Hudson defends youth policy as critics lash out
Coach Anthony Hudson believes the All Whites will qualify for the 2018 World Cup, despite being winless in their past 11 matches.
Hudson, who took over in August last year and has overseen three loss and two draws, has come in for strong criticism in the wake of the 1-1 draw with Myanmar in Yangon on Monday (NZ time).
The Englishman has stuck to his plan to build depth and qualify for Russia in 2018, blooding a significant number of young, uncapped players, with three more making their debuts against Myanmar and six others holding fewer than 10 caps.
Respected New Zealand football figures say the time for experimentation is over.
Former coach Kevin Fallon says many of the players are not ready for international football, while former captain Steve Sumner, who has 105 international caps, claims Hudson is cheapening the All Whites jersey.
Hudson said he understood why people were frustrated, but disagreed with those claims.
He felt his approach was the way to build depth and get the All Whites back to the World Cup and said the Myanmar result did not affect his unwavering belief in where the team were heading.
‘‘I don’t want to come across as being arrogant, because I’m not, but I totally believe in what we are doing,’’ Hudson said.
‘‘Did we underperform against Myanmar, absolutely we did. Every one of us in that room after the game knew it and felt it, we are not happy with it. But do we know we are on the right page, absolutely.’’
Hudson said he had always intended to make a decision ‘‘around this time’’ on which of the young players he would stick with and said he would be picking his strongest squad moving forward.
The team have the Oceania World Cup qualifying tournament in May and June next year, but have no games confirmed for the next international window in November.
Hudson was optimistic the All Whites, who have fallen to 137th in the world, would play at least one match in the window.
He pointed to a 1-0 loss in South Korea (57) and 1-1 draw in China (84) with young squads as signs his team were heading in the right direction.
‘‘The players we have got coming through now are not known too many people, but the fact is we have to give them experience, we have to create depth.
‘‘These are good, young players. All the need is opportunity, they need games.’’
Although it was not necessarily reflected in the team’s results under his watch, Hudson was adamant the team had made huge strides in their professionalism on and off the pitch.
Despite all the talk and the continuing winless streak, Hudson remains focussed on taking his team to the next World Cup, and appears ready to fall on his sword if that doesn’t happen.
‘‘I can’t affect what people believe. All I can affect and my belief comes in myself, my staff and the players.
‘‘I know when we have our strongest group out, with the talent we have and the young players coming through, we have a really exciting team.
‘‘We’ll be ready by the time the [Oceania] qualifiers come round, 100 per cent.’’