The
New Zealand national football team, nicknamed
the
All Whites, is the national
association football team of New
Zealand and is controlled by
New
Zealand Football.
It played in the
1982 FIFA World
Cup and on 14 November 2009 qualified for the
2010 finals. Because of the lack of a
high-quality domestic league, most talented New Zealand footballers
play their trade in the higher-class leagues of Europe or the
United States, or in the
Australian
A-League.
New Zealand formerly battled
Australia for top
honours in the
Oceania
Football Confederation (OFC). This is no longer the case as
Australia now play in the
Asian Football Confederation,
leaving New Zealand as the only seeded team left in OFC. New
Zealand have won the
OFC Nations Cup
four times, in
1973,
1998,
2002 and
2008. The white strip was
originally based on the colour of
England's strip and name is
in contrast with the
rugby union team,
the
All Blacks.
Development
Despite its large player numbers, New Zealand football struggles to
compete with other sports such as
rugby
union,
rugby league and
cricket, financially and for media exposure. The
performance of the national team is further hindered by a
relatively young semi-professional domestic league, the
New Zealand Football
Championship having been established in 2004. New Zealand has
one professional team,
Wellington
Phoenix, who compete in the Australian
A-League.
The best
known current players are Blackburn Rovers
defender Ryan Nelsen,
former Roda JC defender Ivan Vicelich, Gold Coast United striker Shane Smeltz, Celtic
striker Chris Killen and Plymouth Argyle striker Rory Fallon. Several young players have
shown promise in breaking through into the senior side, including
Tampere United midfielder
Chris James,
North Queensland Fury midfielder
Jeremy Brockie, and
West Bromwich Albion striker
Chris Wood.
Major tournament participation
Confederation Cup
New Zealand has competed in three Confederations Cups, in
Mexico 1999,
France 2003 and
South Africa 2009. In each of
these tournaments, the All Whites failed to progress past the first
round. At the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup New Zealand gained their
first point at a FIFA tournament with a draw against
Iraq. New Zealand has scored a
total of two goals in the tournaments and has gained one
point.
1999
New Zealand made their first apperance in the
FIFA Confederations Cup in
Mexico, in 1999. New Zealand
qualified for the competition by defeating
Australia 1-0 in the
1998 OFC Nations Cup.New
Zealand were drawn into Group B with
World Cup winners
Brazil,
USA, and
Germany. New Zealand failed
to win a match and their only goal was against USA through
Chris Zoricich in the 93rd minute.
| Team |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
GD |
Pts |
|
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
+7 |
9 |
|
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
+2 |
6 |
|
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
−4 |
3 |
|
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
−5 |
0 |
2003
New Zealand made their second appearance in the Confederations Cup
in
France, in 2003. New
Zealand qualified after defeating
Australia in the
2002 OFC Nations Cup final through a
78th minute goal from captain
Ryan
Nelsen. New Zealand was drawn into Group A with hosts
France,
Colombia, and
Japan. New Zealand lost their
first match against Japan 3-0. New Zealand scored their only goal
of the competition in a loss against Colombia when
Raf de Gregorio got the ball past
Oscar Cordoba. New Zealand then suffered their
largest loss of the competition against France 5-0.
| Team |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
GD |
Pts |
|
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
+7 |
9 |
|
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
+2 |
6 |
|
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
+1 |
3 |
|
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
11 |
-10 |
0 |
2009
New Zealand made their third appearance in the Confederations Cup
in
South Africa, in
2009. New Zealand qualified through winning the
2008 OFC Nations Cup. New Zealand
striker
Shane Smeltz played a large
part in New Zealand winning the OFC Nations Cup by scoring eight
goals, winning the competition's
Golden
Boot award. Smeltz scored in five of New Zealand's six matches.
New Zealand were drawn in Group A in South Africa along with
UEFA Euro 2008 champions and world
number one
Spain, hosts
South Africa,
and
2007 AFC Asian Cup winners
Iraq. New Zealand played
three friendly matches leading up to the competition which included
a 4-3 loss to
Italy
where they led the match on three occasions through goals from
Shane Smeltz and
Chris Killen. New
Zealand's first match against Spain didn't start well as
Liverpool FC striker
Fernando Torres scored a hatrick within the
first 20 minutes. Torres went on to win the Man of the Match award.
Goals from
Arsenal midfielder
Cesc Fabregas and
Valencia FC striker
David
Villa completed Spains 5-0 win over New Zealand. New Zealand
lost their second match against South Africa 2-0 with man of the
match
Bernard Parker scoring a
double. New Zealand drew their final match against Iraq 0-0, which
gained New Zealand their first ever point in a major FIFA
competition.
| Team |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
+8 |
9 |
|
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
|
3 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
−1 |
2 |
|
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
−7 |
1 |
World Cup
1982
New Zealand has competed in one FIFA World Cup, in
Spain, in 1982. They qualified for this
tournament through a long process, winning the Oceania
Qualification group then playing in a five-team round-robin
tournament against teams from Asia. This tournament resulted in
China and New Zealand
being tied for a qualification place. A sudden-death play-off in
Singapore led to New Zealand qualifying for the tournament.
