Our women’s footballers are way off the pace. They are particularly poor in the goal creation and finishing department.
I noticed some criticism of coach Jitka Klimková creeping into the analysis but it’s absolutely pointless to go down that road.
The New Zealand players, individually, just aren’t dynamic or skillful enough, particularly in the attacking zones.
The World Cup highlight for me, so far, has been the Colombia-Germany game played in Sydney, an incredibly physical battle that included a stunning goal from 18-year-old Linda Caicedo in her team’s surprise victory.
The tournament thrills have included Portugal’s delightful creativity against Vietnam.
New Zealand football can aspire to those sorts of standards, and it must not allow the victory over Norway to mask the magnitude of the task.
There is no doubt at all that a short-sighted national football administration with misogynist tendencies put a handbrake on the development of our women’s football a few decades ago.
But why get bogged down with the sins of the father? And it is not just the women’s game that has suffered via poor administration. (Indeed, at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, the All Whites bypassed the national body, realising they had to take some matters into their own hands).
The future of football lies in backyards and parks, where young kids become obsessed with the skill and artistry of manipulating a football. It relies on adults who care about kids.
Women’s football remains a golden opportunity to be grasped in this country.
Keep dreaming the dream. It will happen one day, but the victory over Norway was a curio rather than anything overly significant.
WINNER: Scott Barrett... BUT
The All Blacks lock had a magnificent test against Australia. But Brodie Retallick - the greatest lock of the modern rugby era - is not at his peak.
WINNER: Ian Foster
The All Blacks coach has been under siege after awful results and performances in the first three years of his reign.
But Foster’s stocks have never been higher, thanks to a storming start to this World Cup year. Even his harshest critics (hand up here) would have to say that Foster appears to be a man on top of his game.
There are elements to the initial All Blacks performances this year that suggest assistants Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan are the dominant forces.
Ryan has the pack working better on the basics. Schmidt carefully plots every move. It is providing a platform from which New Zealand’s creative and athletic advantages can explode.
But if so, hats off to Foster for allowing their influence to propel this team forward.
And Foster appears to have shrugged off any issues, if there were any, after he was so publicly snubbed by New Zealand Rugby.
Moving on...
Whatever the World Cup outcome, New Zealand Rugby’s (NZR) groundbreaking decision to install Scott Robertson as coach from next year is still a winner. It could no longer risk carrying on with the misfiring Foster.
The NZR had to get ahead of the game, and the unique Robertson is the man to inspire a new era that will - among other things - possibly bring fans back to the fold.
Robertson’s history of incredible success at the Crusaders demanded that he be given his chance.
LOSER: Eddie Jones
The All Blacks are just too good for Australia. They have been for a long time. But given their parts, the Wallabies should still be way better than what happened at the MCG.
Yappy Wallabies coach Jones appears to be out of his depth for now. His selection of an underprepared Taniela Tupou at prop was a major blunder in the Bledisloe Cup test.
With so many problems at tighthead, their scrum will get annihilated in Dunedin this week.
LOSER: Netball World Cup mismatches
That tournament needs a serious overhaul. There are too many minnows.
WINNER: Katie Ledecky
The American freestyler broke the record of compatriot Michael Phelps, when she won her 16th individual gold medal at the world aquatic championships in Japan. At 26 - which is old for a swimmer - Ledecky is swimming faster than ever, after shifting to Miami so she could train with a group of top male swimmers.
WINNER/LOSER: Terence Crawford/boxing
Crawford crushed fellow American Errol Spence Jr. to win boxing’s undisputed welterweight crown, in a fight regarded as the most important for many years.
Yet the Las Vegas spectacle didn’t resonate with the masses - which says something about the state of boxing.
The welterweight division has featured some of the most famous boxers in history, household names like Sugar Rays Robinson and Leonard.
Crawford is the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world - in other words, the best boxer in the world. Yet he is an anonymous figure compared to former greats.
WINNER: Max Verstappen
The Formula One supremo is just that, winning his eighth consecutive race, in Belgium. Yet another era of single-driver dominance is upon us.
