Gavin Wilkinson Previews Mexico v New Zealand

Gavin Wilkinson played 33 times for New Zealand between 1996 and 2002. After playing stints in Australia, Singapore and the Republic of Ireland, he joined the USL Portland Timbers in 2001.

He played 124 matches for the Oregon club and became their head coach in 2007. He now serves as their Technical Director.

Today he will cast a patriotic eye on the Azteca Stadium however as his national side play Mexico is the first leg of their World Cup play-off.

New Zealand comfortably won the Oceania Group while Mexico finished fourth in the CONCACAF Hexagonal group, forcing them into a play-off

In this article exclusively for Prost Amerika, Wilkinson previews the game and tells us who to look out for in the All Whites’ line-up.

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Mexico v New Zealand Preview

by Gavin Wilkinson, ex-New Zealand International and Technical Director Portland Timbers FC

It is an interesting situation with the New Zealand roster. You have some players with an awful lot of experience, but who are also aging and not playing at the highest levels around the world. You also have some fairly inexperienced players.

In comparison, Very few of the players are playing in a league as good as the Mexican league. Previously, you had several very experienced players playing at very good levels around the world who were the team’s leaders.

They will need big contributions from some of the younger players. Players will need to play to the best of their ability, players like Winston Reid, who will miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury but is playing at a high level at West Ham.

It the All Whites are to succeed there are three young, bright stars that will need to make an impact if the All Whites are to do well against Mexico: Marco Rojas (22. VfB Stuttgart), Kosta Barbarouses (24, Melbourne Victory) and Chris Wood (21, Leicester City). Both Rojas and Barbarouses bring individual flair and creativity, while Wood is your prototypical No. 9.

Wood has scored a couple of goals recently at the club level for Leicester City, and one against Fulham in cup play. That should give him some confidence around the goal heading into the games against Mexico. With Rojas (who is recovering from injury) and Barbarouses (it is early in the A-League season), we will see where their fitness levels are and how much they can contribute. Both have the ability to be impact players. Rojas is one of the best young players out of Oceania and is in a great environment at Vfb Stuttgart.

For some of the younger players, it is definitely one of the bigger moments of their careers. For those coming off the last World Cup, like Shane Smeltz and Ivan Vicelich, it is an opportunity to repeat what they did nearly four years ago.

I think the younger players will need those experienced players to lead them and help them to not get caught in the moment while playing in such a difficult environment and against quality players. For a lot of them, it could be seen as an opportunity to kick on their careers, possibly landing them in a better league in a country that plays at a higher level than they are currently in. It is a great opportunity, but the proposition in front of them is certainly a difficult one.

New Zealanders are great competitors. In general, New Zealand soccer players are cast as underdogs, but always display character. I’m expecting a very workmanlike approach. I will go back to it again: every single player has to perform very, very well. I think they will have high expectations coming off of the World Cup in South Africa, where they played to three ties. Coming into this game, they will expect to get something out of it and give themselves a chance headed into the second leg.

I’ve been out of New Zealand since I was 20, so definitely it has been a while. Following it from overseas, I would say the profile still has a long way to go. I think the preparation of the national team is an indication that the funding and mentality does need to change. Coming into a World Cup Qualifier where they had to get a result in each of two games, the team’s final preparation was playing a PDL team, an MLS team that underachieved this year and Trinidad & Tobago where they could not get a convincing result.

I think this is a solid indication that that the profile of the sport is not where it needs to be. If the profile of the sport was a little bit better, the New Zealand team could garnish more respect, which would allow them to play against better opponents. This would serve as far better preparation for playing such important games, like this one against Mexico.

New Zealand has a professional team, it gets a good following. I think the national team is well-followed. But there is a reason that players are looking to get out of the country to advance their careers.

On several different levels, a win against Mexico and qualification for the World Cup would be huge. Obviously, it would bring more financially stability to the game and help the overall growth of the sport. It would also allow New Zealand to invest in the youth and resources surrounding the various national teams that would help to further elevate the profile of the federation.

Additionally, I think that getting players on a bigger showcase and exposed to bigger clubs around the world would obviously help the growth of the national team. Qualification, combined with the last couple of results in the World Cup in South Africa, would increase the levels of respect for the game in New Zealand around the world, leading the country to become a greater shopping ground for overseas clubs. I think it would do wonders for the sport.

For NZ to win the first leg, I think you would need to go back 6 months and affect preparation. This would have been the key to having a chance at more success. The New Zealand team is going to be built around chemistry and camaraderie, group effort and a tactical understanding that is superior to Mexico’s. Without that necessary preparation, they’ve hurt themselves in many, many ways.

For me, I don’t see them having a big chance in Mexico. While I’d like to think that they can get a result, I think it is a very difficult environment to go in. I think Mexico, especially after their last couple of results, are eager to prove that they are better than what they have shown so far throughout qualifying. For New Zealand, I think the emphasis has to be to keep it close. Coming out of there with a narrow loss would give them a fighting chance in New Zealand. I see this as being a very difficult game.

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The match kicks of at 12.15 p.m. PT on ESPN with the second leg next Tuesday in New Zealand (10pm. ET).