All Whites vs Bahrain – 5 Sleeps to Go…

November 8th, 2009 | by: Craig | Comments Off

There are only five sleeps to go until the biggest game of football ever played on NZ soil, and I for one am starting to get a little excited. It just seems like it’s all starting to click into place for the All Whites.

Ryan Nelsen and the rest of the overseas All Whites will arrive in Wellington today having just doubled his career goal scoring tally for Blackburn by scoring against Portsmouth. They will join the New Zealand based players tomorrow for a training session in the afternoon.

The Phoenix came from behind to score a 1-1 draw at ‘The Stadium’ against the Perth Glory yesterday afternoon, but most importantly none of the Phoenix’s All Whites players injured themselves in any way. In fact, the entire squad have been declared fit and ready to go. That is despite slight injury concerns over Simon Elliott’s leg, Michael McGlinchey’s ankle and Mark Paston’s hip.

Bahrain have warmed up with a convincing 5-1 win against world football powerhouses Togo and will acclimatise to the cold, windy Wellington conditions by staying in warm, sunny Sydney all week. Midfielder Sayed Mahmood Jalal is recovering from a knock he received in the friendly encounter, and is expected to make a fully fit in time for the big game. Their 22 man squad and 22 person support team (including a Chef and their Accountant) are expected to arrive in the capital on Thursday.

This morning at the NZ T.A.B the Kiwis are currently paying $2.40 while Bahrain are at $2.70, a slight change from last month when they had the Bahrainians favorites to book a spot in South Africa.

NZ Football has gained special permission from FIFA to install 500 extra seats for the match (tickets to which sold out in just minutes) and the All Whites are guaranteed to run out in front of the biggest crowd in NZ Football history. (And maybe the NZFC might just be regretting not playing the game at a larger capacity Stadium)