There's great news coming out of NZ Soccer HQ today. The All Whites have secured a home fixture against Paraguay on 12 October. It seems most likely that the venue will be Wellington, as AMI Stadium in Christchurch is unavailable, and Eden Park will not quite be at full capacity by then. That suits us fine!
Paraguay is a top-20 team on FIFA rankings post World Cup. They won their group at the World Cup, and were eliminated by world champions Spain in the quarter-finals. They are a much better side than they showed when they played the All Whites in the final group match where they only needed a draw to qualify.
This will certainly be the All Whites' toughest home match in many a year. By then the Wellington Phoenix will have played around eight matches in the A-League, and football will be on the radar again. Whilst it won't have the tension of the World Cup qualifier against Bahrain, it will still be a football occasion to savour.
Well done to Ricki Herbert and to NZF chief executive Michael Gladding. It was important for NZF to strike while the iron was hot, unlike after the 1982 World Cup where administrators let the game drift for a couple of years, and lost the momentum that had been built through 1981-82. Football has never been in better heart in this country, and that's a good thing.
2 comments:
Call me a glass half empty guy but lets just wait and see how many of our overseas players suddenly have'niggling injuries' during that international window.
My bet is that NZ soccer will find it just as hard now as in 82. The reality is nobody is really going to want to play us at home if they dont need to.
@ Ozy - you're a glass half empty guy; well, you did ask!
I don't this that this will be 1982 revisited. Football is professionally run here now, and the environment is hugely different from 1982. Doubtless there will be challenges ahead, but this match is the start of the 2014 Btazil campaign.
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