I mean thing is a foul is what the ref says it is. And be fair to the onfield ref, who let a lot go, he didn’t think it was a foul. He was fairly consistent, but the VAR officials were judging things differently.
And NZ with our financial clout as a football nation and fan base are always going to be up against it. These are things that will happen in football.
Final call is with the on field ref though, VAR can advise the on field ref that he needs to look at something, but the ultimate call is made by the on field ref.
That's what kills me about it. It essentially amounts to misuse of VAR. The purpose of it is to police obvious errors or something the ref completely missed. He was right there, saw the challenge and decided in the moment that it wasn't a foul.
Just like how Peru dominated Australia, so did we dominate Costa Rica. And both dominant teams are out - if you don't take your chances, you run the risk....
Hats off to the Costa Rica coach for taking the sting out of the game at half-time; the second half was way more balanced than the first. We also seemed to play a lot more reserved in the second half, and found it difficult to move up a gear when needed.
Oli Sail - did he have anything to do? I don't recall him making a note-worthy save. To be fair, Navas didn't really make one either - the Lewis shot was pretty comfortable. Kirwan - industrious, but lousy at crossing. Unless your idea of crossing is hitting the shins of the first defender. Cacace - see Kirwan, but with better runs. I wonder if DH thought about swapping Kirwan and Cacace over? Seeing as the crosses from the flanks weren't good, why not try having them cut in? Tuiloma and Pijnaker - good in defence, but lousy at distribution. Also for Tuiloma - why try so many digs from 25 yards out? Be patient. Reid - best player in defence for us Bell - well, didn't he get caught out in possession then? At least twice (three times?). Good (re)covering though. Lewis - our best player for mine, Jeff. I'm not a Lewis fan, but was amazed at his crisp passing. However - he is very horizontal. Did he play any balls through the channels, or diagonally? I would have like to have seen him take a position on the right side of mid, and fire balls into the back left post for Wood to do his Fellaini chest trick. Garbett - the decision was fair. If Garbetts (right?) arm was prone or stationery, then happy days - but he wrapped it around the players legs. The cross into Wood was also hopeless, but managed to evade everyone somehow. Grieve - this is the first full game I have seen him play - Jesus, if anyone thinks he is ready for this level, they are deluded (based on that). Good at running around, tripping over, standing on the ball, and appealing to the ref. Scuffed a good chance. Wood - he had it all over his opponents in the first half, and some of the second. Again, we played lovely football but with little penetration. There is nothing wrong in playing to our strengths, and one of those strengths is that we have a 25million pound 6ft 3in solid dude - get the ball up to him and play off him. The few times we did that, it worked. Unfortunately for Woodsie, he needs a lot of chances to score a goal (as he did at Burnley and does at the Geordies). SUBS: Kosta - I was thinking "take Grieve off and get Bar-bar-row-ses on" (to quote the Scouse commentator. Nek minnit..... Waine - did he do anything? Stamenic - I thought he was magnificent when he came on - he looks like a player. Payne - hopefully his last ever international match. Not an elegant runner, can't cross, and ran the ball out of play right next to the dugout. Just - really good, added impetus.
One thing I did notice was that we had too many young players going for the ball, which led to congestion and confusion. I was at an ND seam bowlers workshop, and they call this the "arousal zone" - young bowlers just want to storm in and rip shark. Old bowlers overthink things. When you blend experience with energy, then you have a player. Hopefully they younger guys can use this as an experience, and think "hmmm, the other guy can get that and I'll make a run to give him an outlet" rather than everyone charging for the ball, getting in each others way, and Costa Rica clearing the danger.
So where to now? I think we have to ditch the 3 at the back. With Reid, Smith, and Boxall sr all likely to not be around in 4 years time, who are our centre backs? Pijnaker....Tuiloma....there's not a lot of depth there. There's no point trying to stick a third average defender on - it just means we have more average players on the park. But where we are strong, and have depth, is on the wings - Just, Joey C, McCowatt, Rogerson....go 4-5-1 (or 4-3-3) and play to where we are strongest. We are lacking in the middle of the park, if Ryan Thomas is out. Is there another number 8? Lewis maybe, but maybe not. Garbett maybe, but better further forward? If only Stensness had stayed - then he could play 6, shift Bell up to 8, with Singh/Stamenic/Garbett vying for 10 and providing depth from the bench.
I wondered about de Jong to play off Wood, but no way to know as we’ve never seen that tested at any real level. Marco would have been interesting too.
The Greive gamble almost paid off in the first ten minutes when we had 3 good chances. It was after that he got shut down wide on the right and spent time complaining.
