It’s back to the books for Arms
FROM the Club World Cup, back to the classroom. The past three weeks have been far from typical student fare for architecture undergraduate Simon Arms.
The 21-year-old Auckland City defender was one of the first four players to arrive back in New Zealand yesterday after stunning the nation, and the global football community, finishing third at the Club World Cup in Morocco.
Revealing the team consciously tried to stay away from media while at the tournament, Arms says the penny is dropping on how his team captured the national psyche.
‘‘It’s been mind-blowing, the last few weeks,’’ Arms said yesterday.
‘‘We’ve been pretty tight in our little bubble, we’ve been keeping away from media. But we’ve heard it’s kind of been going off back here. It’s been a fairytale few weeks for us.
‘‘We’ve just been told we’ve now made the shortlist for the Halbergs. To be put among teams like the All Blacks, Hamish Bond and Eric Murray. . . It’s amazing. The club deserves it.’’
Arms, who juggles football alongside his studies at university, says he’s not certain about whether his career will play out in football, but he is sure to return to his classmates with a few decent work stories.
‘‘My uni mates sent a few messages asking for me to take a picture with Ronaldo, just mindblowing stuff,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m not really sure on my plans, I’m just seeing where things go. I’m studying architecture as well at university so it’s a case of balancing the two.
‘‘It’s a pretty good start to Christmas, to come home to this. But I need to do my Christmas shopping.’’
Arms said that after Auckland City overcame Moghreb Tetouan, of the tournament’s host nation Morocco, the local fans then lent their support to the underdogs for the rest of the event. He added the fully fledged professionals and internationals of South American champions San Lorenzo lauded them after a 2-1 defeat in extra time of their semifinal.
‘‘The people of Morocco were great. They were loud and after the first game cheered for us. That was great,’’ he said. ‘‘The San Lorenzo players, I wouldn’t say they were surprised, but they acknowledged our level and that we pushed them almost to the point of them losing. After the game we received a lot of respect from them.
‘‘It was unfortunate we lost the semifinal, we were that close to playing the best team in the world, Real Madrid. But us as a team, pushing San Lorenzo, the South American champions, that close proved the level we are capable of.’’