Killer of dreams
Former All Whites goalkeeper Jacob Spoonley, who is a football analyst for Sky Sport, tells Melenie Parkes why he is so looking forward to this year’s Fifa World Cup and the global celebration of football.
For a goalkeeper, the dynamic is different than any other position on the football field, says Jacob Spoonley.
He knows the particular pressure of the loneliest spot on the field better than most, having played the position for Auckland City, Wellington Phoenix, and the All Whites.
“It’s very interesting, you are effectively a dream killer,” laughs Spoonley. “A team can attack, but a goalkeeper is the only one who gets attacked and that does change the mindset if nothing else.”
He might not play professionally any more but football is still a huge part of Spoonley’s life. He is an analyst for Sky Sport and a fixture of weekly series Kiwi Football Fix.
As well as his work with Sky, he is also general manager of the New Zealand Professional Footballer’s Association, which is the players’ union.
And as a die-hard fan, he is understandably amped about the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
“It’s a celebration of football where you get four weeks of uninterrupted high-quality, intense and emotional games.
“And usually, not this time but usually, there is no other football on during the World Cup. So quite literally, all of the eyes of the football world are watching.”
As to which World Cup match-ups he is most excited about, Spoonley is always curious to see how England performs. “They’re in an interesting group with Wales and the USA in there so it won’t be easy for them. “And then I’m always interested to see how someone like Germany goes, because they’re such a powerhouse and they’re in a tough group as well with Spain and Japan.
“But for Kiwis, because Costa Rica is also in Group E, it would have been good to see how we potentially could have gone in that group. So we can look towards that one with a rather jealous eye.”
Jealous because, of course, Costa Rica just pipped New Zealand for a place at this year’s World Cup. New Zealand has qualified twice for the World Cup, in 1982 and 2010.
Spoonley just missed out on the 2010 squad but was a non-travelling reserve for the team. Football has taken him to many places.
“I think I’ve played football on every continent, which is quite cool – not counting Antarctica.”
A highlight of his career was the Fifa Club World Cup in Morocco in 2014. The Club World Cup is a tournament between the winners of the six continental confederations.
“Auckland City got to third in the Club World Cup and just missed out on a final against Real Madrid.”
Spoonley believes the rapid growth of the sport in New Zealand means that the future of football here is looking strong.
“Football is the largest participation sport in the country by some way. And I think from that perspective, it’s a bit of a sleeping giant that only seems to get woken every 30 years. The challenge for us is to get it off the ground more regularly. And I think the current generation of All Whites and Football Ferns are doing a wonderful job of getting people excited on a weekly basis.
“We’ve got players that are playing in the highest competitions throughout the world, which is unprecedented on both the men’s and the women’s side.”
Spoonley cites Marko Stamenich and Daisy Cleverley, who are both playing in the Champions League, as players to get excited about.
“The indications are that we will continue to develop world-class players because the Phoenix seem to be churning out great Kiwi players every year at the moment.”
And with New Zealand and Australia hosting the Fifa Women’s World Cup next year, there’s never been a better time to get behind our local sporting heroes.
“It is the biggest event that we will host I would say ever, because it’s likely to outstrip the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The world will be coming to our shores and it’ll be a celebration the likes of which we haven’t seen.
“It will have that cosmopolitan element and we will also get to experience the global football community coming to New Zealand.”