Hudson’s Cup dream
IT has been three years and three months since Anthony Hudson was unveiled as the 16th All Whites coach, but it is the next 12 days that will define him.
Football is a results-driven business, after all, and at the end of that period, the All Whites will be off to the World Cup for the third time, or they won’t be; they will have claimed the biggest scalp in their history, in the shape of world No 10 Peru, or they won’t have; and Hudson will have ticked the one box that matters most, as far as his future is concerned, or he won’t have.
A week out from the biggest challenge of his coaching career, the 36-year-old was in a reflective mood, telling Stuff that he has really enjoyed the ride so far, and that he feels as calm as he has ever felt in his time in this role.
‘‘I’ve loved the experience, I really have, but this is what it’s all about right now.
‘‘The key, for me personally, and I’m trying to transmit it to the staff, and to the players, is that we’re not stressed, we’re not panicking, we’re calm, composed, and we just have this laser-like focus on what we need to do to get a result.’’
If the All Whites get a result against Peru, it will be the first time they have beaten a non-Pacific Island nation since November 2015, when they won 1-0 against Oman, in Hudson’s fifth match in charge.
Since then, they have played eight such matches, for one draw and seven losses, including three defeats in three matches in June at the Confederations Cup.
‘‘I didn’t enjoy one day of that tournament at all,’’ Hudson said.
‘‘I think we let ourselves down, and I take full responsibility.
‘‘But it was an incredible lesson and I’ve been so proud and pleased with the response off the back of that from the players, and the result of that is that the team is really together now in a better place, in a good place.
‘‘We know it’s an uphill challenge, but we all actually believe that we can do something here, and it’s a serious belief.’’
Helping Hudson in the hard times has been a rather romantic notion, one he first talked about in an interview two years ago, about how, as a football manager, he has ’’the dream to do something special for a country … and to build something that excites people and brings people pride and happiness’’.
On Saturday, at Westpac Stadium, he has the chance to do that, or at least begin to do that, for the first time in his tenure, and as kickoff draws nearer, he has found himself getting distracted by the possibility.
‘‘I was watching a game [last week], analysing a game, and it GETTY IMAGES was hard, because I keep veering off and dreaming about the final whistle, Woodsy scoring, I just keep dreaming about it, I really do, and what it could do for the country.
‘‘It’s really, really powerful for me.
‘‘I probably can’t articulate what it would actually mean to me, but it’s certainly something that I think about every day.’’