NZF play down All Whites’ longer travel plan to Lima
New Zealand Football is confident the All Whites won’t be disadvantaged by their complex travel schedule for the upcoming World Cup qualifying matches against Peru.
The first leg will be played next Saturday, November 11, in Wellington, before the return game in Peru’s capital Lima on November 16 (NZT).
But the two teams face vastly different paths to South America after the first match is completed.
Peru will fly direct to Lima from Wellington on Saturday night, a few hours after the match has finished.
In contrast, the New Zealand side will stay overnight in Wellington, before travelling to Auckland the following day to board a flight to Buenos Aires that evening. From the Argentinian capital, they will take a charter flight to Peru.
It means the Peruvian team will arrive in Lima almost 24 hours ahead of the All Whites, and their direct charter flight also means they will have less travel time and fewer hours in the air. But NZF is playing down the difference, saying it will be irrelevant in the context of the tie.
“You can look at it either way,” said NZF chief executive Andy Martin. “On Saturday night, our boys will be sleeping in their own beds, they won’t be getting out of a dressing room and
rushed on to a plane. It will be very difficult for anyone with knocks from their side, whereas we’ll make Sunday good for our team. They’ll sleep well, have a recovery session, and then the whole journey will be seamless from there. We are confident and [coach] Anthony [Hudson] is happy with the way it’s worked out.”
Martin said a charter flight for the All Whites wasn’t feasible.
“It’s been a challenge because of the limited options coming out of New Zealand to South America,” said Martin. “Our board gave us the backing to look for all possible solutions. We spent three or four days looking at the best options and Air New Zealand has been brilliant in what they have come up with.”
However, the challenge for Hudson and his squad will be making the most of their limited time in Lima. They will arrive late on Sunday night (local time) and have their first training session the following day, at which stage players will still be shaking off the effects of jet lag.
Lima will also be a shock to the system, with the chaos and colour of nine million people jammed into a buzzing metropolis, the third largest city in South America.
The size of the city also means that nothing is easy. Popping out for a stroll or a coffee will be out of the question due to security concerns, while the journey to the training venue (as well as the national stadium for the captain’s run) could be complicated, with high potential for traffic jams (whether incidental or ‘arranged’). There will also be a significant language barrier, as English isn’t widely spoken outside the hotels and main tourist centres.
The All Whites will have one more training session on the ground in Lima on Tuesday (local time), but that will need to be low intensity, as it is the day before the match on the Wednesday night (Thursday NZT).