“I Think India Is A Sleeping Giant”- New Zealand National Football Team Coach Ricki Herbert

Every corner of the world has its own stamp on the beautiful game. The tales are never ending-of defeat and of victory. We caught up with the man from New Zealand who has been at the heart of the magical tale and is in India on a pre-season tour with his club side- Wellington Phoenix F.C. Ricki Herbert coaches his national team as well as the club side at the same time.

Wellington Phoenix plays in the Australian League and finished 4^th last season. The squad includes 6 world cup players from the All Whites and a former premier league player and FA Cup 2004 finalist in the name Paul Ifill. They will play against United Sikkim F.C on 24^th August and Shillong Lajong F.C on 26^th August. Both games will be played in Imphal. The tour of the Wellington Phoenix F.C has been arranged by J.P.R events under the leadership of their C.E.O – Mr. Sunil Hamal.

Herbert has been honoured by the queen of New Zealand and his order of merit which rates him as a ‘Companion’ , this means that he is a single rung away from being awarded the highest honour in the New Zealand order of merit which will include the word ‘Sir’ in his name.

He took the New Zealand national football team to the big stage South Africa in 2010 where they showed character and drew all of their games against the mighty opponents-Paraguay, Slovakia and Italy! Talking to us in the aftermath of the training session a couple of days back here in New Delhi, he had all this to say in a brief chat about the world cup,its impact on a nation which has other sports dominating it and his football philosophy:

When the World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign started, did you have any realistic hopes of making it?

Look, I took over in 2005 and put my heart into making sure that we got the best management and the best professional players to put the best case forward to go to a world cup. It happened for us because a lot of good people did a lot of good things. It was a combined effort and I knew we could do it if we got everything in place. Maybe India can go to the world cup someday and am here to help the same with the setting up of my academy and I’m looking for corporate support for the same. I think India is a sleeping giant with all its untapped resources.

Any memories of the South African journey that you’d like to share with the Indian fans?

Yeah fantastic memories! I mean for a small nation like New Zealand, we didn’t qualify since 1982 and I was a part of that team. So, to take the team back as a manager, it was great and really special. Nobody expected anything from us, we played against the no.1 ranked team at that time-Italy, and the 1-1 draw we got against them, made us really proud of ourselves.

Did the world cup change the value of the sport in New Zealand in the sense of popularity and participation?

Yeah, in a big way, you know when we were playing in the world cup nearly everybody was watching the game back home. Mostly people talk about rugby which got a little lost during that time. Football has always been a big sport when it comes to children but it was really exciting to put it on the world stage and do so well.

Tell us about the football philosophy and different formations which helped you achieve your targets for the national team as well the club team.

We worked hard, certainly with the national team to have our own different look. The style we used in the world cup brought us success. We looked after the ball possession and it was a lot better for us, technically. We worked hard with this group(Wellington Phoenix) to have similarities to that since the players are of different statures but you can always work hard to get the best from them. We played 3 at the back for the national team and 4 at the back for the club but sometimes for the there is flexibility. We focused on increasing the athletic and the technical ability of the players rather than just the physical strength.

Thank you for talking to us.

It’s been a pleasure.