‘I have a dream,’ says Hudson Fallon makes comeback fit for Hollywood
The 2009 hero just can’t be written off, writes Andrew Voerman.
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.
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 nonPacific 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 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,’’ Hudson said.
‘‘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 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, in Wellington, 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 distracted by the possibility.
‘‘I was watching a game [last week], analysing a game, and it 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.’’
While those dreams can be powerful, giving coaches and players alike something to aim for, Hudson won’t be letting his charges get too caught up in them once they enter camp starting today.
‘‘There’s going to be no shortage of motivation, there’s going to be no shortage of people willing us on, the thing we have to be very careful about is understanding the key things that are going to get us the result,’’ said Hudson, who is hoping to emulate Ricki Herbert’s team from 2009, that beat Bahrain 1-0 over two legs and ended a 28-year wait for a second World Cup appearance.
‘‘It’s not going to be the motivation, it’s not going to be this romantic idea of Bahrain, it’s going to be down to being completely focused on the key areas where we need to deliver.’’
A place at the World Cup won’t be won in the 90 minutes in Wellington, but it could be lost. After that comes the away leg, in Lima the following Thursday [NZT], and after that, win or lose, the small matter of Hudson’s future.
He is contracted through to the end of this World Cup cycle, whether that is in 12 days or next July, but he revealed this week that his agent has received inquiries about his services.
In an industry where job security is to be cherished, a quick decision on an extension seems likely, whatever the result against Peru. OPINION: Rory Fallon is the great survivor of New Zealand football. There can be no doubt about it.
At 35, while at Dorchester Town, a club in the English seventh tier, he appears to be back in the All Whites after a year away.
It should be confirmed when the squad to play Peru is announced today and, once it is, I will take my hat off to him.
I called him in April, you see, when he hadn’t been heard of in more than four months, after leaving a player-coach role at Truro City, a sixth-tier club, by mutual consent.
He hadn’t been in the All Whites squad to play Fiji in March, and I was curious as to where he was at. He hadn’t found a new club but was he done for good, or just injured?
It turned out to be the latter, a heel problem, but while he had given up hope of the Confederations Cup, he vowed that he was going to to try to make it back for the World Cup qualifying playoff.
I took his words down, then wrote a story while thinking that he had to be kidding himself.
Then came the news in July he had joined Torquay United, a sixth-tier club, fulfilling the first two steps of his three-step plan – get fit, then find a club.
Just over a week later, he wasn’t in the All Whites’ squad to play the Solomon Islands, and so I asked Anthony Hudson – was the door still open for him to return?
Hudson said yes, it was, because he was a great character.
But, at the end of September, Torquay United got a new manager andhe cut Fallon loose.
A week after that, Hudson didn’t include him in the squad to play Japan, the team’s final friendly before facing Peru for a place at the World Cup, and I thought that had to be that.
So I called him again. If he was done, I thought he deserved a write-up, as the man who scored the goal against Bahrain in 2009 that qualified the All Whites for the World Cup in South Africa 2010.
But as I talked to him, it quickly became clear that that wouldn’t be happening just yet.
He knew he was up against it, but he wasn’t giving up hope, and that’s probably why he’s back. He has unbelievable confidence. Listen to him speak, and you get the sense that he controls his own destiny. Put him in a team environment, and you can bet it will rub off on those around him.
He found a club, even if it was a seventh-tier one, on October 17.
A week later, there it was, in the New Zealand Herald - Fallon to return.
Initially I raised an eyebrow, but then I began to hear the whispers too.
Against all odds, he had done it. He is unlikely to play – Hudson has hinted as much, without confirming the reports – but he will be there in camp, giving the team all the help he can – a wise old head who knows how to have a laugh and ease any tension.
If his fellow players are short on inspiration – though I don’t think they will be – he should tell them this story. It certainly inspired me.