Dirty deeds dirt cheap
Peruvian local authorities go out of their way to make life challenging for All Whites on way to playoff
The dirty tricks have started. The All Whites’ arrival in Lima for their Fifa World Cup second leg football playoff against Peru was delayed by almost three hours, after what looks like a curious intervention by local authorities.
Then the bus that took the team from the airport to their coastal hotel was strangely slow, taking more than twice as long as scheduled. It made a challenging journey — which started more than a day earlier in Wellington — even tougher; a little sting in the tail for the travelling team.
It’s out of character as Peruvians are naturally hospitable people. But it seems that the temptation to disrupt the All Whites, in low key but effective ways, has been too great.
It’s understandable, given what’s at stake, with politicians and the entire economy depending on a boost from tomorrow afternoon’s (NZT) result, quite apart from the sporting implications of breaking a 36-year World Cup drought.
It seems subtle words have been exchanged behind closed doors and plans put into action; that’s the only way to understand the curious events of Sunday (Peru time) after the All Whites landed in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The trip from Auckland on a specially-commissioned Air New Zealand plane had been smooth, but things soon got awkward with their charter flight. — Michael Burgess
The charter company had submitted a plan that had the team landing at 8.30pm, after a flight of more than four hours from Buenos Aires. But just before they started the pilots were told they would be unable to land in Lima until after 10.30pm, due to new landing restrictions imposed at Lima airport.
This meant the team stopped on the way in the small Chilean city of Iquique, where they sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes before taking off again. They were finally cleared to land at Lima at 11.15pm, three hours behind schedule.
On arrival, the team went through a back door to a waiting bus, while coach Anthony Hudson and assistant Darren Bazeley faced the local media in the arrivals hall. They later took a taxi to the hotel, but still arrived before the team bus.
According to those on board, the bus, which was escorted by a large motorcade of police cars and motorcycles, barely got above 35km/h throughout the journey, covering 20km in about 45 minutes.
They finally arrived at their hotel at midnight, adding to the frustration at the end of a long trip.
Welcome to enemy territory.