White Hot Heroes

"Take a look at the points table. Look again. Sitting in second, equal with Italy, are New Zealand.
Little, old New Zealand with just 25 professional soccer players - Italy has 3541. A country which had played just four World Cup matches before this morning drew with one which has won four World Cup titels. Crazy.
If the Slovakia result was incredible, this is truly mind-blowing and they still have a genuine chance of progressing to the second round - although Paraguay looked slick in their 2:0 defeat of Slovakia. That would be one of the biggest surprises in World Cup History, much like the US beating England in 1950." (Monday, June 21, 2010, The New Zealand Herald)

Erst unentschieden gegen die Slovakei und jetzt 1:1 gegen den amtierenden Weltmeister Italien: das laesst selbst eine Rugbynation wie Neuseeland nicht kalt! Aetliche Schulkinder sind gestern ganz in weiss, den Farben des NZ Soccer Teams "All Whites" in die Schule gekommen, die Zeitungen berichten stolz von der Heldentat ihrer Jungs und sogar die Fussballmoderatoren werden immer begeisterter, wenn sie mitten in der Nacht die Leitungen ihres Teams kommentieren! (Die Uebertragungszeiten der Spiele sind hier um 23:30, um 2:00 und um 5:30Uhr) Wo nach dem Spiel gegen die Slovakei noch niemand in Begeisterung ausgebrochen ist und das 1:1 als "mehr als wir haetten hoffen koennen" kommentiert wurde, so erreicht die Welle der Fussballbegeiterung nach dem Unentschieden gegen Italeien nun endlich auch die Kiwis!
Nach 1982 ist die WM 2010 die einzige, in der Neuseeland je gespielt hat und damals wurden alle drei Vorrundenspiele verloren...

Wie auch immer, dieses Jahr sind die All Whites erfolgreich wie nie zuvor in der Geschichte des Fussballs und die Italiener werden sich ueber Zeilen wie diese wohl noch lange aergern: :-)

- The Kiwi's are the most laid back side at the World Cup - and have a collection of "stars" who have scrapped their way through the lower leagues of England and college soccer in the US, to make it to South Africa.
The list of club's the New Zealand heroes have played for should on the face of it have not place at a World Cup.

- The All Whites' bench was virtually ignored before the game, and let's face it, some of the people on the bench are virtually ignored by their own club coaches. (NZ Herald)

- "Don't tell anybody, Italy wins the Rugby World Cup, and New Zealand wins the Soccer World Cup." (tvnz)

- He (the Prime Minister) even toyed with the idea of making tomorrow a public holiday to celebrate the draw.
"It would be a damn fine idea but I won't be in the country to enjoy it." (tvnz)

- If the World Cup is a stage, Italian footballers are clearly the best actors. Azzuri Players littered the field at Nelspuit in several histrionic retakes of the "dying swan", as they traded knocks with All Whites players in the hustle and bustle of the group F match.
... And then the penalty on 31 minutes. Although Tommy Smith grabbed the shirt of Daniele De Rossi, the dive for the resulting pot-kick would have made American swimmer Michael Phelps blush. (NZ Herald)

- Midfielder Daniele Di Rossi, all 85kg of snarling Italian cabanossi, went down like he had been tackled by All Black Ma'a Nonu. All Whites defender Tommy Smith naively tugged his shirt, but this happens virtually any time a ball is played into the box, and Di Rossi fell like his legs had been taken from under him.

- The score read New Zealand 1 Italy 0, and not many could resist the photo opportunity. (NZ Herald)

- Shane Smeltz: A dream start. Was he offside? Of course. Do we care? Not a jot. (NZ Herald)