If the final four feels underwhelming then just go with it for the next week and see how you feel afterwards. Very few teams have ever won the World Cup by dominating from start to finish. Often teams start slow and build up while some just grind the whole way.
The Wellington Phoenix have a game in a few weeks. FFA Cup against Bentleigh Greens, a club from the Victorian Premier League, on August 7. Seems pretty early to be getting into the proper football and realistically it is.
Some people hate penalty shootouts. They think they’re too fickle or unfair. They think that penalty kicks don’t represent justice in a result after 120 minutes of stalemated football. Those people are wrong.
It wasn’t so long ago that the good old fashioned centre forward was all out of fashion. Spain was winning the World Cup and a couple Euros without one, Barcelona was winning everything at club level without one. But never fear because the 2018 World Cup has shown that the centre forward is making a comeback.
Just sneaking in under the deadline last week (an extended deadline thanks to these obscene World Cup kickoff times) was the breaking news that Ali Riley had agreed a transfer to Chelsea Football Club.
Andy Martin oversaw some very positive things in his time as CEO but there were simply too many clangers in there as well which has left the kiwi footy-loving public disillusioned with the state of NZ Football.
They were tactically awful in losing 1-0 to Mexico, needed a late screamer from Toni Kroos to beat Sweden 2-1 in injury time and then conceded twice at the appropriately-labelled death to lose 2-0 to South Korea.
Tommy Smith, Deklan Wynne and Mike Boxall all starting in the same game and spread out across the two defences… which murphy’s law dictated meant that there’d be a chuck of goals in this one.
And thus, people of the jury of public perception, I now present to you… the case for and against England as legitimate World Cup champion threats.
Having written pretty substantially about the exploits of NZ Football over the last few years, it was never likely that their press conference was going to offer any dramatic conclusions. Full credit to President Deryck Shaw and CEO Andy Martin for fronting up and answering some Qs but it’s not like they came armed with bombshells to drop.
Let’s see if we can get this all in proper order then. Andreas Heraf’s first tour in charge of the Football Ferns was in March where they played twice against Scotland (in Spain) and lost twice, both by 2-0 scorelines…
In the hour of darkness, in the time of need, that is when true heroes emerge. And it doesn’t get much darker than losing nine games in a row which was where the Colorado Rapids were at a week ago.
Something strange is happening. It could be early onset sleep deprivation from the World Cup but there appear to be positive vibrations emanating from the Wellington Phoenix.
Apparently half the population of planet earth will watch at least part of the World Cup and you already know you’re one of them.
No dramas for Minnesota Utd. Mike Boxall did his thing and won the coin toss and Minny scored the first kick, thanks to Ramirez, while Cincy’s bloke smacked the crossbar. Immediate advantage to the Loons. Keeper Bobby Shuttleworth went on to save two kicks and it was a comfortable 3-1 win in the shootout…
Last but not least, it’s Groups G & H… where the likes of Belgium, Colombia and, yes, England will make their first moves towards possible world domination.
Seven thousand two hundred and thirty six people turned up at Westpac Stadium in Wellington to watch the Football Ferns take on Japan. The biggest crowd a home women’s international has ever attracted in Aotearoa.
How nice is it to feel positive about an All Whites tour? Two wins against non-OFC opposition and Fritz Schmid has already surpassed Anthony Hudson’s total. Don’t know when the AWs will next play but they’re on a winning streak at the moment!
Time for Groups D, E & F - where the shoulders of Lionel Messi get a test alongside the emergent talent of Sergej Milinković-Savić, Germany’s striker dilemma and Nigeria’s excellent team jersey’s and undercover knockout chances.
Now that’s what we’re talking about. The All Whites saved their best performance for the toughest game and just absolutely thumped India, did them dirty in front of their own fans. Magical stuff.