@Landon

27d

The New Zealand National Team

New Zealand is back at the World Cup after a 16 year wait. Going off of rankings New Zealand is the highest ranked team sitting at 85th. That could be a good thing, New Zealand has nothing to lose. They don’t have to deal with the pressure that Spain, France, England, and Brazil face. In WCQ they had 5 clean wins, no losses or draws. They scored 29 goals and conceded just one goal against Vanuatu in a calm 8-1 victory. Chris Wood was and is their best scorer netting 9 goals. After qualifying for the World Cup they have played 11 friendly matches since and have a record of 1-8-1. They beat chile 4-1 and drew Norway 1-1. New Zealand runs a 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 formation. They are a possession based team. When they lose possession they struggle heavily, the thing is they have trouble obtaining possession. The lack creativity and technically skilled players. But what will always be a strength for any New Zealand national team is strength and ability to win physical battles. They are a tall strong team. If you’ve ever paid attention or watched New Zealand you’ll know how important Chris Wood is to this team. Being their top forward playing for Nottingham Forest, he has a tall task to really put this team on his back. He played in only 15 matches due to injuries. Wood will be looking for Old and Garbett to help him out along the wings. But, I’m not so sure if they can do that. New Zealand is in group G with Belgium, Egypt, and Iran. Belgium is the heavy favorite to top this group. I think they will, I don’t see them losing any group stage matches. I don’t see New Zealand winning any games or making it out of the group unfortunately. Like I said before, New Zealand truly has nothing to lose. With a fan base just being happy to qualify maybe New Zealand can use that to their advantage and take it to their group mates. It’s hard to say what going to happen in the future but I can confidently say the odds are against New Zealand. I wish them luck, they’re going to need it.

New Zealand

Replies:

Iraq repeats Infamy

This one hurts because I have a soft spot for the Lions of Mesopotamia, however, with their 5-0 loss to Senegal, they have officially thrown their hat into the ring for worst World Cup performance ever. 3 losses, 1 goal for, 12 goals against and -11 goal differential I mentioned in the Tunisia did you know that 9 teams have ended a World Cup with a goal differential of -10 or worse. Well, before today, only 5 teams had ever ended a World Cup with a goal differential of -11 or worse. Iraq is now the 6th. Which World Cup is most like Iraq’s 2026? Believe it or not, North Korea 2010: 3 losses, 1 goal for, 12 goals against and a -11 goal differential The comparison is even more striking when you realize North Korea was in the group of death back in 2010 alongside Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast. However, North Korea’s run was more humiliating than Iraq. After narrowly losing to an over-the-hill, but still daunting Brazil team 2-1, North Korea had an idea. Clearly feeling supremely confident in their squad, they broadcasted their 2nd game on local TV networks for the whole nation to see. They cut the broadcast in the 60th minute because North Korea was losing 4-0 to Portugal. The North Koreans went on to lose 7-0 and their government claimed the loss was acceptable considering Portugal’s talent (they did not mention that they lost 7-0). North Korea did not broadcast the last game against Ivory Coast, which they lost 3-0. Yes, 2026 Iraq put together one of the 10 worst World Cup campaigns ever, but they didn’t humiliate themselves. Hopefully they’ll be back in 4 years to make up for it. Ideally not in the group of death.

@FlameRaptorRaven

Tunisia’s Torturous Tournament

Tunisia’s 2026 World Cup campaign is mercifully over and it will go down as one of the worst ever. 3 losses, 2 goals for, 12 goals against, -10 goal differential. They became the 9th team ever to finish the World Cup with a goal differential of -10 or worse and the first to do it since 2010. Out of those 8 other teams, which runs are most similar to Tunisia? Once we take out the 5 runs with a goal differential worse than -10 and Greece’s 0-goal -10 in 1994, there are actually 2 that look identical: Mexico, 1978: 3 losses, 2 goals scored, 12 goals against and a -10 goal differential New Zealand, 1982: 3 losses, 2 goals scored, 12 goals against and a -10 goal differential Mexico 1978 was in Pot 2, Tunisia 2026 was in Pot 3 and New Zealand 1982 was Pot 4. By that logic alone, Mexico 1978 would be the worst of the 3, with Tunisia 2026 in 2nd worst, making them the 8th worst World Cup performance ever. However, I think you could argue they’re as high as the 4th worst performance depending on how much you consider the advances in a team’s football program and their prior history.

@Landon

No Neymar No Problem?

After Neymar was selected to the Brazilian national team the immediate question was when can he play? Now two games into the tournament Brazil tied Morocco and beat Haiti without Neymar. As we know Neymar is not the player he was 12 years ago in the 2014 World Cup. He can’t move like he used to and he’s had a rough couple years. The question is the Brazil team has been playing pretty decent without him, does Brazil need to add Neymar at all? Is it worth possible throwing off the chemistry that these players have built the past couple months? We cant answer those questions but we can maybe answer the question of when he returns. From what Ive read I think he could potentially return against Scotland in their last match of the group stage. He will mostly come off the bench in that game if he is fit to play. One things certain about Neymar, he will give it his all. After tearing his ACL he said that the recovery was the hardest thing he’s ever had to do and he seriously considered retiring. But he wanted to be back out there with his teammates fighting. He only played 8 matches with Santos FC but he scored 4 goals and had 2 assists with a match average of 7.5. Also, he’s not that old he’s 34. He could definitely make a mark and continue to add to his legacy of great Brazilian footballers. Only time will tell if Neymar can show up and deliver.