Northland's Christie off to the World Cup

No one was more surprised than Whangarei footballer Jeremy Christie when he was named  as a member of the All Whites World Cup side.
After being a regular in the All Whites squad, his playing career hit the skids when he showed poor form at the Confederations Cup in South Africa. He missed the final stages of World Cup qualifying, making him a long shot to make the squad.
The 27-year-old midfielder was sitting eating dinner with friends in Tampa, Florida, where he was celebrating scoring a goal for his new professional side, the Tampa Bay Rowdies, when the call came through to tell him that he had been selected for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
"Happy doesn't quite describe it, it's always been a dream of mine, it's a dream of most footballers all over the world to go to the World Cup," he said.
The former  Pompallier College  student has played professional football in England, Australia and New Zealand, with stints for the New Zealand Kings, Knights and the Phoenix, but came off contract with the Phoenix after the end of the 2008 season and played for Waitakere United in the NZFC league last year.

"After being quite involved with the team and then getting out of the loop for the last few months, I wasn't that confident of making the squad but I've been working hard over here at training and playing quite well and now I'm so happy, I can't really put it into words," he said.
In March, Christie was picked up by the new Tampa Bay franchise - a side rebuilding in United States Soccer's second division - after being a former giant of the game in North America ... and then came the icing on the cake.
"I never thought I was completely out of the picture but I think the fact that I'm over here playing professional football regularly has helped me and I've been keeping in touch with Ricki Herbert and BT [Brian Turner] and giving them regular updates of how I've been going and I hoped I might be one of the players that might just sneak into the squad and that's what's happened."
He had been trying not to think about All Whites coach Ricky Herbert's announcement yesterday - but was painfully aware it was coming. As he sat with his friends celebrating over a quiet beer, he was emphatic that he would be doing his best in South Africa for the New Zealand team.
"I'm not going there to make up numbers, I want to get some game time during the tournament but I'm happy to do whatever I'm asked to do with in the squad - it's just such a great feeling to be on that plane, eh?"
Jeremy's mother Moira and father John - a former All Black triallist - were thrilled at the news yesterday. They both suspected he might have missed his chance.
"We're rapt, of course, and we'll have to have a look at going to South Africa again - we talked about it before he headed off to America but it was a bit of a longshot then because he'd missed the Bahrain game,"  said Mrs Christie.