops in there at one stage.

bottles thrown from multiple areas, directed at mexicans, lots hitting targets

my friend became incensed and went to complain to police, was not satisfied with their response, so went over to people he saw throwing them and told them to stop, police then intervened and kicked the throwers out, as well as my friend

bottles continued to be thrown after that as well

I have seen the future of NZ football and it looks fine by me.

Just got home from the match. I now have great hope for NZ football. The way our youngsters took it to Mexico made me proud to be a kiwi supporter. At the bar after the match the Mexican supporters all congratulated us on our game. They could not believe it was the same team as the Azteca. To see a NZ side comfortable on the ball, pass and moving, keeping the ball on the deck.....it gave me great joy.

I thought Roux was the NZ man of the match. So much maturity and skill for someone so inexperianced. He has the NZ RB slot for ever....he only made one error. I thought Costa was excellent....very positive and direct. Rory made a big difference when he came on. He held the ball up and layed it off well. For me Smeltz looked out of condition. Rojas did some very good stuff but showed his lack of precision from little recent game time. James was busy and creative.

Sure there are things you can criticise....but in the circumstances it would be churlish. (why did Brockie take the penalty) Considering this team has just come together and had little or no practice playing in this style then it was a thoroughly commendable performance. Imagine what they could do if we could get a  decent coach who could drill them on this style of play.

 Great night despite the scoreline...I am very happy. Just don't f**k it up now NZ football

I thought Louis Fenton was great as well. So who is our LB now? Storm Roux with Fenton at RB? 

The second Mexican goal was as good as any ever seen in the cake tin IMHO....

"Form is temporary, class is permanent...." once quoted a Mr Botham from England. At least we didn't give up, didn't back down, and carried on playing our game without capitulating. Hats off, they were too good.

Gutted, but pretty proud of what the boys did out there.....

Did anyone think that Chris James looked a little...chunky?

Yeah he needs a bit if conditioning but does he seem like the character that cares about that kind of thing?

A few thoughts;

With a number of players who under-performed on the first leg out through suspension or common sense the next weakest were always going to be exposed - Durante and Brockie put their hands up to fill those roles last night. Had Reid been playing then Roux and Tuiloma would have been able to get forward more frequently with less likelihood of the 3-0 scoreline we saw at the end of the first half.

More time as a unit would definitely have helped the backline - looked a dogs breakfast at times and with the CBs caught for pace and poorly positioned when Mexico attacked through the middle. In fact, no-one apart from Tuiloma seemed to have any awareness of the offside line and exactly how cleverly the Mexicans were at running that line.

Presumably the All Whites have a designated penalty taker ? I've heard talk that Smeltz should have been the first option but then why did James take the second ? Anyway, talking about the guy who won the penalty having earnt the right to take it is pub team football - pretty basic stuff that a professional team has a go-to guy for pens and a backup...looked like we were making it up as we went along.

Thought that after his third off-target shot in a row was probably time for James to pass the ball as the radar was a bit off. Absolutely can't fault the effort he put in on the night though.

A few players guilty of getting into very good positions and then doing too much with the ball when there were options around them.

If we are going to play that style of football going forward we seriously need to learn how to transition from attack to defense more effectively.

To steal from the Yanks - that was a 'Hearts & Minds' performance. You want to get more kids playing the game, more Kiwis supporting the game, more sponsors wanting to put their money into the game? - that's how you do it, not by parking the bus and playing dreary hoofball.

Last night was the first time in a very long time that I can remember being excited at the prospect of seeing an All Whites team on the park who set out to attack the opposition and score goals and I salute the team and those resposible for fielding a side that took the field looking to do much more than just 'limit the damage'.

Hey 343, that phrase is a good steal and we (stakeholder base) needed a 'hearts & minds' performance so desperately after the dross served up in the first half in Mexico. Just hope we can continue to show a little faith in players actually trying to play the game - when there is still a meaningful result at stake.

the prevailing thought during the game for me was 'man i wish we had more meaningful all whites games'

Smeltz had been subbed by then

Good posts. I am sure a few of us were sitting there going "Man, I wish we had more" (being attacking brand of football, more games or just more!)