Anyway we only have one meaningful game coming so it’s all a bit nowhere man…
I did think that once Greive was confirmed as selected Just would be the next attacking sub. He’s been influential in every match I’ve seen him play.
It may have been mentioned earlier and apologies if that is the case.
Just done a Google search. I see both the referee and the VAR from yesterday are listed among the named referees for the finals released a couple of weeks ago. Heaven help us
So will there be a full strength Socceroos and all whites in September?. It must be a mission to fly all the players from Europe for just friendlies. Also is there any news on when and where the all whites will play in Australia after the eden park match?.
FIFA window dates are 19th–27th September. The game in Australia will be played first (EP game is 25th Sept). It’s their WC farewell game so they’ll be banking on a big crowd. Hopefully it’s the AWs or are they trying to land a bigger fish? MCG or Homebush as the venue I’m guessing. If so will take some planning around NRL and AFL finals. But the mood will be cock-a-hoop there at the moment, after beating Peru.
It's the only FIFA window before WC kicks off Nov 21st, though there will likely be some pre WC friendlies, played in 1-2 weeks before WC starts.
Socceroos will be close to full strength, as players will be desperate to make their final 23 man squad.
Same AWs as players gagging to play in NZ after 5 years not, and some guys maybe not seeing family and/or being home since Covid!! International farewells for some guys. Though can see Italian and/or MLS clubs (close to MLS playoffs) potentially playing games, even though is an official FIFA window.
Stensness is now off to the World cup with the ozzies, perhaps justifying his move. It will be interesting to see if he comes to the September Eden Park game, and what the reception might be...
After conceding a very soft goal to Joel Campbell in just the third minute of the game, the Kiwis dominated every aspect of the game bar the officiating, which Hay labelled 'atrocious'.
Mohamed (the ref) looked like a deer caught in the headlights and let the Costa Rican team walk all over him, particularly in the second half.
Our mild-mannered neighbours across the ditch are just too nice for their own good.
Ufh. Beginning to think the reason I was so philosophical was because I was half asleep. Not always the beautiful game huh. Look, that was a huge performance. We were dominant, we attacked, we gave it our all. While I’ve watched All White teams with better results, that was maybe the best performance overall from an All White team I’ve seen. Imagine if we played more consequential games at a decent level. Lots of respect for Navas. He really calmed his team with wave after wave of attack. Revved them up or came for the ball and punched late on to take the sting out of the ball bobbling around the box. The highlights are a tough watch. A lot of things that could have fallen for us didn’t.
??? The team is trying to play good football, he is developing and investing what little time he has in youth... there are a lot of positives to be seen if you look. COnst
Friar Tuck
Yeah despite the abject heartbreak today, there are some real positives to take out of this game. We outplayed the opposition and our young/inexperienced players were absolutely immense. Sail was great as ever, Pijnaker was a stand out both defensively and offensively, Cacace was our best player, Kirwan more than lived up to his name, despite not playing his best game Bell was still extremely classy, Lewis played like a man possessed, Garbett looked far beyond his years in tenacity and skill, Greive took the step up and looked like he belonged and the subs - Just, Stamenic and Waine - all played like consummate professionals with their hearts on their sleeves. The future of New Zealand Football looks brighter than ever and I for one am very, very excited for 2026 and hopefully some meaningful games in the four years we have to wait.
A good handful of those young players will be in top five leagues within the next few years and the rest are all good enough to be playing at a high level in Europe. Come 2026, I can see a team that might look something like this (hopefully with Wood still going strong and Thomas involved and back to his best) having a shot at getting out of the groups with some high quality performances. 2026 Dream.png3.75 MBThere's a bunch more young guys on the come up like Sutton, Old, Surman, Paulsen, Jelacic etc plus kids we haven't even heard of yet to be excited about too. We have an incredible generation of talent coming through and combined with the culture Danny Hay has created, even with the loss today, we could well be on the brink of something very special.
What culture has Hay created"? The culture of losing?
Yeah despite the abject heartbreak today, there are some real positives to take out of this game. We outplayed the opposition and our young/inexperienced players were absolutely immense. Sail was great as ever, Pijnaker was a stand out both defensively and offensively, Cacace was our best player, Kirwan more than lived up to his name, despite not playing his best game Bell was still extremely classy, Lewis played like a man possessed, Garbett looked far beyond his years in tenacity and skill, Greive took the step up and looked like he belonged and the subs - Just, Stamenic and Waine - all played like consummate professionals with their hearts on their sleeves. The future of New Zealand Football looks brighter than ever and I for one am very, very excited for 2026 and hopefully some meaningful games in the four years we have to wait.
