I guess the big talking points about the team has been about the fringe players like Mulligan and Plodder. However if you look at the potential first team plus the bench this is definitely one of the All Whites best teams ever.
In past years there have been many amatuers making up the team. However when you look at the AW's of 2010 the team is stacked with experianced professionals.
in the defense we have Nelsen...EPL, Vicilich...7 years Dutch Div 1, Reid....Denmark Div 1 and Danish age group international, Tommy Smith....Championship level with Ipswich and England age group internationa, Boyens.....MLs.
In attack we have 3 strikers with Championship level clubs.
Then there is Elliot...ex Fulham and MLS.
You then can add the A-League pro's including double Golden boot winner Smeltz and you have a team made up of guys who are full time professionals.
I am very excited about this team. The first eleven looks very good. They will be disiplined, well organised and hard to break down. When you look at the WC team just announced by Slovakia...they have two names that stand out as quality players. Skrtel from 7th place Liverpool and the playmaker from Napoli. But the rest of them mostly play in a scattering of midlevel clubs in Europe. We can respect these guys but we don't need to fear them.
Bring it on!!!!!!!