Match 12: New Zealand - Slovakia Post-Match Thread [R]

What a finish, I was out of my seat when that header went through. Congrats to the Kiwis, they were robbed on that Slovakian goal!

Is Winston Reed Maori? Oh television just answered that question. Wow, I think that I'm psychic.

 

Lochhead seemed rather slow, so yes, that would be a liability. Still, the team as a whole seemed to keep together well at the back. The errors will likely come if and when they decide to push forward, like what happened whenever Slovakia had a good chance.

 

New Zealand 2010 = T&T 2006

Well earned respect, guys.

 

also lets not forget....

Australia 0 points

New Zealand 1 point

 

Actually I was thinking... let's do forget, please...

Although I still think Australia has higher chance of getting through group stage than the Kiwis.

 

sorry mate....I am cheering Aussies too! (my brother was born in Qld)

But give the kiwis their day out in the sun

I'd love the semi finals to be England, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa (I went to SA and loved it, and my brothers and sister lived there)

 

are we talking about cricket or union?

 

if it was cricket or union, it would be a Kiwi/Aussie final

 

Hika Reid was a maori All Black (in fact each time the commentator said Reid I thought..."Hika")

There was also a NZ rugby commentator called Winston McCarthy but i don't know if he was maori

 

Really enjoyed that game, despite its overall lack of quality. I'm a big Simon Elliott fan and he had a monster game, playing great through the midfield and taking some nice free kicks. I'm also a huge Ryan Nelson fan and he had a wonderful game as always.

The Slovakia goal was obviously offside but there was hint of a fraction of offside on the NZ goal as well (though they didn't show the replay) so it all evens out. What a wonderful finish. I thought NZ deserved a point out of it as they played equally as well (for the most part) as Slovakia. Slovakia will shoot themselves after the tournament if the loss of 2 points comes back to haunt them (which it probably will).

Loved that finish. Great game.

 

also FIFA...please rescind Reid's yellow card for taking off his shirt

I don't understand why people take off their shirt after scoring (I'd keep mine on to kiss the badge)

but fair play to the lad.....fair play fifa?

 

This is not the Slovakia from qualifying. It's another case of the UEFA teams Antaeus syndrome: they tend to suck outside Europe. Why? I think in great part because most of them NEVER play outside Europe!

South American teams have invited Euro teams to play down there often, but most of the time they are scared of the rowdy crowds and little bugs in the water. So, when they have to play a World Cup outside Europe, they go out on the field already half defeated, expecting the worst.

A psychological thing. They could cure it by visiting Azteca, the Bombonera, the Siles or the Maracana once in a while.

The Slovakia goal was clearly offside, as the replays show. For all their control of the game, they created zero real chances. The Kiwis got a tie in the end, but all things said that goal could easily have been the one for victory.

 

Don't know why everyone is saying NZ is the worst team in the cup, in my opinion North Korea is.

I even think NZ showed more balls then Greece who just laid down and died, NZ atleast kept fighting and got their reward.

 

Good game, Slovakia had a few chances and I'm not sure it was offside.

Slovakia is ranked close to Paraguay per fifa rankings and New Zealand I don't think had an awful performance at the Confederations. I have looked at people's predictions and none predicted all draws, so any predictions now may be equally as bad. No shoe-ins.

 

So how many North Korean games have you watched and which ones from this last round of qualifications if I may ask?

 

Actually, a Google search for +"North Korea" +qualifiers +torrent gives you nearly all of their games as a result. Now there are few seeds, but back when they happened the next day you could get the full game in 45 minutes because there were hundreds of people seeding/leeching it.

 

The game against Paraguay was a perfect example, all they did was sit back on defense with their lone strikers all the way at the top. They didn't threaten Paraguay at all.

Also saw some game vs Iran in which Iran was vastly superior but N.Korea held on to a draw due its refusal to come out and play.

They have no creativity and are just plain flat, atleast NZ fights even if they know they are probably gonna lose.

 

All Whites have to be positively giddy right now.

All a club needs is confidence and Slovakia should've done better for sure, but NZ comes away from this result more confident going into the next game.

 

Just three wins, three losses, and five draws for the eleven UEFA teams who have played so far. UEFA looks on pace to advance about seven teams to the next stage - maybe as few as five.

It was offside, but it was pretty close. On the replays I saw, it looked like the NZ defender's front leg was roughly even with the Slovak attacker's rear leg. In cases like that, I think the defense deserves more blame than the officials - a linesman would have to be superhuman to consistently get that call right.

 

If they kept their qualifying form, it'd be higher: 9/13, I'd say.

As I noted in another thread, Germany and Italy are the two UEFA teams who don't drop in form anywhere. Usually.

 

Iran is a tough place to win if they did that there.

Not to take anything away from the New Zealanders but I wonder if Oceania and however there qualifying goes is not as tough now with Australia joining Asia. I know Australia had trouble qualifying in the playoffs so New Zealand deserve full credit.

But North Korea also had to go through qualifying and I'm sure there is a certain attitude if one wants to win in Iran or Saudi Arabia. I don't expect them to be the best at the World Cup but I don't think there record would indicate clearly they are the worst. I don't know how much better New Zealand would do going to play in Teheran or in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I saw there home games against South Korea, they hustle and I think that is to their advantage. Defense is a part of the game too. I don't see NK though engaged in acts that bring the game into disrepute, diving, being overly physical and things. That's a plus for them. They seem rather sporting.