Milo’s two World Cups in two years
Centre design
Few 12-year-old Kiwis can say they’ve attended two Fifa World Cup tournaments within two years.
But Auckland youngster Milo Brown is about to claim bragging rights.
The Belmont Intermediate School pupil has tickets to six of the 10 Fifa U-20 World Cup games at North Harbour Stadium, including New Zealand’s opening match against Ukraine on Saturday, and the final on June 20.
Milo, who lives in Devonport and plays for North Shore United football club, was in Brazil just last year for the men’s Fifa World Cup — a five-week trip he described as “the best experience in my life so far”.
Milo went to three games at Rio de Janeiro’s famed Maracana Stadium, including the quarter-final between France and Germany.
He spent the rest of his time travelling through Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina with his mother.
He also took part in a nineday soccer training camp in Rio and played football with locals in Buenos Aires.
Milo said there were many highlights from his trip to Brazil, but the atmosphere, both at the stadium and in the streets, stood out.
“Everyone was so hyped up for it.”
He was now looking forward to soaking up all that a New Zealand-hosted Fifa World Cup had to offer.
“It’s just good to have the experience of having it at home . . . I’m really looking forward to it.”
Milo planned to head along to the Auckland fan zones and any other World Cuprelated events in the city and said the wide variety of players at the tournament was an exciting aspect.
“I’m looking forward to seeing all the different teams because some of these countries I’ve never really heard of and I want to see how they play and just enjoy it.
“Me and my friend were talking on the way back from soccer once, saying we’re going to try and remember as many names as we can from all the teams, and then when we’re older see if any of them make it to really high professional football.”
An aspiring centre-back, Milo wants one day to play for the New Zealand U-20 side at a World Cup tournament.
Meanwhile, Auckland Mayor Len Brown last night said the U-20 Fifa World Cup was an “awesome and affordable” opportunity for Aucklanders to watch world-class football.
He said the tournament would be watched by a global television audience of almost 200 million people in close to 200 countries, and said that was the kind of coverage “money can’t buy”.
Ateed (Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development) invested $2.5 million from its Major Events Fund towards the hosting of the event and expected the tournament to bring around $8.6 million into Auckland’s economy, resulting in an additional 42,800 visitor nights — made up of 15,938 domestic visitor nights and 26,875 international visitor nights.
Hnzherald.co.nz Head here for full tournament coverage tinyurl.com/ nzhunder20 The new design for the controversial International Convention Centre is set to be unveiled this morning. It follows SkyCity retreating from its request for taxpayer cash to spend time back at the drawing board on a revised plan. A decision is also expected soon from Auckland Council on whether the resource consent application will be rubber-stamped — or put out for public consultation. Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and SkyCity’s chief executive, Nigel Morrison, will reveal the new design plans at the casino company’s central Auckland hotel. The centre is running about a year behind schedule.