All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen has been celebrated as "World Player of the Week" for his "heroic" performances by a leading soccer website.
Goal.com, a site translated into more than a dozen languages and serving hundreds of countries, announced its pick overnight.
Nelsen deserved the recognition for "inspiring his side to two draws and giving the All Whites a shot at last 16 qualification", the website said.
The All Whites have stood in the "formidable shadow" of the All Blacks in New Zealand, but yesterday's draw against reigning World Cup champions Italy "may well serve as a red letter day for the round-ball game in the land of the Kiwi", it said.
"And to have made it this far, with only two goals conceded, much of the acclaim goes to the team's captain and leader, Ryan Nelsen. The central defender with a degree in political science has adequately co-ordinated the backline of his side and has been close to heroic at times in South Africa.
"The Blackburn Rovers stopper was impeccable in keeping out the world champions on Sunday [Monday NZT], putting his body on the line time and again to repel the Italians."
Nelsen's "monumental performance" put him ahead of Goal.com's three "honourable mentions": Argentina's Gonzalo Higuain, who scored a hat-trick against South Korea; Denmark's Dennis Rommedahl, whose goal pushed his team past Cameroon; and Brazil's Elano, who has scored two goals in two World Cup matches.
That's fantastic recognition for "Admiral" Nelsen, who as we said in our earlier post today has been New Zealand's rock. To be recognised in this way puts Nelsen amongst football's elite just for the moment, and can only help to enhance the profile of the game here.
Football has never been in better heart in New Zealand. The challenge for New Zealand Soccer will be to maintain the momentum when the gloss of the World Cup has faded; something at which their 1982 counterparts failed miserably. We hope that the lessons on 1982 have been learned; much as we love rugby, football is the global game, and having the All Whites continue to perform with distinction in the years ahead will benefit New Zealand immensely.
5 comments:
The current situation is immeasurably better than back in 1982. Kiwis now have a decent team (well, the Phoenix) to cheer for in a more or less professional league, which is a lot more than they had in 1982. The current campaign will only inspire more people to go along to games and to look at football as a viable alternative to rugby for young athletes, especially if a few All Whites get noticed by the big leagues.
Don't you mean the Admirable Nelson
I think that so far, one of the best performances in the World Cup has been the Argentine team.
I'm also a little bit influenced because I'm staying in an apartment in Buenos Aires with some friends, and we watch all the games!
No argument there Frank. And Messi is yet to don his scoring boots!
Great Blog!
Post a Comment