White is the new black
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. If Reid hadn’t scored that late equaliser for New Zealand, AKA The All Whites, I’d have won $50 in my first accumulatory wager of the competition. Not to win is no huge shock as my predictions are legendarily 100% wrong!! In fact, I thought the result which would bring me unstuck was gambling on Ivory Coast and Portugal drawing which proves I can’t even correctly predict what I’ve wrongly predicted!
When that late glancing header sneaked in cheers could be heard up and down our street. The local New Zealanders obviously prepared to sacrifice sleep to enjoy a piece of history. This morning several local Kiwis rushed up to discuss last nights drama. Several showed me the excited texts they had received from family and friends across The Tasman Sea. Some of them wouldn’t have been born the last time New Zealand qualified in 1982. It’s unlikely that many of these people have ever really considered football before….the All Blacks dominating their national sporting landscape. But there was a significant awareness that this has taken the image of their country into new terrritory. That little kids in La Paz will be talking of Reid’s goal and how Slovakia blew a precious lead. The supermarkets of Sofia with shoppers saying the Slovakia goal should have been given offside anyway. The cafe’s of Sydney with locals disgruntled at being outdone by their Australisian rivals. And, most importantly, those standing around the water coolers of Wellington and bursting with pride.
What happens next to New Zealand isn’t as crucial as that moment. It could be that they never experience that high for another twenty eight years. But the euphoria that goal bright can never be taken away…and well worth missing out on $50!! It was a special moment and it’s enormity shows why football is the greatest and most captivating game on earth.