That's more like it!! Wood absolute touch of class when called upon, you just knew if something fell to him, even half a chance, he'd deliver! Reid, absolute monster back there, throwing himself at every duel which he more often than not won. Great to see those two showing heart and fighting with passion despite playing with essential our nation's u23/4s. Woud kept us alive in the first half and I though Pijnaker did really well also.
Too conservative from Hay in the first half, but was that the tactic? It was hot and humid out there. Second half we showed we can play, was great to watch.
Reid, Wood, Woud were class as expected. A bit disappointed in Cacace who apart from his sharkhousery seemed to be much less dynamic than usual. So many passes ended up about 1m in front of him. Stensness is way better than I remember him being at the Nix.
Hot, humid, and a team that probably had the least amount of preparation coming into the games. I know we don't like Hay but the game plan made sense.
What I worry about is our depth over the next couple of games, we should have subbed off Reid when he got injured and some of the mid field too. Really need Boxall to come in for the last game.
Too conservative from Hay in the first half, but was that the tactic? It was hot and humid out there. Second half we showed we can play, was great to watch.
Reid, Wood, Woud were class as expected. A bit disappointed in Cacace who apart from his sharkhousery seemed to be much less dynamic than usual. So many passes ended up about 1m in front of him. Stensness is way better than I remember him being at the Nix.
Hot, humid, and a team that probably had the least amount of preparation coming into the games. I know we don't like Hay but the game plan made sense.
What I worry about is our depth over the next couple of games, we should have subbed off Reid when he got injured and some of the mid field too. Really need Boxall to come in for the last game.
Haha imagine if boxy just flew over for the gold medal game (which I assume is what you mean by "last game")
Giant keepers like that are always a chance at youth football, idk if he’s better than guys like Cam Brown, but he might be the beneficiary of being out of sight so Gould and Parker couldn’t see him first hand.
He might have also benefitted from the picking of players in pro environments only , rather than a Cam Brown locally and from the qualifiers .
Hay's assistant Rory, is a youth coach at Swansea. He would have provided a lot of intel on Searle, and his progress at the Swans. Hopefully unbiased.
Didn't see first half, but thought that was a very smart intelligent 2nd half by NZ. Always felt they would start this game nervy & cagey, and sounds like they did. Be interesting to see if Hay keeps 4 at the back against supposed weaker teams Romania & Honduras. But Oly Whites in the box seat now, re quarters.
Hopefully the other games are also played later (like Romania v Honduras kicking off now). A cooler temp will definitely help our boys.
Too conservative from Hay in the first half, but was that the tactic? It was hot and humid out there. Second half we showed we can play, was great to watch.
Reid, Wood, Woud were class as expected. A bit disappointed in Cacace who apart from his sharkhousery seemed to be much less dynamic than usual. So many passes ended up about 1m in front of him. Stensness is way better than I remember him being at the Nix.
Hot, humid, and a team that probably had the least amount of preparation coming into the games. I know we don't like Hay but the game plan made sense.
What I worry about is our depth over the next couple of games, we should have subbed off Reid when he got injured and some of the mid field too. Really need Boxall to come in for the last game.
Haha imagine if boxy just flew over for the gold medal game (which I assume is what you mean by "last game")
What makes me nervous now is it feels like SK was the hardest Game we had in the pool so it should be winnable...but I am sure SK felt that was about our game.
Anything can happen. Great start and we got better as the game progressed. Now we need to keep getting better.
Two things, first Chris Wood is now a member of a rare club, having played at FIFA Youth World Cups, FIFA Confederations Cups, FIFA World Cups and the Olympic Games.
Second, here are the stats from the Match Report, first half was dire and I was calling for Buckingham to come back. Better in the second half but still feel the win glosses over Hay football. The squad of players we have can play better football than what we saw on display, but of course happy with the win. Screenshot 2021-07-23 084830.png85.55 KB