^ err, that's a South African jersey mate

oh and best cap of the game.. they showed it in super slow mo.. priceless

pretty sure that's a South African.

Japan and South Korea both have 3 points. So by my reckoning thats Asia 6 and Oceania 1.:lol:

ahh your right...maybe.. not sure... not been getting much sleep the last few nights for obvious reasons :P..

Thought it might be a old Aussie one

Edited by moxstar: 16/6/2010 12:00:25 AM

To play poorly and steal a point at the end is a great result. We can definately play better and we will need to if we do who knows.

they're not results that allow you to compare aus to nz. Im not saying Slovakia is a bad team, great effort to draw with them, but you could say the opposite if, hypothetically, NZ played italy first, and lost, and Aus played Serbia first and drew.

We're one game in, NZ has played its easiest opponent, and Aus has played its hardest opponent. There's a long way to go, and Im just saying that I dont think there's any point to comparing the total points of Aus and NZ at this stage

few more caps.. :D



.

Btw that Slovakian goal was clearly offside in the replay.. but hey

I agree. Very good to see teams actually in our region grabbing wins.

Great news from NZ!

Hope that you guys can get out of your group even if we fail to.

The kiwis were celebrating like they had won the WC :)

Anything can happen i guess.. remember last time NZ and Italy played (last year) italy came from behind to win 4-3

Well done NZ. Slovakia was such a more skillful team but NZ grinded it out, and what a great finish to a match.

I would liken the match to walking along the beach, and kicking over someone's sandcastle that is nearly finished.

They've almost finished what they set out to do, and then someonn (reid) who has done nothing themselves walks along and boots the sandcastle to the ground. Neither party really gains anything from it, except the sandcastle builder is sad and pissed off, and the kicker just has a great sense of satisfaction.

remember what happened when we beat japan. I know was going nuts.
And I would have done the same if we had drawn. Our first points in a WC. Big deal. Let them have this.

Now thats how you park the bus and get a result on the counter... terrible game but got a point from the game. It is likely the weakest of the teams in the group though that they were playing, so its hard to tell how good that will be with the other 2 teams.

Well done on the result, but I needed to be woken up near the end of the game by its glacial pace and NZ's defensive gameplan. Its the WC though, so a positive result is what you need.

Edited by Heart_fan: 16/6/2010 12:20:54 AM

Watching the whine disappear from his face was priceless. So glad someone has a screen shot of that.

But at the same time, confidence is key in football (see Robert Green) and it could do serious damage in the australian camp the rest of the cup. That said, Kewell on the pitch now will boost the players immensely and could be another reason why Pim didn't bring him on, saving it for a key game.

New Zealand's confidence from getting their first goal and walking away against more fancied opponents will be boosted. They'll be looking to stun paraguay given half a chance, though by then they'll have a fit Cardozo to deal with.

It was actually 1974 that we got our 1st point mate, 0-0 vs Chile in the last group game.

:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

I think you're a fool for putting the :oops: emoticons there, but get your point about celebrating points in the World Cup.

Edited by diego's son: 16/6/2010 12:36:48 AM

You obviously were asleep because playing 3-4-3 isn't parking the bus.

Well done NZ.

Thought Smeltz blew their chance late in the game, but great to see that they kept pushing right to the end.

NZ, Korea and Japan all being able to get results must be eating at the Socceroos too.

If that was 3-4-3 Ill go jump. It may have been on paper, but in reality, look at the way it changed pretty much from the outset. The game was on the Slovaks boots nearly all game, or the parts I was awake for :). The fact is that NZ can not play a traditional 3-4-3 at the WC, they would be ripped apart, as it is far too attacking for them to pull off successfully. NZ fans can be defensive if you want about it all you like, but the fact is they lack the experience and defensive strength to pull it off against stronger teams. A traditional 3-4-3 is an attacking formation, which, as you could plainly see, they were definately not doing.

A paper line up does not always dictate the true outcome of the way a game is played.

Edited by Heart_fan: 16/6/2010 01:08:58 AM

Smeltz really struggled at make any impact in most of the match. His header was very average technically for a player of his usually high standards.

I think that playing the strongest group member in Australia's case against what the other 3 played as secondary players in the groups really does not show the true positions just yet. The true test is getting out of the group. Anything other than that at the end of the day is a failure at WC level.

Korea and Japan did their job well to put themselves in strong initial positions, but NZ needed to win their game to have any chance of going forard I would strongly suspect. A point is a point but with the 2 strongest teams to come, it is not the best position to be in.

Edited by Heart_fan: 16/6/2010 01:16:09 AM

they had it at the start. they had 50-50 possession at one stage but they fell away one the slovaks settled a bit.

What do you expect? NZ to play like Brazil? It is very easy to come out with the 'parking the bus' line but I don't think you find any match reports that will view it that way. How much of the game were you awake for?

You obviously were asleep because they played 4-3-3.

In defence of Australia, those teams haven't played a Germany yet, they are sitting 2 levels above most teams seen at the Cup to date, the current Portugal vs Ivory Coast game is throwing up some good football, but the teams mentioned above haven't faced a 2010-style Germany to date.

Edited by diego's son: 16/6/2010 01:33:57 AM

Nelson, Reid and Smith = defenders
Vicelich, Elliot, Bertos, Lochhead = midfielders

Debatable on the 2 highlighted. Regardless, the game is over, go and enjoy it.

Hehe at the South Africans cheering with the Kiwis - The Tri-Nations out in force eh? lol

Not quite it seems, but damn NZ should be like South Africans' second or third team behind their own, especially now? lol :d

And the Kiwis should be doing the Haka in the stands! (Maybe they did earlier lol?)



ROFL Mr Nelsen I presume? Somebody Youtube it?!