In Spain, New Zealand played three matches, against
Brazil, the
Soviet Union, and
Scotland. New
Zealand lost all three games, with scores of 0–4, 0–3, and 2–5
respectively.
2010
New Zealand has qualified for its second World Cup, to be held in
South Africa, in 2010.
Qualification
New Zealands first challenge in their qualifing campaign was the
OFC Nations Cup. New Zealands won five out of the six games in the
OFC Nations Cup and there only loss was agaisnt
Fiji where
Roy Krishna scored a double
After winning the Oceania Qualification group, they needed to
defeat the 5th-placed
AFC nation,
Bahrain. Bahrain had earlier
defeated
Saudi
Arabia on the away goals rule after drawing 2-2 in Riyadh to
earn a place in this play-off.
New Zealand first went to Manama to play their away fixture agaisnt
Bahrain. New Zealand and Bahrain drew the match 0-0. New Zealand
defended well throughout the game and left the match pleased with
their effort.On 14 November 2009, New Zealand qualified for the
2010 World Cup in South Africa, after defeating Bahrain 1-0 in the
second leg of their tie in front of a New Zealand record crowd in
Wellington, thanks to a goal from
Rory
Fallon in first half stoppage time and a
Mark Paston save in the 56th minute.
OFC Nations Cup
New Zealand have competed in every
OFC
Nations Cup since the tournament was established in 1973, when
New Zealand both hosted and won the competition. The All Whites
have won the Nations Cup four times, including the most recent
tournament (
2008 OFC Nations
Cup).
Previous Squads
- FIFA Confederations Cup squads:
- FIFA World Cup squads:
FIFA
| Year |
Tournament |
Result |
Pld |
Pts |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
| 1982 |
World Cup |
Round 1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
12 |
| 1999 |
Confederations Cup |
Round 1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
| 2003 |
Confederations Cup |
Round 1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
11 |
| 2009 |
Confederations Cup |
Round 1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
| 2010 |
World Cup |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
OFC
| Year |
Tournament |
Result |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
| 1973 |
OFC Nations Cup |
Winner |
5 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
13 |
4 |
| 1980 |
OFC Nations Cup |
Round 1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
8 |
| 1996 |
OFC Nations Cup |
Third Place (shared) |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
| 1998 |
OFC Nations Cup |
Winner |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
1 |
| 2000 |
OFC Nations Cup |
Runner Up |
4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
| 2002 |
OFC Nations Cup |
Winner |
5 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
23 |
2 |
| 2004 |
OFC Nations Cup |
Third Place |
5 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
17 |
5 |
| 2008 |
OFC Nations Cup |
Winner |
6 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
14 |
5 |
Match competition record
| Type |
Played |
Win |
Draw |
Loss |
Goals For |
Goals Against |
Differential |
| Internationals Only |
309 |
132 |
49 |
124 |
582 |
492 |
+90 |
| All |
531 |
211 |
84 |
236 |
976 |
999 |
-23 |
Recent Matches
* New Zealand score given first
Current squad
The following players were named in the squad for the
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against
Bahrain on the 14 November
2009.
As injury cover, the following five players have been named as
non-travelling reserves on standby:
Caps and goals accurate up to and including 2010 FIFA World Cup
qualification match against Bahrain on 10 October 2009, and only
include appearances in official matches.
Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the All Whites
squad in the last 2 years:
Caps and goals accurate as of 11 October 2009, and only include
appearances in official matches.
Technical Staff
- Ricki Herbert: Head Coach
- Brian Turner: Assistant Coach
- Clint Gosling: Goalkeeping
Coach
- Raul Blanco: Technical Advisor
- Phil Warbrick: Team Manager
- Celeste Geertsema: Team Doctor
- Roland Jeffery: Physiotherapist
- Wade Irvine: Massage Therapist
- Kenny McMillan: Sports Scientist
- Jamie Scott: Media Officer
Notable players
The following is a list of notable players who have achieved more
than 50 A-international caps for New Zealand, been inducted into
the New Zealand Hall of Fame, received an international award or
represented more than one country at international level.
Player drain to other countries
Dual nationality representatives
The following player(s) were eligible to play for New Zealand but
chose to play for another nation:
Dual nationality age group representatives
The following players have played age group international football
and are eligible to play for either New Zealand or another country
but have not been capped by either country's senior national team:
Managers
Honours
- Group Stage:
- Qualified:
- 2010 (round reached in
competition yet to be determined)
- Group Stage:
- Group Stage:
- Group Stage:
Other Titles
Records
Largest wins
The 13-0 win against Fiji was, at the time, a record score for a
FIFA World Cup qualification match.
Notes
1 A-Internationals only. The record for all
international appearances for New Zealand is held by
Steve Sumner (105).
References
-
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/oceania/matches/round=250488/match=300036893/report.html
-
http://sportal.com.au/football-news-display/nz-makes-world-cup-81295
-
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/3011140/All-Whites-unchanged-for-World-Cup-decider
See also
External links
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