By Chigozie Chukwuleta in Enugu
New Zealand Coach, Stephen Cain who is leading his team to Calabar for their last group game against Turkey says they are disappointed with the draws his team have recorded so far in their game and such should not be celebrated.
New Zealand will be playing against Turkey in Calabar centre since according to FIFA rules to guide the last group matches will be played simultaneously. While Netherlands and Iran which played their previous Group games in Calabar will move to the Enugu Centre.
Cain said during an interview with africansportsdigest.com in Enugu that winning a game would have given them more satisfaction than the two draws saying that they must win their last match in Calabar to still nurse the hope of qualifying.
“We were disappointed with that draw. So I wouldn’t say that the celebration was as a result of that. Well I think the celebration if any was of the fact that people were pleased that we picked a draw in our first game,” Cain said referring to the way some fans back in New Zealand celebrated their equalizer against Costa Rica.
He continued: “Our last U-17 Championship campaign was not very good; it ended on a sad note. I think against Brazil they were five goals down within 20 minutes that is not acceptable even against Brazil. That is not going to happen to this team too. We prepared this team very well. You saw on Sunday, tactically we were very strong, very well organized. If we are playing in New Zealand or in Europe we will play a more high pressure game, we will chase the game more but we can’t in these conditions because it is too difficult for us.
“So we have to cut our clothes according to the measure we find over it. We have to be realistic about what we can do and what we can’t. But at the end of the day it is about winning games and we will do whatever it will take to win the game that is what we will be doing in our last match after the second draw against Burkina Faso.”
Cain also added that the crick et is also affecting the growth of football in his country, New Zealand: “That’s a good one. We have age group of 13 to 14 with interest in football but we discovered that when they get to 15 and 16 years they tend to divert to games of Cricket and Rugby because they have more money than we do. They are more professional, more high profile and they play in bigger leagues. At the end of the day we have to fight with this.
“It is not like England where I come from or Nigeria where you have players everywhere. It is a country where a lot of our boys do play path way to a professional career within New Zealand is very limited and that also makes life difficult for us number one in keeping them in the game at the right level and number two in keeping the players in the country. Because we have only one fully professional team and they play in the Australian league but we need more than that,” he explained