A good handful of those young players will be in top five leagues within the next few years and the rest are all good enough to be playing at a high level in Europe. Come 2026, I can see a team that might look something like this (hopefully with Wood still going strong and Thomas involved and back to his best) having a shot at getting out of the groups with some high quality performances. 2026 Dream.png3.75 MBThere's a bunch more young guys on the come up like Sutton, Old, Surman, Paulsen, Jelacic etc plus kids we haven't even heard of yet to be excited about too. We have an incredible generation of talent coming through and combined with the culture Danny Hay has created, even with the loss today, we could well be on the brink of something very special.
What culture has Hay created"? The culture of losing?
Yeah despite the abject heartbreak today, there are some real positives to take out of this game. We outplayed the opposition and our young/inexperienced players were absolutely immense. Sail was great as ever, Pijnaker was a stand out both defensively and offensively, Cacace was our best player, Kirwan more than lived up to his name, despite not playing his best game Bell was still extremely classy, Lewis played like a man possessed, Garbett looked far beyond his years in tenacity and skill, Greive took the step up and looked like he belonged and the subs - Just, Stamenic and Waine - all played like consummate professionals with their hearts on their sleeves. The future of New Zealand Football looks brighter than ever and I for one am very, very excited for 2026 and hopefully some meaningful games in the four years we have to wait.
A good handful of those young players will be in top five leagues within the next few years and the rest are all good enough to be playing at a high level in Europe. Come 2026, I can see a team that might look something like this (hopefully with Wood still going strong and Thomas involved and back to his best) having a shot at getting out of the groups with some high quality performances. 2026 Dream.png3.75 MBThere's a bunch more young guys on the come up like Sutton, Old, Surman, Paulsen, Jelacic etc plus kids we haven't even heard of yet to be excited about too. We have an incredible generation of talent coming through and combined with the culture Danny Hay has created, even with the loss today, we could well be on the brink of something very special.
What culture has Hay created"? The culture of losing?
they came fourth in the Olympics... That doesn't seem like a losing culture.
Yeah despite the abject heartbreak today, there are some real positives to take out of this game. We outplayed the opposition and our young/inexperienced players were absolutely immense. Sail was great as ever, Pijnaker was a stand out both defensively and offensively, Cacace was our best player, Kirwan more than lived up to his name, despite not playing his best game Bell was still extremely classy, Lewis played like a man possessed, Garbett looked far beyond his years in tenacity and skill, Greive took the step up and looked like he belonged and the subs - Just, Stamenic and Waine - all played like consummate professionals with their hearts on their sleeves. The future of New Zealand Football looks brighter than ever and I for one am very, very excited for 2026 and hopefully some meaningful games in the four years we have to wait.
A good handful of those young players will be in top five leagues within the next few years and the rest are all good enough to be playing at a high level in Europe. Come 2026, I can see a team that might look something like this (hopefully with Wood still going strong and Thomas involved and back to his best) having a shot at getting out of the groups with some high quality performances. 2026 Dream.png3.75 MBThere's a bunch more young guys on the come up like Sutton, Old, Surman, Paulsen, Jelacic etc plus kids we haven't even heard of yet to be excited about too. We have an incredible generation of talent coming through and combined with the culture Danny Hay has created, even with the loss today, we could well be on the brink of something very special.
What culture has Hay created"? The culture of losing?
Let’s have a look at this factually, and see if Hay really started “the culture of losing”. I won’t count OFC games as they are givens.
Seems he has the lowest loss rate alongside Schmidt who had 4 games and Emblen who had 2, so it seems he didn’t create a “culture of losing”, he just carried it on.
Ufh. Beginning to think the reason I was so philosophical was because I was half asleep. Not always the beautiful game huh. Look, that was a huge performance. We were dominant, we attacked, we gave it our all. While I’ve watched All White teams with better results, that was maybe the best performance overall from an All White team I’ve seen. Imagine if we played more consequential games at a decent level. Lots of respect for Navas. He really calmed his team with wave after wave of attack. Revved them up or came for the ball and punched late on to take the sting out of the ball bobbling around the box. The highlights are a tough watch. A lot of things that could have fallen for us didn’t.
Come bring myself to watch highlights yet. But Navas seemed a master of manipulating the inexperienced ref. Him and the other Ticos surround the ref post Wood’s ‘goal.’ Navas the cod gives Libby a huge back shove. I’m sure him and his mates were yelling VAR.
Then earlier when Tuiloma is similarly fouled in the lead up to their goal, AWs just wander back to half way shell shocked. You create scene and VAR is far more likely to have a look. Sorry but that’s when Winnie, Tuiloma and others should have been all around the ref, saying check VAR not when Kosta got his red.
