Speaker 1: Hey guys, Piney here with an extra little addition of
Speaker 1: football fever for you. At chat to Chris Wood the
Speaker 1: morning after New Zealand qualified for the World Cup in
Speaker 1: the US, Canada and Mexico next year. Chris would of
Speaker 1: course going off injured in the game against New Caledonia
Speaker 1: last night, so I started by asking him about the
Speaker 1: injury and how serious it might be.
Speaker 2: To be fair, I can't say too much because I
Speaker 2: don't know at the moment. I get it checked out
Speaker 2: today and get some scans on and things like that,
Speaker 2: but hopefully it's nothing too serious. Landed awkward awkwardly, I think,
Speaker 2: and I've just got to deal with what comes out now.
Speaker 1: So it's your hip, What part of the specific part
Speaker 1: of your body is it? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Hip and rib It's just one of those that just
Speaker 2: felt a lot of pain and couldn't push off with
Speaker 2: it through my leg and once it happens, I can't
Speaker 2: run and the best thing is to get off and
Speaker 2: let someone else do a job, because I'd be letting
Speaker 2: the team down.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what are the emotions of that time? Because I'm
Speaker 1: sure you want to stay on right, you want to
Speaker 1: guide your team to the to the World Cup. What
Speaker 1: of the emotions that go through your head. Is your
Speaker 1: better with that, but also with what's best for your
Speaker 1: body and for the team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think you have to think about
Speaker 2: the team first. I was doing nobody in any favors.
Speaker 2: I couldn't couldn't move, couldn't couldn't defend, and couldn't help
Speaker 2: any info those one or two minutes that I tried
Speaker 2: to stay on and things like that, I was letting
Speaker 2: the side down just not being able to do what
Speaker 2: we needed to do, and especially in a big game
Speaker 2: where everybody had to be counted for. So, yeah, you
Speaker 2: have to do the right thing. And I think Base
Speaker 2: called it very early. He saw it, and I think
Speaker 2: it was the right thing to do.
Speaker 1: So describe how it was on the bench before the
Speaker 1: first goal. You're sitting there, you can't unpack the game anymore.
Speaker 1: It's still nil nil. Do you then become a bit
Speaker 1: of a fan like like us and get a bit nervous? Not?
Speaker 1: Not really.
Speaker 2: I think the longer the games goes on, probably we've
Speaker 2: got a bit more nervous. But I still had a
Speaker 2: huge belief in our team. We've done well in the
Speaker 2: first half. It just didn't go in for us second half.
Speaker 2: We were doing well and started well and we believed
Speaker 2: there was always going to be a goal. Were just
Speaker 2: to make sure we weren't doing anything wrong at the
Speaker 2: other end, and the defense was fantastic in that sense.
Speaker 2: And yeah, and when box he put that goal, and
Speaker 2: I mean when when kind of felt like here we go,
Speaker 2: we're ready to kick on now. And he's been been
Speaker 2: a champion of all ways for a long period of time,
Speaker 2: so it's special that he was a score his first
Speaker 2: goal on that big occasion.
Speaker 1: If there was a sweepstake and you could pick, you know,
Speaker 1: your your favorite top goal scorer, I think your eyes
Speaker 1: would have passed over Michael Boxer, wouldn't they.
Speaker 2: Yeah, potentially with us with with this history record of it,
Speaker 2: but special goals, special moment, special man. So yeah, it's
Speaker 2: fantastic for him, and yeah, we're very happy for him.
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of talk about the young players
Speaker 1: and this team and rightly so. But then you look
Speaker 1: at Costa barbarusis another guy and as mid thirties he
Speaker 1: comes on, you know, in unexpected circumstances he provides a goal,
Speaker 1: So you know there's a there's a bit of this
Speaker 1: experience thing, isn't there?
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, that's I think that's a good balance we
Speaker 2: have between this team and I'm costed unfantastically while coming on,
Speaker 2: especially after the heartbreaker last time and him then and
Speaker 2: getting simtap and things like that. I'm sure he desperately
Speaker 2: wanted to achieve something great and be a part of
Speaker 2: history and do something in the right note. And he
Speaker 2: done in both games, scoring in both games, and in
Speaker 2: the semi final and final to put us Aside through
Speaker 2: to the World Cup. It's fantastic. So he's going to
Speaker 2: be very proud of himself.
Speaker 1: Do things like this sinking immediately, Chris, or like, do
Speaker 1: you sit here You're going to a World Cup next year?
Speaker 1: Has that sunken?
Speaker 2: I think it's sins In overtime you get snippets of
Speaker 2: it all, and I think it's going to be just
Speaker 2: continuous now until the World Cup. Got a lot to
Speaker 2: look forward to. When more teams get get qualified. You
Speaker 2: see your names with them and you're thinking, ah, could
Speaker 2: we be drawn with them? Drawn with them? And then
Speaker 2: when December comes around we find out where we're going
Speaker 2: to be based and who we're going to be playing.
Speaker 2: That's the true excitement.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and regardless of who it is. I know you're
Speaker 1: on record as saying we're not just going to make
Speaker 1: up the numbers. We're not just the forty eighth team there.
Speaker 1: You want to win matches and get out of that group, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe, I believe we can. I have the
Speaker 2: belief in this team, and the team's got more than
Speaker 2: enough quality and experience to be able to do something.
Speaker 2: And yeah, we want to. We want to do as
Speaker 2: well as the two and tim team, but even go
Speaker 2: one better. It's not gonna be easy. It's the world
Speaker 2: stage and it's just one of those we have to
Speaker 2: believe in and make sure. Right, that's what we've been
Speaker 2: working the last two years.