New Zealand (National Football)

It may be a long shot, but there is increasing talk of New Zealand launching a bid to host the FIFA World Cup in either 2026 or 2030. Dylan Cleaver of the New Zealand Herald revealed as much in an exclusive with Martin Snedden, in which the sporting-events guru and former New Zealand test cricketer was optimistic about New Zealand's proposal.

Snedden, a key figure in the organisation of the 2015 Cricket World Cup co-hosted by New Zealand, as well as the 2011 Rugby World Cup in which New Zealand were exclusive hosts, believes that the country now has proven their ability to host mega-sporting events.

"In the past four years we've hosted two major events and haven't just done them okay, we've done them brilliantly, far beyond the expectations of ourselves and of those who granted us the events," he told Clever.

His words are true. The 2011 Rugby World Cup and recent Cricket World Cup were runaway successes from a hosts point of view, helped undoubtedly by New Zealand's successes on the field in both.

Hosting, or co-hosting, the FIFA World Cup is a different kettle of fish, but there were doubts over New Zealand's capability to host the Rugby World Cup in 2011; who is to say they will not rise to this challenge?

To get a grasp of the magnitude of the two mega-events the country has already hosted, you really need to look at some numbers. 

Clever writes that the Rugby World Cup saw 133,000 visitors arrive in the country, a huge amount for a nation whose population is a shade under 4.5 million, while also being televised in over 200 countries. The event was one the New Zealand public got swept up in and the game attendances were high, even to the matches featuring minnow teams in smaller cities.

The 2015 Cricket World Cup, which was co-hosted with Australia, similarly captured the country's imagination, turning from a nation that supported the game, to one which was fanatical about it. Worldwide the event naturally attracted attention too.

As Clever noted, one single pool match, that of India versus Pakistan, attracted a global television of one billion people, with an estimated 25 million tuning in via live streaming. Of course this match is arguably the biggest rivalry in world sport, but to attract that sort of attention for a match before the event has even reached the finals stage shows the enormity of the event.

Yet the FIFA World Cup is on a different scale all together. The amount of fanatical support on a worldwide scale is significantly greater and would attract far more attention.

A joint bid with Australia seems the logical way to go. That would provide the World Cup with a bigger market, bigger hosting cities and bigger stadiums.

Realistically New Zealand only has four stadiums capable of hosting games. Eden Park is their largest stadium, capable of holding 60,000 spectators, while Westpac Stadium is the home to the Wellington Phoenix and is proven as a football venue. Beyond that you have the world-class, although perhaps slightly small, Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, as well as talk of a new stadium for Christchurch.

Those numbers are probably not going to cut it though. So the only viable option would be a co-hosting venture with Australia.

That way you would have access to the former Olympic stadium in Sydney, the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, along with others. All would provide satisfactorily big and quality stadiums.

Given the huge popularity the sport is enjoying in Australia at the moment, it would hugely strengthen New Zealand's chances if they launched a joint bid.

In the coming weeks New Zealand will host the FIFA Under 20 World Cup, something of a trial run on a much smaller basis.

There is no doubting New Zealand have proven themselves as capable of hosting mega-events. Whether or not they are ready to host the FIFA World Cup though, remains to be seen.

 New Zealand 1 Egypt 1

Four years ago, New Zealand qualified for their first ever Olympic football tournament thanks to the attacking abilities of Kosta Barbarouses, netting four goals in five games in the preliminary tournament. However, with three older players being drafted in, as the qualifying campaign was strictly an under-23 competition, Barbarouses was left out of the side that traveled to Beijing. Two years on, he only made the reserve player list for the World Cup in South Africa.

Now, he appears in his first major international tournament. Is this his time to shine?

It’s match day 2 for New Zealand in this, their second-ever Olympic Games, and Barbarouses has just played a full 90 minutes against Egypt at Old Trafford. Although his impact in the game did not change the scoreline, his movement off the ball, darting runs, drawing defenders out of position and maintaining the Oly Whites attacking flow was invaluable.

