All of our team have got far better skiils than we've seen thus far in this tournament and friendlies. I wonder if it's just nerves? Classic example is Leo, who's got great ball control/dribbling skills, but he looks a bit overawed by everybody he plays against. Self-belief boys! if you click as a team you can take on anybody. Looked a bit like England, who start everything as eleven separate players, but usually end up a team and get somewhere. Italians were crap (and the other lot) in their game, so who knows?
When it comes to playing with confidence, hope AWs take a leaf from North Korea in '66 World Cup who were not overawed by anyone (because they were new to international football in their case, never having entered the World Cup before, and having no real experience of teams other than their neighbours). It's important not to be intimidated by other teams' reputations and pedigree. Everyone is beatable on the day...
North Korea shocked the world by beating Italy and drawing with Chile to make the next round.
Northern Ireland in '82 similarly managed to beat hosts Spain, drawing with Yugoslavia and Honduras.
Senegal famously beat Cup- holders France in 2002 and made the quarters.
So, who knows? Anything's possible. But last night's result on its own is really good enough for me, no matter what happens in the next two games...
Big Pete 65, Christchurch