The success of the All Whites at the 2010 World Cup has been captured in detail by award winning sports photographer Andrew Cornaga, who allowed the team's momentum to push him into publishing his first book.
Cornaga said the whole experience of the South African event left him on an absolute
"high" after the All Whites' performance at the tournament and on his return he couldn't quite let it go.
"I wasn't planning on doing a book and it just kind of happened because of the campaign and the way it went - everyone was so excited about it and it was such a great result that I dropped a few emails to a few publishers when I got home and Penguin said 'come and see us'," he said.
The book deal gathered pace quickly once the publishers saw Cornaga's material, which he shot as a part of New Zealand Football's extended set-up in Africa.
"They liked the pictures and I was rapt to do something with them - and we laid it out in about a day and a half and then they sent it off to print, so it all happened pretty quickly," he said.
The Prime Minister, who took his son Max to the Italy match and publicly supported the All White's campaign, contributed the foreword.
Penguin then got New Zealand Soccer on-board and the book was published and distributed quickly.
Cornaga says the book is a memento of a special time in our sporting history but also captures some of the mood of the event and the country.
"I look back on it as a special three weeks.
"I guess I had very good access to the team and I was part of their set-up over there and we were living in a bit of a bubble, with police escorts and convoys, but I still managed to photograph people - the kids in the township across the road from where the All Whites were training," he said.
Cornega has been a sports photographer for more than 20 years.
He began working at the Auckland Star and when it closed down in 1991, he set up Photosport - a sports photography agency.
REVIEW
One shot for Glory
by Andrew Cornaga, Penguin, $25
Cornaga's book is a photo-journal of the All Whites' World Cup campaign in South Africa starting with the warm-up game against Chile before documenting the team's astonishing unbeaten run in the tournament.
Cornaga's skill with the camera makes up for the lack of words. The sequence of photos leading up to Winston Reid's goal against Slovakia and the subsequent celebrations are pure gold and worth the asking price alone.
The 63-page book also includes a little bit of colour from the first ever World Cup held in Africa. A selection of photos taken on the dusty sports fields in the townships - just across the road from where the All Whites were holding an open training session in Daveyton - are a reminder of what the punters in New Zealand never saw in the republic.
There will be more detailed books on the All Whites campaign published in the years to come. It is unlikely however, that any of them will be as well illustrated as this. For any football fan, this is a great keepsake of the tournament - one that will always remind you of the Kiwis' great moments at the 2010 World Cup.
Frozen in time: All Whites stunning the soccer world (+recipes)
The success of the All Whites at the 2010 World Cup has been captured in detail by award winning sports photographer Andrew Cornaga, who allowed the team's momentum to push him into publishing his first book.
Cornaga said the whole experience of the South African event left him on an absolute
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