NZ vs USA Friendly

[Crowdie]

The build-up for the All Whites ahead of the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup took another turn over the past 48 hours with a full international against the USA confirmed in place of the planned match against Croatia in Zagreb.

The Croatians cancelled the planned match on June 5th, with no reason given by the Croatian FA. NZS quickly made representations to the USA and a proposed ‘behind closed doors’ match on June 14th in Europe quickly became a full international for the All Whites on June 8th, at a yet to be determined East Coast USA venue. The match will lose nothing in intensity, with the Americans ranked 10th compared to Croatia’s 34th in the latest FIFA Rankings. The USA will play in the opposing group at June’s Confederations Cup.

The All Whites will fly to America on 31st May, after playing Scotland at Tynecastle on the 27th. They will then fly back to Europe on the 10th June and take up residence at the French National Rugby Centre at Marcoussis in Southern Paris. The complex will then be home for the team until their departure from the Confederations Cup.

The squad of 23 players for the Confederations Cup will be named on April 28th and will assemble in Birmingham on May 22nd. Home for the first stage of preparation will be the Springs Health Resort, a venue frequented by full England squads and various professional club teams from throughout Europe.

Crowdie.

[NEKSoccer]

I'm gonna do my own special haka for this game: "KA-MA-TE, KA-MA-TE, KIA ORA!!!!". :)

[um_chili]

Originally posted by NEKSoccer
I'm gonna do my own special haka for this game: "KA-MA-TE, KA-MA-TE, KIA ORA!!!!". :)

English, please. ;)

[Crowdie]

The Te Rauparaha Haka:

Before the Haka is performed by the team, the Haka leader, normally of Maori descent, will instigate the Haka and spur on those who are to perform the Haka with the following:

Ringa pakia
Uma tiraha
Turi whatia
Hope whai ake
Waewae takahia kia kino

Those who are to perform the Haka then follow with:

Ka Mate! Ka Mate!
Ka Ora! Ka Ora!
Tenei te ta ngata puhuru huru
Nana nei i tiki mai

Whakawhiti te ra
A upane ka upane!
A upane kaupane whiti te ra!
Hi!!

English Translation:

Slap the hands against the thighs
Puff out the chest
Bend the knees
Let the hip follow
Stamp the feet as hard as you can.

It is death! It is death!
It is life! It is life!
This is the hairy person
Who caused the sun to shine

Keep abreast! Keep abreast
The rank! Hold fast!
Into the sun that shines!

You can hear an MP3 recording of the All Blacks performing the haka at Carisbrook, Dunedin on the 10th of July 1999 at http://www.nzallblacks.net/down-load/haka.mp3.

Crowdie.

[um_chili]

Cool. thanks for the info.

[DoyleG]

Too bad they can't stop by Canada and play a match in Ottawa.

Would be nice for some of us who haven't had a home game in years.

[Crowdie]

Too bad they can't stop by Canada and play a match in Ottawa.

Would be nice for some of us who haven't had a home game in years.


You should get your association to talk to Soccer New Zealand as our coach is screaming for more quality games before the Confederations Cup.

Crowdie.

[nicodemus]

Might the game be in Boston as that's where the USA was supposed to play Portugal on the June 8th, but they cancelled?

[Crowdie]

The venue for the All Whites international soccer match against the USA has been confirmed.

The match will be played in Richmond, Virginia on the 8th June, KO 1pm (local time).

Crowdie.

[nicodemus]

Originally posted by Crowdie
The venue for the All Whites international soccer match against the USA has been confirmed.

The match will be played in Richmond, Virginia on the 8th June, KO 1pm (local time).

Crowdie. What is the venue?

[NEKSoccer]

Originally posted by nicodemus
What is the venue?
I think it's the University of Richmond Stadium. I don't know where Crowdie got his info.

[nicodemus]

Originally posted by NEKSoccer
I think it's the University of Richmond Stadium. I don't know where Crowdie got his info. That's probably a good choice. Not like the game is going to draw 50,000 or anything. (That's not a slap at NZ, I'm just stating a fact.)

[NEKSoccer]

Originally posted by nicodemus
That's probably a good choice. Not like the game is going to draw 50,000 or anything. (That's not a slap at NZ, I'm just stating a fact.)
You're probably right. I would go to cover the game for my friend's website in Kiwiland (www.soccerobserver.co.nz) since I could be there in 7 hours by Greyhound bus, but I have a prior commitment that weekend and will not be able to go. I was in NZ for the '99 U-17 WC and that was the only time I saw any NZ team play in person. Pity that I rarely get to see our own nats in person. I wanted to see the US-NZ game live because I have an interest in games between teams representing countries where soccer is far from the #1 sport. I wish this were not the case with regard to both countries (and Canada and Australia for that matter, among others). But sadly, it is the truth.

[nicodemus]

Originally posted by NEKSoccer
You're probably right. I would go to cover the game for my friend's website in Kiwiland (www.soccerobserver.co.nz) since I could be there in 7 hours by Greyhound bus, but I have a prior commitment that weekend and will not be able to go. I was in NZ for the '99 U-17 WC and that was the only time I saw any NZ team play in person. Pity that I rarely get to see our own nats in person. I wanted to see the US-NZ game live because I have an interest in games between teams representing countries where soccer is far from the #1 sport. I wish this were not the case with regard to both countries (and Canada and Australia for that matter, among others). But sadly, it is the truth. I was in NZ in '94. Had a blast down there. I'd like to go to the game too, but I'm going to several others (USA-MEX & USA-PARAGUAY) and you've got to choose sometimes.