Playing against an Egyptian team who nearly overturned Brazil’s 3-0 lead in an impressive second-half display, New Zealand took the lead. West Brom’s Chris Woods scored from a corner, celebrating, as he later tweeted, in the style of one of Old Trafford’s more familiar figures, Wayne Rooney.

Their lead was short-lived, however. Twenty-two minutes later, Mohammed Sallah was leveling from six yards. With minutes to go, Barbarouses’ moment came at the corner of the box, but he failed to find the killer touch.

“When you go up, you’ve to try to get that little touch on the end of it, and unfortunately, that didn’t happen for us today,” said Barbarouses, who had been playing a defensive role for most of the game.

Only in the closing stages, when a winner was so desperately needed ahead of their final group game against Brazil, did we see the real attacking prowess he has.

In a sombre tone, Kosta admits his upset in not being picked in the past: “I’ve been left out of the national side sometimes, maybe been a little bit unlucky, but now, I consider myself to be one of the senior, important players in the team.”

It is this growing confidence that has won the admiration of his team captain, Ryan Nelsen. “In training, he’s been brilliant,” exclaims QPR’s new signing, a man who captained his country at the last Olympic Games in Beijing. “His performances in both games have been amazing, he’s improving every year as a player, he’s matured and he’s got a big future.”

As a predominantly Under-23 tournament, the Olympic Games are a chance for players like Kosta, who has just signed a one-year loan deal with Greek side Panathinaikos. Furthermore, New Zealand seem to be entering a golden era of football, qualifying for their first Olympics, then first World Cup two years later, holding then-holders Italy to a draw and placing higher above them in the group.

New Zealand, just like Kosta Barbarouses, are becoming bigger and better on the international stage every year.

This piece was written by Phil of The Reporters' Academy, a media production company run by young people. The Reporters' Academy is integrated into the world of media, education and employment, based in two great sporting cities, Manchester and Melbourne, and is officially Inspired by London 2012.

All quotes were obtained first-hand unless otherwise noted. 

Since New Zealand had been eliminated from the FIFA World Cup 2010, several people I know have been pledging their allegiance to other teams based on ancestry, the hottest fans, style of play, underdogs, office sweepstakes. You name it, people find a way of supporting other sides. It raises the issue of how we actually become fans of a certain sports team. The debate was initially fuelled by an Irish friend of mine supporting the All Blacks when her brother supports Ireland and they were playing earlier this year.  

It is often easiest to be fans of the top sides in the world, so people to tend to jump on the All Blacks or the Netherlands bandwagon, rather than backing the Dutch in the cricket World Cup and the All Whites in the FIFA World Cup. There are also some rare extremely fickle fans who support teams and then switch allegiance to another winning team.

Fans are usually based on who we first supported when we started watching a sport.  For some people in sports where New Zealand don't participate at a high level, these are often other countries. Then when New Zealand actually qualified, I love throwing the curve ball saying which team would you support if New Zealand played them? I consider any born and raised New Zealanders as unpatriotic if it isn't New Zealand they support when their own country is playing any other team.

I must admit that since we were eliminated from the World Cup that my interest has dropped, while those who support numerous teams (my flatmate has about 10 sides he supports) still have an interest. I wonder how these people choose which of their favorite teams they want to win.

I consider myself to be a true fan, and this is what makes being a fan so much more rewarding than simply jumping on the boat of a winning or popular team. A true fan only supports one team in any competition whole heartedly. I don't mind a passing interest in other teams. The last year of my life has seen the Southland Stags, who I have supported through plenty of rain and very little shine for the last 25ish years, have been the whipping boys of New Zealand rugby, make the semifinals of the Premier Division and win the Ranfurly Shield for the first time in 50 years. This made it so much more satisfying than a team I have adopted winning yet another trophy. Heck, for a lot of the time just getting one win would give me heart problems.

It is the same with the All Whites who I have followed since I was a wee nipper and seeing them qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and representing themselves well in South Africa was far more rewarding than yet another win for Germany, where my great uncle once went for a long holiday.  

I noticed in my time in Dunedin in the successful late 1990s that heaps of people would come to Dunedin and suddenly become Otago fans. I would love to see if they are still wearing that blue and gold jersey now!