As the Aussie Guardian writer said we were too nice. Need to get smarter with that unsavoury stuff in big games, but again just highlights our lack of experience and nous with that stuff being stuck in OFC. Nice guys come 2nd in these cut throat, incredibly tight internationals. Bring the sharkhousery aka Redmayne
Ufh. Beginning to think the reason I was so philosophical was because I was half asleep. Not always the beautiful game huh. Look, that was a huge performance. We were dominant, we attacked, we gave it our all. While I’ve watched All White teams with better results, that was maybe the best performance overall from an All White team I’ve seen. Imagine if we played more consequential games at a decent level. Lots of respect for Navas. He really calmed his team with wave after wave of attack. Revved them up or came for the ball and punched late on to take the sting out of the ball bobbling around the box. The highlights are a tough watch. A lot of things that could have fallen for us didn’t.
Come bring myself to watch highlights yet. But Navas seemed a master of manipulating the inexperienced ref. Him and the other Ticos surround the ref post Wood’s ‘goal.’ Navas the cod gives Libby a huge back shove. I’m sure him and his mates were yelling VAR.
Then earlier when Tuiloma is similarly fouled in the lead up to their goal, AWs just wander back to half way shell shocked. You create scene and VAR is far more likely to have a look. Sorry but that’s when Winnie, Tuiloma and others should have been all around the ref, saying check VAR not when Kosta got his red.
As the Aussie Guardian writer said we were too nice. Need to get smarter with that unsavoury stuff in big games, but again just highlights our lack of experience and nous with that stuff being stuck in OFC. Nice guys come 2nd in these cut throat, incredibly tight internationals. Bring the sharkhousery aka Redmayne
Sheesh I only just spotted this after going back to have a look... you're absolutely right. It's definitely a shame that VAR only seems to be looked at when it's demanded for.
Yeah despite the abject heartbreak today, there are some real positives to take out of this game. We outplayed the opposition and our young/inexperienced players were absolutely immense. Sail was great as ever, Pijnaker was a stand out both defensively and offensively, Cacace was our best player, Kirwan more than lived up to his name, despite not playing his best game Bell was still extremely classy, Lewis played like a man possessed, Garbett looked far beyond his years in tenacity and skill, Greive took the step up and looked like he belonged and the subs - Just, Stamenic and Waine - all played like consummate professionals with their hearts on their sleeves. The future of New Zealand Football looks brighter than ever and I for one am very, very excited for 2026 and hopefully some meaningful games in the four years we have to wait.
A good handful of those young players will be in top five leagues within the next few years and the rest are all good enough to be playing at a high level in Europe. Come 2026, I can see a team that might look something like this (hopefully with Wood still going strong and Thomas involved and back to his best) having a shot at getting out of the groups with some high quality performances. 2026 Dream.png3.75 MBThere's a bunch more young guys on the come up like Sutton, Old, Surman, Paulsen, Jelacic etc plus kids we haven't even heard of yet to be excited about too. We have an incredible generation of talent coming through and combined with the culture Danny Hay has created, even with the loss today, we could well be on the brink of something very special.
What culture has Hay created"? The culture of losing?
There is a genuine feel-good,hopeful atmosphere about this team. They are almost all very young, with a tonne of potential and chemistry through the roof thanks to having played with each other for years already. That cohesion is paying off, and we are seeing them play in a way we haven't seen the All Whites play in a very long time. We dominated against the 31st ranked team in the world - you tell me when we did that under Schmid, or Hudson, or Herbert. I'm not saying I'm Hay's biggest fan, I would've rather we had Buckingham personally, but you can't say he's not doing a great job with these boys
I too was keen for Buckingham to get the AWs role, and don't think at the end he was treated well by NZF. But feel Hay is doing a really good job now.
5 of the 16 guys who got on the field against Costa Rica, started for Des in 2019 U20 QF against Colombia - Cacace, Pijnaker, Bell, Just & Waine. Another 2 in Singh (definitely) & McCowatt likely would have played against CR. All went through Weenix or Ole. As did Garbett & Stamenic.
So Hay, Buckingham, the academies & lots of earlier folks in these young guys football careers can all take some credit.
Hi people back from Bs As. Back from covid times. I'm still rooting 4 Phoenix to win the A league don't forget, I love what you have done with this club, as fans someday we will place Phoenix vs Boca Jr's again to mourn Diego's death.
Ive watched The game after teaching it was 3 pm bs as time.
I deeply think you got ripped off big time. Nz football should make an appeal at CAS in Suisse. It was a robbery 6 moments.