[Crowdie]

I was in NZ for the '99 U-17 WC and that was the only time I saw any NZ team play in person.


That was a great tournament held at North Harbour Stadium (my home ground) on Auckland's North Shore. Soccer NZ won the FIFA Fair Play award for that tournament.

I remember the NZ v USA game. The USA team had a back of Asian origins who caused us some problems - I personally thought the Ref should have penalised him quite a few times for climbing over the NZ forwards but you can't win them all :-) I believe the USA got fourth - losing the 3rd/4th playoff to Ghana. The Aussies did really well getting to the final against Brazil only to lose on penalties. The NZ highlight was beating the UEFA champions Poland and knocking them out of the tournament - great game that one :-)

All Whites Confederations Cup Itinerary

April 28th Squad of 23 named
May 22nd Squad assembles in Birmingham, England
May 27th v Scotland, Tynecastle
May 31st Squad departs for USA
June 8th v USA, Richmond, Virginia
June 10th Squad departs for France, based at Marcoussis in Paris
June 18th v Japan, Stade de France
June 20th v Colombia, Lyon
June 22nd v France, Stade de France

Crowdie.

[NEKSoccer]

Originally posted by nicodemus
I was in NZ in '94. Had a blast down there. I'd like to go to the game too, but I'm going to several others (USA-MEX & USA-PARAGUAY) and you've got to choose sometimes.

I myself am planning to go to the Gold Cup this year since it will be in Boston which is a five-hour drive from where I live. I am especially looking forward to the tripleheader which includes Canada vs. Costa Rica, the Revolution vs. my MetroStars, and then the U.S.-El Salvador game. On the whole, it seems that I get to an average of one nats game a year. Wish it were more, though!

[NEKSoccer]

Originally posted by Crowdie
That was a great tournament held at North Harbour Stadium (my home ground) on Auckland's North Shore. Soccer NZ won the FIFA Fair Play award for that tournament.

I remember the NZ v USA game. The USA team had a back of Asian origins who caused us some problems - I personally thought the Ref should have penalised him quite a few times for climbing over the NZ forwards but you can't win them all :-) I believe the USA got fourth - losing the 3rd/4th playoff to Ghana. The Aussies did really well getting to the final against Brazil only to lose on penalties. The NZ highlight was beating the UEFA champions Poland and knocking them out of the tournament - great game that one :-)


I really enjoyed my stay in Auckland. Too bad I didn't get to see the rest of the country. I'll get back there someday as I have friends in the Wellington area. Do you know a guy named Pete Wilkinson? He is the West Ham Supporters' Club President in New Zealand and he was there with his West Ham banners. He even knows Harry Redknapp personally! I got caught up talking to him at halftime of that NZ-Poland match as I was on the field photographing the game. I had the intention of going to the other end where Poland would be shooting for the second half. But security would not let me. It was the best mistake I ever made. I got pictures of at least one of the NZ goals and the celebrations in that second half! I submitted them to a paper in Rodney Districts, but they ended up not using them. As for the US-NZ game, I had arrived for that game on that very day. I was sleep starved because I flew 20 hours to Sydney from New York (with a stopover in Los Angeles) a day later than I had wanted to leave (my brother's 40th birthday party was on the day I wanted to leave). When I arrived in Sydney, I was horrified to find that the tourist people put me up in a hotel in the city's red-light district! When I got into NZ, I stayed in Grey Lynn at a small hotel (the staff were EXCELLENT to me!!!). When I got to the game, I found that they had closed off credentialling! I ran around like crazy trying to find someone who could give me post-game interview area access! Anyway, stuff was eventually worked out. The game was played in driving rain. The U.S. defender of Oriental extraction you are referring to is Alexander Yi. He is playing professionally in Belgium nowadays.

Anyway, it was a fun time as I made quite a few friends and even saw America's Cup yachting (and got seasick doing so!). The waters in Auckland Harbor are quite choppy! Three U.S. national team stars participated in that tournament - Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, and Bobby Convey.

I wasn't particularly impressed with the style of soccer that Oz used to get where they got in that tournament. There were no Kewells or Vidukas in this bunch. I do remember that a number of the Aussie players were upstarts at Leeds United. I believe that Shane Cansdell-Sheriff was one of these players.
Some of the Kiwi players are in England. David Mulligan, who was on the U-17 Junior All Whites, is doing well at Barnsley, no? Also, there's Rory Fallon (son of Kevin, as I am sure you know), Jeremy Christie, and a few others including Leo Bertros and Danny Hay. (though, like Fallon - already cap-tied by England, the latter two were not on the U-17 '99 team).

Other players I liked in that tournament were Horacio Peralta of Uruguay (now playing at the club team Nacional in that country) and also Polish goalkeeper Pavel Kapsa. Pity I had to leave after the quarterfinals were over. By the way, are you a Football Kingz fan? Actually, I am sure you are. But I take it you are disappointed that they look set to move to Wellington. They get good crowds when they play there, so it makes sense. But I'm sure you would miss them. I hope they start having success on the field sometime soon. I had the good fortune of interviewing Wynton Rufer on the day that I left. I also should have interviewed Jason Batty because I think that he is really rock star Billy Idol moonlighting as a soccer player! :) His dad actually worked in the Kingz front office for a time.

Anyway, good luck to New Zealand this year. It's rare that they get to play many internationals, so this will be good for them. Let me know what your thoughts are on all the foregoing, okay? Bye for now.