In summary, I hate boat jumpers who only supporting winning teams, and so I am hoping that those people who support the successful teams at the World Cup, only do it to increase enjoyment in the game and would put heaps more of their efforts behind being a patriotic New Zealander if they were still involved.

What do you think? Am I being too harsh? Which teams do you support?

The All Whites got caught being too defensive against Paraguay in their important FIFA World Cup match and in the end a 0-0 draw was as good as a loss given that Slovakia defeated Italy in the other match.  I think the New Zealand attitude of accepting a draw as a form of victory is misplaced satisfaction.  This team has shown they can cut it at the top level and fans should stop being so politically correct and say that they are disappointed.  For too long New Zealand football has been underperforming at the top level especially since player numbers in this country (approximately 1 in 20 people) or around 200,000 are the healthiest they have ever been and rival rugby where we are one of the best teams in the world.  We would never expect the All Blacks to just show up to keep the score down, would we?   We also need to play more matches against quality opposition.

Wrong tactics?

Our tactics reminiscent of the Republic of Ireland long balls in the 1990 World Cup were found wanting against Paraguay as they easily shut us down.  We were rarely a threat on attack with our toothless midfield lacking creativity.  Mind you, journeymen Simon Elliott (unattached) and Ivan Vicelich (Auckland City FC) hardly have the big club contracts on display to give you confidence.  The wide players like Leo Bertos and Tony Lochhead couldn't skin a lame Persian cat and was Rory Fallon never taught to keep his elbows in at the dinner table?  The back three and Mark Paston were a great defensive unit, but they did get support from Vicelich at the expense of the attack. 

I think Ricki Herbert was brilliant for most of the tournament, but should've changed the tired legs in midfield against Paraguay with some creativity.  Why is it that we didn't see much of New Zealand's exciting midfielders Michael McGlinchey and Tim Brown?  Was Brown still injured?  These two guys are younger and would have added some spark to the middle of the park.  They also would've gained experience invaluable for their futures in the game.  Instead, we kept going for our long ball tactics which weren't working.  We needed to change that a bit more towards the end.  Sure, in subbing Vicelich it may have opened up our defence to concede a late goal or two and I am sure we wouldn't have minded.  We also may scored a late winner.

In summary, while the three draws were a creditable performance, I think we should expect victory from the All Whites.  It is no longer just good enough to walk out onto the park against other teams.  They should've been more attacking minded in that second half against Paraguay when the long balls weren't working.  Given the playing numbers and growing resources in football that New Zealand now has to offer, I think we can demand more high quality matches and winning results from our boys.

Scott Donaldson

Sports Writer

Wow! The holders of the 2006 FIFA World Cup are out in the first round - winless and bottom of their group. Also exiting stage left are New Zealand, Cameroon and, a little more shockingly, Denmark.

Italy (E)

This grade is more about Italy's overall disappointing performance over three games rather than today's effort (which would have been a C-), where they lost 3-2 to upstart Slovakia. What amazed us was Marcelo Lippi's management skills. At 1-0 down, Lippi refused to change things, despite the fact that his country was in the crapper. Where was Pirlo, who was brilliant when he came on and was Italy's man of the match?

The Italians will probably curse the officials for an offside that was as close as they come, and for not giving the team more time because of Slovakian second half time-wasting.  However, it was the appalling defending that let in the first goal, and the lack of marking for the second that really cost them - as well as two inept performances against Paraguay and New Zealand. What's next? Ignominy and a rude reception in Rome upon their return.

Slovakia (B+)

When the Slovakian players weren't constantly falling to the floor, they were actually quite good footballers. They passed the ball well, finished chances given to them, and definitely contributed to one of the most exciting games of football you'll ever likely see. We look forward to more of them soon.

What's next? The second round, and a tie against the Netherlands - who will probably beat them handily.

