World Cup Comment: New Zealand Reviving Memories Of 1982

The November 14 World Cup decider with Bahrain will be New Zealand’s biggest match in a generation.

Most of the players that will take to the field on Saturday night are too young to remember January 10, 1982 when their predecessors defeated China 2-1 in a one-match play-off at the National Stadium in Singapore. 

That win meant that the New Zealand national team, nicknamed the All Whites, qualified for their first and thus far only World Cup finals.     

The contest in Singapore in 1982 was a fitting climax to a gruelling, almost 90,000-kilometre journey that took the All Whites all over Asia and Oceania. Altogether 15 matches were played and the campaign had everything a fan could hope for. There was drama and records were broken on the way. Players few had heard of were household names by the time the journey was over.  


The 2010 World Cup qualification campaign has been thus far a lot simpler and less dramatic. After winning the Oceania section with relative ease, New Zealand sat idle on the road to South Africa for almost a year before facing Bahrain in Riffa on October 10.

The determined display, and the goalless draw, in the first leg however has ignited memories of the famous 1982 team and has allowed the fans to dream of another World Cup appearance.

The country’s media, generally apathetic towards football, started dedicating more column inches and time to the national team and the preparations for the vital clash.

The campaign may not have been as adventure-filled as the one 28 years ago, but on the other hand, this time the All Whites have a chance of securing qualification at home, in front of their own fans.   

The match is already a sell-out, and those unlucky to miss out are traversing on-line auction sites where tickets are being sold for hundreds of dollars. Indeed, to give an indication of how big this match is, there will be 35,500 people at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington, which is a record for any football match in New Zealand. The previous highest attendance at a match in New Zealand was 31,853 when David Beckham visited Wellington with his L.A. Galaxy side in 2007.

 
Qualification for the World Cup will also be a huge boost for the cash strapped New Zealand Football (NZF) governing body.        

Adding to the importance of the match, there is a realisation that FIFA is unlikely to ever give Oceania an easier path to the World Cup. Already there are disgruntled voices reverberating around Europe where the likes of Czech Republic, Croatia and Turkey failed to qualify for the South African footy-fest.

There is also the real danger that France and Portugal will be added to the list of absentees. All of them no doubt wish that they could have been placed in a qualifying group with New Caledonia, Fiji and Bahrain.

Keeping in mind that FIFA likes to tinker with the qualification process, the opportunity that has been presented to the All Whites must not be squandered easily.     

Given the nature of the occasion, there is a possibility that the pressure will get to some of the less experienced players. Therefore, the influence of the older players such as Ivan Vicelich, Simon Elliott (if he is fit to play) and especially the captain, Ryan Nelsen, will be important. 

As the excitement builds, the All Whites are discovering help in unexpected places. Stephen Fleming, the former New Zealand cricket team captain, met the All Whites earlier in the week to give them encouragement and explain how he coped in high stake situations such as this.

 
At this stage it appears that the All Whites will adopt a 3-4-3 formation they used during the first leg in Riffa. However, some argue that in reality the formation used was closer to 5-2-3 (or 5-2-2-1) and that the All Whites would do better playing 4-4-2.

There is no denying that being a little thin at the back, the All Whites were somewhat fortunate not to concede in the first match. At the same time creative players such as Leo Bertos did not quite have the same license to go forward as they are used to, having to assist at the back.  

It is clear that Ricki Herbert, the New Zealand coach, believes that starting the match with Rory Fallon, Chris Killen and Shane Smeltz as the three forwards is a priority and that everything else can be organised to work around that. This however could prove to be very risky.  


At the same time Bahrain appear to have made a mistake trying to “acclimatise” in Sydney, Australia, where temperatures recently have been around 12 to 15 degrees higher than in Wellington.   

The match is finely balanced and even the smallest detail may prove to be decisive. However, no matter what happens we can be certain that both teams will give their best.

Bahrain will not want to go again through the heartbreak of their 2005 play-off loss to Trinidad and Tobago, while New Zealand recognise what a special opportunity this is and will be desperate not to disappoint their fans.

Ryan Nelsen is right when he says that this will be “no ordinary game” and to take part in a match like this is a dream of every kid who plays the sport.

To take part in the World Cup would be even better...

Andre Zlotkowski