New Zealand Soccer Review

Haven't our boys done well. Under very hard and tiring conditions they undertook a Pacific and Asian tour and returned home with victories over Fiji, Australia, and Indonesia. Bad luck and inability to finish off moves cost a grand slam.

The tour began with a game at Ba, a delightful spot in the Fijian isles. The result was also very satisfying, four very good goals to none, against a team that did not play as a team. Players abandoned a team practice to go to the pub and were all banned (including the goalkeeper, who eventually played because they had nobody good enough to take his place). The rules were bent apparently because the Fijians did not want to go into the match without an experienced keeper.

The next game was in Taiwan on the cabbage patch. Here an ailment took over that all the New Zealanders seemed to suffer from. They failed to put into effect the dominance they had. Naoier City Rovers also suffer from this complaint as do TTL, but they are other stories.

The third game resulted in two goals for an none against. But what a game! The Indonesians showed they were like everyone else in the world. When it became apparent that their team would lose they began pelting the field with numerous missiles. Only a small proportion acted in this way, I imagine about the same proportion that rugby administrators are in the New Zealand public.

The fourth game of the tour was at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and a win against Australia. This is the place where the All Blacks have lost their last couple of games of rugger. In the aftermath Rudy was sacked but the most pleasing thing I saw in the game was when the pigeon was saved by the emergency referee. The result was the same as at Jakata, 2-0 in our favour and again the crowd left upon the scoring of the second goal.

Over the whole tour eight goals were scored and our net hardly seriously threatened. A very pleasing point about the tour was that there were no individual stars or key players. Herbett, Armond and Hill all played brilliantly in defence. Wilson had little to do, but what he did do he did well. The midfield of McKay, Elrich and Co were never outplayed and the Turners and Steve Sumner also played their parts with great heart and ability.

Best wishes go to our national soccer team for good games against Taiwan and Fiji and in the playoff against China, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Even if they don't make it to Madrid, we certainly have a team to be proud of.

G.R.Howell