Not a bad article, he's got most right, but in terms of the Aussie supporters "grumbling", I could give him a few moer things as to why people are grumbling about tomorrow night's game.

Generally well-written though.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-cup/all-whites/3728499/All-Whites-have-nothing-to-lose

All Whites have nothing to lose
By FRED WOODCOCK - Sunday Star Times
Last updated 12:33 23/05/2010

Two teams with vastly different expectations of them do battle at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday night as the final phase of World Cup preparation begins.

Put simply, Australia are on a hiding to nothing while New Zealand have nothing to lose.

Socceroos fans have become demanding - they now have a team ranked 20th in the world and they expect results against even the toughest of opponents. It goes without saying, then, that anything less than a handsome win against the 78th- ranked All Whites will be viewed with major disappointment.

There are grumblings across the Tasman. The Socceroos are an ageing side, some say, they have injury problems, they play boring football under their Dutch coach Pim Verbeek, they lack goal-scoring instincts. The list goes on.

Still, what should not be lost is that they will field an extremely talented side stacked with players who ply their trade in some of Europe's top leagues. Just one current A-League player - Gold Coast United playmaker Jason Culina - was deemed good enough to make their 30-man preliminary squad.

Even without an injured Harry Kewell, and with the possibility that Everton star Tim Cahill may be rested, the All Whites face a daunting task before what could be a crowd of up to 80,000 at the MCG.

Ricki Herbert's men headed to Australia last night with most of the public holding reasonable expectations. A competitive performance, combinations gelling and individuals starting to show form would probably do for most realistic fans after just a couple of training runs together and with three weeks to go till the big show.

But they haven't played Australia for five years - they lost 1-0 at Craven Cottage in London the last time the two teams played in 2005, Herbert's first game in charge - so motivation is high despite the "friendly" status of the match.

This is a chance to bloody Australia's nose on the eve of the World Cup.

"The only way you can say it's a friendly is that you're not actually playing for anything but, at the end of the day, you're playing for the pride of your country," All Whites striker Shane Smeltz said.

"We haven't played each other for some time and we both want some respect going into the World Cup, so there's more at stake than you think."

Of most importance to Herbert is learning something from the game, as well as coming through the match unscathed. It will naturally be a fierce, feisty contest, and midfielder Simon Elliott said the only way to guard against injury was to play with 100% commitment, as All Whites teams do.
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Competition for starting spots is high. New Zealand will train twice in Melbourne today with Herbert to finalise his squad after the second run tonight.

The same XI that started the Bahrain series ran together at their most recent training session, suggesting a 3-4-3 formation with Ben Sigmund and Ivan Vicelich flanking Ryan Nelsen at the back, Tim Brown and Elliott in the middle of the park with Leo Bertos and Tony Lochhead on the flanks, and a front three of Smeltz, Chris Killen and Rory Fallon.

But Herbert insists three spots are up for grabs, which would indicate the two newcomers, Winston Reid and Tommy Smith, are a real chance to play alongside Nelsen, while teenage striker Chris Wood could yet force his way into the front line.

"We've only got the four [warm-up] games so at some stage we're going to have to have a look, and that could well be in the opening game," Herbert said.

"But everyone's up for this. We just haven't played Australia for so long. It's great for them to have a send-off but hopefully we might dampen that a little bit."

From Melbourne, New Zealand head to Austria for an altitude training camp and friendlies against Serbia and Slovenia. They then fly to South Africa for another friendly, against Chile, before the World Cup begins for them against Slovakia in Rustenburg on June 15.

Edited by diego's son: 23/5/2010 12:42:30 PM