The All Whites' draw and Abu Dhabi action

It's been a chocka few days in football for me - culminating with the All Whites draw at the weekend.

I'm fortunate enough to be away with Auckland City at the Fifa Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi. I flew in to Dubai on Friday to catch up with the team and headed to Abu Dhabi to our "base camp".

The UAE is a pretty surreal place - it's almost like the rulers of each Emirate are playing a real-life version of Sim City - both Dubai and Abu Dhabi are basicaly sprawling construction sites. But anyway, down to football!

Current All Whites players Ivan Vicelich and Jake Spoonley are both here with the Auckland City team, so I managed to catch up with both of them briefly to get their thoughts on the World Cup draw. Both players were pretty comfortable with the All Whites' group (Paraguay, Italy and Slovakia), and were happy to avoid the likes of France, Brazil and Spain.

Personally, I was also pretty pleased, especially in the fact that the "powerhouse" of the group - Italy - won't hold that much fear for the lads, given their performance against them at the Confederations Cup last year.

Paraguay were one of the strongest qualifiers through South America so will be very strong, and Slovakia will also be strong based on their qualifying performances. But both teams are a bit of an unknown quantity for me. All in all, though, I think it's fair to say that most people will be pretty happy with the outcome.

The preparations for the Club World Cup are in full swing, and the Fifa cronies are out in force. We're not allowed to leave the hotel on foot without an escort, and we have security guards outside the lifts to our floor, not to mention getting escorted to training by the police. It's a pretty amazing experience.

The Club won their first warm-up match 2-1 over a Dubai side the other night, and they had their first training in Abu Dhabi on Saturday at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium. I'll keep you updated each day as the tournament draws nearer.

Check out the Auckland City website for my video diary and other articles from some of the other resident journalists.

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Harry Horticulture   #1   10:31 am Dec 07 2009

Bring back Sam

1977   #2   12:18 pm Dec 07 2009

"Personally, I was also pretty pleased, especially in the fact that the "powerhouse" of the group - Italy - won't hold that much fear for the lads, given their performance against them at the Confederations Cup last year."

The All Whites never played Italy at the Confed Cup. They played Italy in a warm up game (not even a friendly) prior to the tournament. Wise up Adam.

DGM   #3   12:49 pm Dec 07 2009

Sam Rocks...woo hoo Sam...

nice one Adam, get a bit of spit and polish out over a beer tonight and give your next blog post some shine.

Brett Dale   #4   01:02 pm Dec 07 2009

The game against Italy was a friendly, it was an official match.

Stefan   #5   06:39 pm Dec 07 2009

Bring Back Team Wellington

Adam Brown   #6   06:40 pm Dec 07 2009

Sorry guys - bit of a rookie mistake! I'm blaming jetlag ;)

1977   #7   07:02 pm Dec 07 2009

@ #4 - No it was not an official match. There were more substitutions made than would normally be allowed in a regulation match.

Noshow   #8   08:25 pm Dec 07 2009

Nothing should be taken from the friendly against Italy pre Confed Cup. The Eyeties started with a B team and stepped up when they needed to.

They will be a very different prospect come World Cup time and the All Whites would be foolish to think otherwise.

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