1 the goal wasn't a foul it came from the CR player beforehand in this struggling 4 the ball Garnett prevailed, it was VALID. VAR acted weird 2-Before that in 1st half Reid got hacked in a corner kick, penalty and a yellow 3Sail got pushed away the pitch by a CR dangerously, was a yellow. Nothing 4 the ref 4 Pinjaker got an elbow in his face always a red, the ref played on 5 wood got hacked by Weston and brought down a penalty ...nothing 6. Tuiloma in minute 85 got a violent foul similar at Kostas' foul sure a red, no it was a yellow.
6 times you got robbed
My question why FIFA didn't get a south American referee for this match, someone with pedigree, a Brazilian Uruguayan or Argentina?
The ref really gave NZ away. It seemed all rigged. Best regards from Argentina
Javier Françoià. Future looks bright keep Reid at Phoenix plz
My expectation to win this before the game was very low. I thought we played very good against CR, when was the last time you could say we dominated a game against a bigger team? The margin to win where always low, don't concede and score one goal from the few chances we create. On the day a few things where stacked against us: injury of key players, a bad referee, an avoidable goal, a very stupid red card. This makes the loss so hard to digest, on the perfect day we could have won this.
this match was a charade it was rigged. nz football should appealnumber8
My expectation to win this before the game was very low. I thought we played very good against CR, when was the last time you could say we dominated a game against a bigger team? The margin to win where always low, don't concede and score one goal from the few chances we create. On the day a few things where stacked against us: injury of key players, a bad referee, an avoidable goal, a very stupid red card. This makes the loss so hard to digest, on the perfect day we could have won this.
Question to kiwis? Why Marinovic wasn't starting was motm vs Perú last playoff and he commands the box better than this kid, the kid looked nervous. I will give it to experienced gloves
When mirinovic and sail were both at the Phoenix, Sail replaced Mirinovic as number one. Sail has been in good form, and plays at a higher level than Mirinovic.
Question to kiwis? Why Marinovic wasn't starting was motm vs Perú last playoff and he commands the box better than this kid, the kid looked nervous. I will give it to experienced gloves
Yeh, Marinovic looks like a beast and is scary as f-. Sail is a good keeper and a nice guy. He’s been in good form for a couple of seasons and as mentioned above displaced Marinovic at club level. Plus he’s generally had better skills with his feet. It was a contested selection among the fans, but I dont think anyone was super unhappy with Sail playing.
I think we missed one more goal scorer. We created a lot of chances, but only Wood tested the keeper.
Awesome to have two Argentinian Kiwi fans posting here!
When mirinovic and sail were both at the Phoenix, Sail replaced Mirinovic as number one. Sail has been in good form, and plays at a higher level than Mirinovic.
there were 5 incidents that were very very odd Two penalties from corners on each half. To be blind Reid takled then wood 2 half huge guy Weston moved Wood and threw him like a puppet in the box. The heavy elbow a sure red on the nz defender The high studs to stomp Tuiloma with 5 minutes to go...the very short added time for all the things was 6 minutes at least The goal wrongly disallowed
I can't help but wonder if (in the build up to the disallowed goal) garbett takes that touch and then goes down under the challenge without sticking his arm out, is that given as a foul? You'd imagine it should but who knows with that bloke
When mirinovic and sail were both at the Phoenix, Sail replaced Mirinovic as number one. Sail has been in good form, and plays at a higher level than Mirinovic.
there were 5 incidents that were very very odd Two penalties from corners on each half. To be blind Reid takled then wood 2 half huge guy Weston moved Wood and threw him like a puppet in the box. The heavy elbow a sure red on the nz defender The high studs to stomp Tuiloma with 5 minutes to go...the very short added time for all the things was 6 minutes at least The goal wrongly disallowed
Yep, and for a country like us who has only been to a worldccup twice, losing because of the officials is heart breaking.
Seeing him not stop play after nando copping an elbow and obviously going down holding his head is pretty average
And then the same player who did that went studs up just below the knees. I was expecting a few rotated fouls on him at least. What would Siggie have done? Just because we can play football now, doesn’t mean we have to take cheap shots like we are some kind of pacifist monks.
Was the same guy? I'm puzzled, so if he had been sent off in the elbow incident 10 vs 10 and game on. You were robbed big. Time, the former players must speak the rufers Nelsen vicelich Elliot etc, and the nz football must appeal with the match to CAS in Suisse
Was the same guy? I'm puzzled, so if he had been sent off in the elbow incident 10 vs 10 and game on. You were robbed big. Time, the former players must speak the rufers Nelsen vicelich Elliot etc, and the nz football must appeal with the match to CAS in Suisse
it won't do anything though, even if there's an apology there won't be a rematch.