For the first time in a very long time, New Zealand’s National Soccer team, the All Whites dominated news headlines in the weekend, with the All Blacks hardly rating a mention. Rightly so too, for the All Whites won the World Cup Qualifier against Bahrain, getting us into the World Cup for the first time since 1982.

The fans got right into the spirit, filling Westpac Stadium with the largest crowd ever to watch a soccer game in New Zealand. They were still celebrating the next day, with an impromptu addition to Wellington’s Santa Parade. In three weeks time the draws will come out, and we will find out who we will face in the first round. The All Whites even made it to the number two spot on Twitter on Saturday evening.

There are some strong links to the 1982 squad in the current team. Coach Ricki Herbert was a player from that team, and the father of striker Rory Fallon was an assistant coach. At that time Rory was just a wee baby, like myself. I’ll definitely be following it a bit more closely this time around, and hopefully it won’t be so long before the next time.

Here is a clip of Rory Fallon’s goal, from all possible angles.

Rose

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