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New Zealand soccer team coach quits
New Zealand soccer team All Whites coach Mick Waitt has resigned after New Zealand's humiliating World Cup elimination at the Oceania Nations Cup in Adelaide, Australia, The Dominion Post reported Tuesday. Waitt watched in horror as former Football Kingz striker Commins Menapi earned the Solomon Islands a shock 2-2 draw against Australia at Hindmarsh Stadium early Monday. The result meant the All Whites' earlier 2-0 win over Fiji was irrelevant and saw the Solomons, ranked 154th in the world, pip Waitt's men for a place in the Confederations Cup and World Cup playoffs against Australia this October and September next year, respectively. Waitt's contract ended with New Zealand's embarrassing fall at the first qualifying hurdle to the 2006 World Cup in Germany. "Do I want to carry on? Yeah I do because I'm not a quitter," Waitt was quoted as saying. "I believe we have the players in place to go forward but it is probably out of my hands. This is the all-time low point for New Zealand soccer and I'm the man that's responsible. I'm not going to hide from that." NZ Soccer boss Bill MacGowan is to recommend money earmarked for the All Whites be re-channelled into New Zealand's under-20 and under-23 teams with an eye to re-emerging at senior international level at the Oceania qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Cup. He will also explore a different role for the next All Whites coach with the possibility any successor to Waitt will be based in Europe on a part-time contract. At the very least NZ Soccer is set to employ scouts in Europe and the United States to keep tabs on the growing number of Kiwis now playing offshore. |
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