Netherlands (B-)

We didn't see too much of Holland in their group games, but did they ever really get out of second gear? The Netherlands have a devastating amount of talent at their disposal, and that's why we reckon they are hot favourites to at least get to the semi-finals. Nine points out of a possible nine isn't a bad way to start a tournament - England would have loved another win, wouldn't they? What's next? Slovakia, and then the quarterfinals.

New Zealand (A)

We expected 'The All Whites' to get slaughtered in their three group games, and how wrong we were. Today's effort against Paraguay was yet another plucky effort, and we loved seeing the team play in black.

They battled for every inch of their turf once again, and anyone who is a New Zealander should be proud of their country's efforts over the last few weeks. We just wish they'd scored a victory to really upset the world, and seen a haka. We missed both. What's next? Hopefully an incredible reception in Auckland.

Japan (B)

Japan play some pretty football, and they can also shoot. Just ask Denmark keeper Thomas Sorenson, who let through two of the loveliest free-kicks you're ever likely to see. Driven on by Honda, their striker (no pun intended), Japan were skillful, continually remembering to actually move for a pass - something that England struggled to do against Algeria. What's next? A monster, but winnable clash with Paraguay.

Paraguay (C)

If you want to scare people, it's probably not the best of results to only draw with New Zealand, is it? If we're honest, we weren't too in love with Paraguay after the Italy game, and we aren't feeling the same for them this time, despite the fact that they finished top of their group. What's up? Japan.

Cameroon (D)

I had to laugh at the nickname 'The Indomitable Lions', because Cameroon proved to be anything but indomitable in South Africa. They were outclassed by the Dutch, and will go home having ventured little and gained nothing. What's next? Regrouping before the next African Nations Cup.

Denmark (C)

It must be really annoying for a set of fans to see their team go out of the World Cup when, once again, they were expected to at least go to the second round. But tonight, they were outclassed by Japan, who won 3-1 in a superb game between sides needing the victory to guarantee qualification for the knock-out stages.

Denmark will be looking to give Niklaus Bendtner shooting lessons when all is said is done, as he missed another two good chances in Thursday's game. What's next? European qualifiers, and reminding the crowing Swedish fans which country actually made the finals.

Three straight matches. Three straight draws. Three straight displays of heart and pride.

Ricki Herbert's New Zealand All Whites may not have won a match at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but they did not concede a defeat either, and that deserves a standing ovation.

They finish better than the 2006 champions Italy in Group F with a scoreless draw against Paraguay to end their campaign with a performance that, without question, takes this year's side out of the shadow of 1982.

In fact, I don't believe that the 1982 All Whites would stand a chance against the 2010 All Whites.

Herbert's men have exhibited an uncanny determination, strong resilience, perseverance and heart.

New Zealand earned their first point in a 1-1 draw with Slovakia off a late 93rd minute goal by Winston Reid at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenberg.

They earned their second point off an early surprise goal by Shane Smeltz in the seventh minute against Italy to pull off the biggest result in their nation's football history at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.

And even though they were unable to defeat Paraguay and their swingman, Roque Santa Cruz, their defense—led by goalkeeper Mark Paston—held firm in the scoreless draw at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.

The Land of the Long White Cloud must welcome back this blend of professionals and part-timers as sporting heroes, up there with those who have already made their mark.

They came to South Africa with nothing to lose, and they will be holding their heads high knowing that they will be among the few unbeatens by the competition's end.

And the development of soccer in New Zealand has to be strengthened by the All Whites' 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign.

We all know that rugby union and netball are the most popular sports for boys and girls, respectively, while soccer is second.

But there is no question that with the heroics of the All Whites, the participation rates for all age groups, and all skill levels must increase.

Everything must go up, up, up.

A young player can go out and say, "Hey, if they can hold the World Cup champs to a draw, I can do better and beat them."

Had the All Whites dropped any of their matches, it would not have as great an impact.

Had they won at least one of them, the impact would be stronger than it is now.

But mind you, it already is strong.

The seismic waves are beginning to be felt in Aotearoa: The All Whites have delivered the greatest World Cup performance in their nation's history.

No one expected them to even earn a single point.

Heck, no one expected them to finish better than Italy.

The doubters and detractors will be wise to give credit where it is due.

