The growth of New Zealand football to 2018 and beyond.

Match Report

21st min, goal to NZ, Chris James drives the ball into the back of the net from 25 yards out
Half time 1-0 NZ.
Full time 1-0 NZ.

Well that was the close game we expected with 90th place in the world beating 93rd. the All Whites played well without key center back pairing of Winston Reid and Tommy Smith.
 
The Under 20 World Cup.

The FIFA Under 20 World Cup is being held in New Zealand and as a host nation I think it is a minimum expectation to reach the 2nd round. If manager Simon Elliot does not reach this target I will remove him from his position as under 20 manager. Is this a fair expectation? Opinions please. His group consists of Austria, Ivory Coast and Saudi Arabia. I think it is an attainable goal.
 
Results from the Under 20 World Cup

VS Ivory Coast 2-1 loss
VS Austria 3-0 win
VS Saudi Arabia 2-0 win
VS USA 2-1 loss (2nd round)

Over all it was a good performance from the Junior All Whites, they looked good playing attacking football scoring 7 goals and conceding 4. Judd Baker led the scoring with 3 goals and David Browne got 2 assists. Judd Baker lead the average rating charts for NZ with a rating of 7.26. Overall Simon Elliot has done well with the team and will keep his job until after the next Under 20 World Cup.
 
All Whites vs Myanmar

The Starting 11

GK Moss (c)
LB Wynne
RB Fenton
CB Boxall
CB Musa
DM Butler
CM Ridenton
CM Keat
LW Appiah
RW Boyd
ST Smeltz

A few first team players are rested for the big clash vs Ozzie. Hoping for a win but not sure with such a rotated squad, Smeltz is looking at getting closer to the all-time top goal scorer.
 
Well we made easy work of Myanmar with a comfortable 3 nil win, goals to Smeltz and Boyd in the first half made sure of the result and a late goal from Wood towards the of the game was the icing on the cake. Good all round performance from the boys with 18 shots and also 55% possession. Bring on the Socceroos!
 
All Whites vs Australia

The Starting 11

GK Gleeson
LB Doyle
RB Graham
CB Reid (c)
CB Smith
DM Tuiloma
CM Mitchell
CM Payne
LW McGlinchey
RW Boyd
ST Wood

With Rojas and Thomas out injured the wingers are a big question mark, Boyd gets the nod after some good performances and McGlinchey earns his spot through reputation. Wood takes his spot up front from Smeltz and the normal duo of Reid and Smith take the center back spots. Gleeson gets his chance to prove himself in goal.
 
The Match Report

Well we had 38% possession and had 35 shots taken at our keeper, we had 4 shots at their goal and 1 on target, but we leave Australia with a 1 all draw, I will take that. Tomi Juric gave them the lead in the 54th min but in the 77th min Shane Smeltz seized on a mistake from Trent Sainsbury to break away and score a curled shot from the top of the box. Jake Gleeson was named man of the match with a rating of 8.7 closely followed by substitute and goal scorer Shane Smeltz on 8.1. The All Whites will take great confidence with this result and look to push on for better results in the future.
 
Well that’s a whole year done now and time for a quick review.

Results:
Wins: 7
Draws: 2
Losses: 1

Top Goal Scorers Chris Wood: 5, Shane Smeltz: 4, Marco Rojas: 4

World Rankings: Started at 101st now ranked 93rd. Highest ranking is 87th.


Things are looking pretty good results wise but I feel like I’m watching a Rikki Herbert team and no one likes that so I’m changing my tactics. I’ve been doing a bit of looking around on the different websites and I have found my new tactic.
Google Tinkermans Goalscoring Strikeforce, I have completely followed his tactic.
 
Right so much has happened that I haven’t mentioned so here we go. As I mentioned in an earlier post I took over Exeter when they were 23rd in the league. At the end of the 2014/15 season they had finished in 15th position. Now the main reason I had sign for them was to bring out of contract Kiwis to the club. Now anyone with half a brain would have realised to problems with this (I didn’t realise) my young Kiwis couldn’t get work permits and secondly no Kiwi wanted to go there that was any good. So at the end of the season I resigned, but as it happens there were a lot of firings in the A League so I had 2 interviews first with Adelaide United FC and then with Melbourne Victory FC. I was lucky enough to have been offered both jobs but since there are a couple of kiwis in Melbourne I have signed for them. Now first thing I have done is obviously signed a couple of young Kiwis, Deklan Wynne, Clayton Lewis and Tim Payne. So here’s to the future!
 
All Whites vs Panama

The Starting 11

GK Marinovic
LB Doyle
RB Fenton
CB Reid
CB Smith
DM Tuiloma
CM James
CM McGlinchey
ST Barbarouses
ST Baker
ST Rojas

This is the first game with the new formation, Under 20 star Judd Baker gets his first cap and also goal keeper Marinovic. There is a settled back 4 and Tuiloma gets the nod ahead of Payne to protect the defence. Rojas get a trail run up front with Barbarouses and Baker.
 
Match Report.
Everything was going to plan until the 82nd; we were 1-0 up through record breaker Shane Smeltz who broke the national record for the top international goal scorer. But our number three goal keeper Stefan Marinovic let the ball roll between his legs and let panama back into the game. 1 all draw isn’t the worst result but could have been a win.
 
All Whites vs Ecuador

The Starting 11

GK Moss
LB Wynne
RB Fenton
CB Reid (c)
CB Smith
DM Tuiloma
CM James
CM Payne
ST Wood
ST Smeltz
ST Rojas

This is looking like my best team at the moment. This is the last friendly before the Oceania Cup OF Nations qualifiers, Ecuador is much higher in the FIFA world rankings so here goes nothing. Come on lads.
 
Match Report.

Not much to talk about in this game, Captain Winston Reid earned an early bath with 2 yellow cards. We ended up with a 1 nil loss and didn’t look like winning at all. Ecuador dominated the game, we only had 35% possession and we only took 8 shots with 2 on target. Over all I can’t complain to much as we have had a lot of good results more building is needed before the World Cup Play Offs.
 
All Whites vs Tahiti

The Starting 11

GK Moss
LB Wynne
RB Tuiloma
CB Boxall
CB Smith
DM Payne
CM Burns
CM McGlinchey
ST Boyd
ST Wood
ST Smeltz

So this is the first Oceania Cup qualifier and we take on Tahiti, we are playing a pretty strong squad. Main player missing is Winston Reid, who is injured other than that Rojas is rested as he is not up to fitness. Boxall and Boyd have come in for these to players other than that Burns has come in for Dan Keat as rotation.
 
Match Report.

Well things started bad for Tahiti as their goal keeper put the ball into the back of his own net. After this it was all downhill as we ran riot with goals from Smeltz, Payne and Burns. A good 4 nil win for the team gives us a good start to the competition. Defender and stand in captain Tommy Smith picks up man of the match.
 
All Whites vs Solomon Islands

The Starting 11

GK Gleeson
LB Doyle
RB Fenton
CB Graham
CB Smith
DM Payne
CM Mitchell
CM McGlinchey
ST Barbarouses
ST Wood
ST Rojas

Smith retains the captains arm band also Wood and Payne retain their position in the starting eleven, other than that it’s a rotated team. We are looking at making it 2 from 2 in the competition.
 
Match Report.

Chris Wood gave us a 1 nil lead in the 9th minute, but then Solomon Islands came back just before half time to make it 1 all. In the second half we got 2 goals back through a double from Boyd. 3-1 win gives us a good result and 6 points from 6 available.
 
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