Smeltz probably is the guy you want taking the kicks but both him and Brockie are strikers.... one or the other should be able to do it and while he missed it, it was not detrimental to the result other than people going "BROCKIE SUX" like kids. I still do not begrudge him the opportunity to take it and get that monkey off his back. We now will carry him into another game still sitting on a duck....


I also don't get why Brockie is getting ragged on. All I see is "BROCKIE SUX" but no one is saying why. Yes he missed a penalty but I thought he ran himself about up top a lot harrowing them when we did not have the ball and made a couple of good runs to get in good positions (the penalty and also one from the other side where he tried to chip the keeper) Bearing in mind there was a lot of cross ball action and Brockie doesn't score with his head, he was not exactly getting much in the way of service. I'm struggling to see why people are ragging on his ass so badly - Smeltz was ineffectual but he gets the 'Oh well he has been injured' pass. It seems to me (without anyone saying why) that he is the games' scapegoat and I actually thought that as his first game up front for the AWs (in a position he plays for club rather than this right half stuff) it was one of his better games in the white shirt.

Still, I'm keen to engage on the debate against why people think Brockie was so shit. I think a lot of it is people piggy backing on Brockie because he does disappear in games (and I have called him out a few times) that he must always disappear in games.

Sitting here eating my marmite toast thinking what could have been . not gonna dwell on it for much longer mexico were classy and they might just make the quarters ( as underdogs ).

Am looking forward to 2017 now . with this team minus a couple a new coach and a few tweaks here and there we could be a good contender for Russia.
I hate bagging him but durante was far to slow tonight.  and the Mexicans if hadn't known already figured it out pretty quickly.

Enjoyed seeing the mexico supporter get thrown out of the stadium tho . haha that woman probably thought she would be put back in her seat but nope see ya

here;

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/9423901/Reason-All-Whites-were-lambs-to-the-slaughter

If you ignore stuff's pathetic headline and 'fools errand' crap that was on the home page earlier, the article's not really that bad at all. He basically says mexico were a far better side but that we tried hard. Sums it up ok for me. It's stuff's editor  or whatever with the attention-grabbing headline to get the hits that makes it out to be a piece ragging on the AWs/Herbert. 

And James speaks about wanting more games, as well as the penos;

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/9424974/James-wants-bigger-All-Whites-games

My problem with Brockie is he doesnt really fit in to any sort of strategy we've come up with. He is not great with his head so that tactic was never going to favour him, and he cant hold up the ball that well. He doesnt fit in a lineup with the likes of Rojas and Costa because his off the ball running isnt that effective and gets caught offside far too often (not an issue last night however). I just think whatever strategy we go with there are better options than Brockie. 

I genuinely have no idea what sort of team works for him either. Calling him heartless and lazy isnt fair, he clearly gives everything for the  All Whites. 

It wasn't just the headline. Bits like..."Yesterday Ricki Herbert sent out the kids. It was a fool's errand. Maybe the departing coach was secretly hoping the lambs would get slaughtered, but Herbert set them up for the slaughter." were pretty much bs to me.

On the other hand I did like this point..."The question for New Zealand football going forwards is, well, exactly that. Do they want to try to go forwards? Do they want to be driven by men who are attempting either to score or to create goals? Or do they accept their limitations and continue to man the trenches."

He was caught out, but I wouldn't pinpoint the blame solely on him. Their attackers were finding space everywhere.

IMO we didn't put any pressure on them. We gave them space and time, given their far superior ball holding, distribution skills, we were always going to get burned by standing off them.

We had no midfield, James played ok. Durante was killed. Midfield was completely dominated, even when we started to play more 'attacking' football, Herbert just put 5 up front. Couldn't f..king believe it.

I thought the game was very promising. 

James has surprised me a lot in this tie. He and weemac in front of a DM with kosta/marco wide and wood or brockie up front, that should be able to trouble many a decent international side. The next layer of youth appears promising as well at this stage, with thomas, rufer, ridenton etc etc. Perhaps tuiloma could be that DM if we can find a left back elsewhere. 

A fit reid will be crucial to our future, and to our chances for Russia. 

He always has hasn't he?