This was a World Cup that no one who bleeds All White—or New Zealand in particular—will ever forget.

New Zealand has so far defied expectations by remaining unbeaten in the World Cup, but considering the quality of the previous matches, it seems reasonable to assume that the third and final contest will test them to the limit.

Both previous results were a little on the lucky side.  In the opening match against Slovakia they were trailing for a long time before a miraculous play at the last second provided the equalizing goal.

Then against an under strength Italian team, they were awarded a goal that should technically have been ruled offside, putting the Italians under pressure.  Minutes later a false penalty was awarded to Italy so both teams got a goal that they did not deserve.

By rights, however, New Zealand should never have been able to stand up against Italy.  It's just that Italy, like France and England, is a team in disarray.  Their standard has slipped considerably.  It's not that New Zealand played well, but that Italy played poorly.  I expect them to continue to do so in tonight's match against Slovakia.

So now, New Zealand face Paraguay.  It will be a very difficult task to shut that team out of contention, and even more difficult to score against them.  The only factor working in New Zealand's favor is that Paraguay tend to take slightly panic-stricken shots and suffer from a lack of accuracy as a consequence.

Stranger things have been seen at the 2010 FIFA World Cup thus far, so I am not saying it is impossible for New Zealand to win this—just extremely, agonizingly difficult.

To stay in contention, New Zealand must at least draw here and they must score at least one goal.  Realistically, even if they can do that, they'll still be going home anyway.  So the pressure is on New Zealand to win here, and I honestly don't think they are good enough to do that.  Paraguay are in a much more comfortable position and they can just enjoy this game and pick New Zealand apart at their leisure.

Most likely result:  Paraguay by one.  Two if they are lucky.

You've heard all the facts about New Zealand football. 

The fact that it's not the most popular sport in the country. 

The fact that really only one player (Ryan Nelsen) plays in a top league. 

The fact that one of their players isn't even a full-time football player. 

The odds were against them, of that I don't need to tell you. 

Nobody cared about this game. I guarantee you that unless you're a soccer fanatic like me, you weren't going to watch this game. 

The Italians just came off an "embarrassing" (by their own standards) tie with Paraguay. 

Everything was setting up for this game to be a blowout, much like today's earlier match of Portugal and North Korea. 

Instead, history was made. 

Was the goal a bit lucky?

Perhaps. Smeltz still had to finish it, though. 

Was the defense lucky? 

Perhaps. One shot in particular hit the woodwork, and a few more could've easily bounced in. 

But the Kiwis held strong didn't they? 

Speaking of facts, how's this one for you: The Kiwis were without two key starters the first two games, midfielder Tim Brown and goalkeeper Glen Moss. 

And yet here stand the Kiwis. Unscathed. 

If this doesn't inspire you, I don't know what will. 

By all rights, New Zealand should have been sent home, beaten by scorelines such as 3 or 4 to 0. 

But New Zealand never gave up. 

And now, they could go to the next round. 

I'm sure nobody has to tell Paraguay that New Zealand is no easy beat, but can you imagine if somehow, Slovakia tied Italy? And New Zealand tied Paraguay?

Or even crazier...what if the Kiwis win? They would be through to the next round. 

Is it crazy to imagine? Yes. But so was the thought of them even tying the defending champs. 

It won't be easy. Paraguay has a bit more pace than Italy and Slovakia. Tommy Smith and Winston Reid will be tested. 

But give credit to Coach Ricky Herbert. Not many teams that run what is essentially a 3-4-3 are this organized. 

And it's rare that teams of New Zealand's caliber give other teams fits. 

But the Kiwis have nothing to lose. 

Their giving their all out on the pitch. 

I may only get a few reads on this article. It's cliche, really. Everyone knew that history was made. 

But I had to write it. I've followed the New Zealand football teams off and on for a few years now, waiting for the day they'd get to World Cup. 

I could only wish and hope for the start they've gotten. 

I personally invite you to watch their game against Paraguay. 

Maybe it's going to be a blowout. 

Or maybe you'll miss history. 

Well done New Zealand. 

Well done.