OK - it was a pre-Confed Cup hit-out. A bit up from a training run. And the Kiwis (as usual) were up for it. And it was a win. But it wasn't too convincing and I reckon a win was a bit fortunate.
I'll be hoping we do a bit more seriously in Germany next week. Moore can't think he'll get away with such a blatantly stupid hack there, and the Grape will need to curb his tendencies - OK - that's a silly hope. Skoko was our most convincing I thought, and then - um - not many else.
The one thing that struck me during the idle spots of the game was that EnZed is Oz's most common opponent. And it'll likely remain so, as it should. Our two nations are neighbours in a geographical and cultural sense, and rivals across a range of sports. But we'll soon be in different FIFA Confederations. Are there any other examples of regular cross-Confederation match-ups and rivalry? I can't think of any others.
Russia/USSR/CIS/Russia v China never took off, Israel v its neighbours likewise. Mexico and any CONMEBOL? Egypt and any Asian-affiliated Arab nation to its east? Spain and Morocco? I don't know if there's any that'd come close.
See - if you think about these things during a match it's not a good pointer for your connection with the match.
But we won. And a nice Melbourne boy put it away.
Hope our youngsters are more convincing tonight......