All Whites v Paraguay - Friday 2am - BELI

Sumner lovin

Russell wants to live in Chch
lets face it, who can blame him

I think we cando it, our (teams) appears set and resolute is what we need. I only hope no matter what happens we (NZ public) don't turn on the lads. If a local lad Andy baron who works for a living in welly, plays nzfc and club football can mix it with the world champs then no matter what we should all stand and clap. Plus we gonna WIN anyway and bring on Netherlands ! skylab892010-06-22 22:55:25

I'm so embarrassed even by the thought.

There's a video of the Maori players in the team doing a Haka and even they look terrible, imagine if the rest of them did one.  Reid looked like he was wtf-ing the whole time and Bertos, at a staggering 4'9" and 55kg, will find it difficult to strike fear into the enemy.

It was on CGW on Prime.

All it takes is one glorious shot and everything is hard work.

The fact that Paraguay only needs a draw does help us to some extent. You can bet your life they'll come out and say they are going to play their natural attacking game, but realistically they will want to avoid taking any undue risks, having seen what we've done to Slovakia and Italy, and will adopt a slightly cautious approach.

further to this^, the fact that we held italy to a draw means that Paraguay will only want to win, as opposed to try and ensure they have the better goal difference - had we lost to Italy, Paraguay would assume them and Italy would finish both on 7 points and goal difference would decide who finished top.  so hopefully this means the goal fest we were always fearing is less likely....

Yeah, if we get trounced like North Korea people will probably forget about the good this team has done. That's the only thing I fear going into this game.

Just don't walk into a bank dressed up like that

They said they would do it for the fans. So leave out your strike fear into the enemy bollocks.

The last two games have been a learning experience, I reckon Rick is right, 'nothing to lose', we will pull out all the stops and those up front will pile on the pressure and pull the trigger.
We are not the same newbies who started this competition.
We will score no doubt. Just one or two more than Paraguay will do!

This

I'd say Uruguay would've been better - think would've been a bit easier for us to play against them.

The other way to look at it is that a win for them opens up their road to the quarter-finals (would ensure they top the group and avoid the Dutch in the second round) so there's an incentive for them to go for the jugular.

Ok yeah forgot about them. But all the south american teams look really good so far

There's a chance every one of them may end up winning their group. Uruguay and Argies already done it.

didn't they do one at the beijing olympics?

That's not the All Whites.  That's the OlyWhites.

I'm praying for a Win but sure as hell will not be disappointed with a draw!!

According to this http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/fifa-world-cup/all-whites/3843823/Paraguay-on-edge-ahead-of-All-Whites-match

"The New Zealand-Paraguay match will be refereed by Japanese official Yuichi Nishimura."

Anyone got any thoughts on this guy?? How easily bribed, can we threaten family or do we just need to get the boys practicing their dives??

just seen more info here
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/fifa-world-cup/all-whites/3844181/All-Asian-officiating-crew-for-All-Whites-match

Can someone who knows more football than I do tell me how Japanese in particular and Asian refs in general handle, oh, say, a striker who tends to stick his elbows out when he goes up for the ball?

I would hazard a guess at not too kindly.

Got a bad feeling about this game.  I suspect the Paston who played against Slovakia and Slovenia will be there and that goalkeeper who played a blinder against Italy won't be present.

on what basis?

Save it for the jinx thread, mate.

Paraguay know that a draw could see them go through as top of Group F. Italy would have to beat Slovakia by at least 2, and at the moment, I don't see them doing so. Winning full stop is what they are concerned about. With that in mind, Paraguay might not go all out attack against us...and it may be to our advantage:

It's going to be a tense opening, and we simply cannot afford to concede early. If we conceded early against Italy, we would have had a hard time pegging them back. Keeping Paraguay scoreless for as long as we can gets us closer to our final goal. We shall also see some more opportunities on attack too, and hope that we make the most of our chances.

Fully agree. The longer we stifle and frustrate their attack, including restricting them to pot shots, the more chance we have. If we concede early it could get ugly.

In terms of stifling their attack our defence should be okay as long as they don't get drawn out of formation. I don't see Siggy getting a run though unless we magically get 3 up with 1 minute to go, not his best opposition that's all.  Brown maybe but if Ricki doesn't think he's 110% probably not

I am so f**king pumped! Come on All Whites!

How come the thread title lost the end of BELIEVE? I must fix that.

B.E.L.I.E.V.E

hmm I'm hoping he hasn't heard of Pete Bethune, I was hoping it would be a Europe based Ref.

Can't wait for this game, All Whites have nothing to lose, seems like they are going to go into this game with a positive attitude and wil throw everything at them - obviously easier said than done.

http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/customcounter.html?day=25&month=6&year=2010&hour=2am&min=0&sec=0&p0=264

Countdown! Be cool to get something like this whizzed up a bit onto the homepage.

Asian ref probably isn't good for Fallon...

He reffed the Uruguay/France game. Anyone see it?
valeo2010-06-23 20:31:33

I can't remember anything alarming about Nishimura. He also did the Spain v Honduras game which he controlled very well I thought. Not a bad choice, touch wood!

he sent off lodeiro for two yellows, but can't remember whether that was justified or not.  given it was one of the worst games of the tournament (netherlands-denmark first half is up there too), i can't remember much.  but he also did spain-honduras a couple of days ago and i reckon he just about lost control when villa slapped that honduran defender.  

TV1 are beginning coverage from 10:55pm tomorrow night.

Martin Devlin is fired up!

3 hours! Epic!

Also, TV1 commentators or Sky? I did Sky last two games but Dewhurst is a bit too one eyed.