Subject: [NT] News

Seems I am not in hurry anymore.

Anyway, great game - almost like a copy from the one we had 2 weeks ago. However this time we had more chances to score and we played better. Luckily Suomi didn`t user their winger very high and wide, which was very good for us. But he was quite a menace for us and did some trouble. I also liked that Suomi came only with one striker, very risky imo, but if you think your tactic will work and midfield is strong, then you can always try.

Our strikers were great today, midfield supported them well too - shame we didn`t used our chances in the end of game. But can´t complain, we won, that`s most important. Man of the match was clearly Kaz Taylor. I can`t imagine what we would do without him. I think no on didn`t play bad today, everybody had their own role and it worked out well.

PS! Take a look at min.31 - Suomi was extremely lucky there:)

Great win again, perhaps even better than last time.

Guess that puts you ahead of us on the rankings now for the first time in a number of seasons.

Haha, great win there. Kilkenny got murdered on the wing! Poor guy.

Kaz was immense, so many saves. Special mention to Vettori as well, getting in a number of important/last gasp tackles.

31st minute was a shocker :P

I could also mention a few minutes you were extremely lucky.. ;)
Great game once again. Morcombe and Taylor made the difference. Our winger might've been a bit low, but when he got through the def, he always created a chance. It seems rediculously hard for a 2 x superdivine striker to score from 5 metres. At least some days.. I guess we'll have an interesting game at the end of the season! :)

The game could have gone either way, was close one...Luckily we managed to get 3 points:)

Kaz was immense, so many saves. Special mention to Vettori as well, getting in a number of important/last gasp tackles.

31st minute was a shocker :P

I guess our defenders played as good as possible. But we hav two good defenders waiting their turn - Edwards and Findlay - both in low form.

31st minute was quite funny, I usually would laugh, but the game was so important:)

I have seen the match and I think New Zealand have put a tactic that counters the opponent's intentions, so I think the result is deserved as we have seen on the field. Congratulations for your first victory in official matches :)

Paraguay VS New Zealand


2009-02-21 Paraguay - New Zealand 1:2
2009-03-21 New Zealand - Paraguay 2:1

Another WCQ match, this time against Paraguay. Currently ranked 70 and hopefully easy points for us. NZ have played them twice - as weird as it is, it was during the previous qualification phase and also in group L. We meet the again in same group, interesting coinicidence. As you can see from the links above it wasn`t easy. Stats are definitely on our side, but the score is very close. Our strikers hopefully will have a good day, there defense isn`t nothing special and I hope to score at least 6-7 goals. The more goals the better. Paraguay have also few star players - Damian Fadlala is divine keeper with decent pace, luckily not in the best form. Martin Moreno is their best striker, was triple magical when he was recently sold. Was good bargain.

The match time itself is rather inconvenient for me - will be played 00.30 according
to Estonian time, probably can`t watch it.

GO All Whites!

9:30am for me on Sunday morning, should be able to catch it. I'm going sky diving at 11 :)

I think the All Whites have changed to a black strip now. There was some debate about whether they should in the news a while ago, but I don't know the official outcome. They did play in black in their last match though. I think it looks better :)

Midnight is child's play Viplu. I'm disappointed. Traitor!!

9:30am for me on Sunday morning, should be able to catch it. I'm going sky diving at 11 :)

I have gymnastics in my plans, don`t ask the reason:)

Usually NZ home games are 10 am for me...really perfect for me.

I think the All Whites have changed to a black strip now.

New home and away colours?

I suppose changing the colours might be a bit premature, they are still showing as White for home on Wiki.

Kaz just told me he wants to wear pink tomorrow..

Sam just told me Kaz is a bit fruity.

Canada has just won Suomi - which means they have no points after two rounds. Would be nice to go through with Canada, but it´s too early to make any clear assumptions. However If NZ and Canada won`t lose any points against other three teams, then it will be difficult for Finns to catch us.

Terrible game. At one point on the second half I thought we are going to lose points. Luckily Brent Gilbert saved us again. I am disappointed we scored only 4 goals. Expected more, maybe even underestimated Paraguay. Their coach created a nice tactic, defenders completely blocked our chances in the middle. Of course Paraguay keeper was world class today, definitely man of the match. Our strikers missed too many chances, but divine keeper is divine keeper.

Anyway we got the points we needed and everything is looking solid at the moment.

Next week we meet Latvia in a friendly game.
(edited)

Some stats after 2. round.

Leading scorers:
8 Wyn Lavrynenko Loops Unlimited
4 Alvin Broussard FC Babaciune
3 Rob Morcombe Fiery Tigers
Stuart Nevill The Mighty Oak
2 Brent Gilbert Where is My Mind
Vesa Hynönen Iskra Tarnoff
1 Tahir Rushiti Gargoils FC
Josh Perry L.K.S Stanisławianka
Martin Moreno Kakaowi Żołnierze
Huw Gray Y Ddraig Goch
Jonne Eeriksson Pogon_Szczecinska
Gerardo Cardona Alliance Lima FC
Jacob Priorie Soccer Dream

Leading assists:
5 Vince Lemieux Where is My Mind
2 Ruben Caron Size Matters
Ronnie Johnston Hardtokill
1 Felix Iginla FC Blansko
Antonio Almada telep
Wyn Lavrynenko Loops Unlimited
Rauli Manner FC Kanuuna
Alvin Broussard FC Babaciune
Robin Loveless Caerphilly Dragons

Average individual marks:
74.0 Suomi
70.7 Canada
66.4 New Zealand
65.5 Cymru
60.0 Shqipëria
56.2 Paraguay

Average individual marks this week:
73.5 Suomi
69.9 Canada
65.6 Cymru
63.9 New Zealand
60.2 Shqipëria
54.7 Paraguay

First squad average age
27.8 Suomi
27.7 New Zealand
27.3 Canada
26.5 Cymru
25.2 Shqipëria
(edited)