Confident All Whites raise bar
OPINION: The All Whites are demanding more of themselves, and everyone else should too.
A lot of people were happy to celebrate a 0-0 draw against Peru in the first leg of the World Cup playoff on Saturday. All Whites midfielder Ryan Thomas was not one of them.
‘‘No, I don’t think so,’’ Thomas said, when asked if he would have taken a draw if offered it before the game.
‘‘We’re a confident team now. You see that in this game and you saw in the last 10, 15 minutes that we were pushing them and they were scared for some time there.’’
Now this isn’t about having a pop at anyone, or deriding people for showing a bit of pride in the team.
But as Thomas said, and as All Whites coach Anthony Hudson has asked of his squad, they don’t want to see themselves as underdogs anymore.
As they proved at Westpac Stadium on Saturday, they can foot it with the 10th-ranked team in the world (although that ranking flatters Peru), so why not demand a victory instead? Why not be frustrated they didn’t score during that final period of ascendancy?
Such a shift in mentality and rhetoric from the public, and the media, might not have an immediate effect, but doing so would teach the next crop of All Whites that a higher bar has been set if you want to be part of the national team.
‘‘It’s not good enough to just show up against so-called big teams and be happy with a narrow loss or a backs-to-the-wall draw.
Within the All Whites squad, Hudson said that was already that mentality they had adopted.
‘‘Just getting a draw against a top-10 team is not enough for us. We’re not satisfied with this. We want more, that’s the mindset, that’s the attitude.’’
In light of Hudson’s comments, when people look ahead to Thursday’s (3.15pm NZT) second leg in Lima they should expect a win, and a spot at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, from the All Whites.
Not making it should be viewed as a disappointment.
And that should flow down to the age-group national teams. Just getting a point or three, or scraping out of a pool, at an under17 or under-20 World Cup shouldn’t be where the expectations are set. Going deep into competitions should be.
If the small-nation mindset is allowed to continue, then the middling results will continue.
It’s not about treating them like the All Blacks, viewing every loss as a national tragedy.
It’s about setting a new standard for current and future All Whites to meet.
And the future does look bright. The average age of the starting
XI on Saturday was just 25 - the only player 30 or older was Michael Mcglinchey (30). Thomas, the best player on the park, is 22.
Chris Wood, who came off the
bench, has just cracked the English Premier League at 25. Captain Winston Reid is still only 29, while fullbacks Kip Colvey and Deklan Wynne are 23 and 22
respectively.
These young players want to do something special on the international stage, and everyone should expect that they will.
"Just getting a draw against a top10 team is not enough for us. We're not satisfied with this. We want more, that's the mindset, that's the attitude."
All Whites coach Anthony Hudson