that had them supporters

vote for you.

That's got to mean a lot, though.

Yeah, 100% it meant a lot.

I think that's one of the more special moments in my career.

And I think that, to be honest, when I first got here and when I first played my first game, I felt a lot of support from the fans.

And I think that, especially 2025, I think I progressed myself as a footballer.

This is this is.

that had them supporters

vote for you.

That's got to mean a lot, though.

Yeah, 100% it meant a lot.

I think that's one of the more special moments in my career.

And I think that, to be honest, when I first got here and when I first played my first game, I felt a lot of support from the fans.

And I think that, especially 2025, I think I progressed myself as a footballer.

This is this is.

what's kind of been the plan the past few weeks to get ready for this game?

Oh, honestly, it's been awesome.

I've not, I've not had any, um...

I've not got anything bad to say about it.

Um, obviously when I come in, I missed, I don't know, two or three weeks of his, the start of his time, and so obviously asking the boys, you know, "What's some feedback on him? What, what's it like? What's training like?" All that sort of stuff.

And it was only positive things that the boys, um, kind of said to me.

Um, they said they were really enjoying the trainings.

How do you balance your current job, your current role and focus as Portland Timber center back with potential interest that other teams have in you?

um just one thing we've obviously dissected um your guys performance at the tournament we've spoken about how how we feel about it but i'm just interested to get someone from the inside and and you know someone who experienced and rode the roller coaster of emotions and how you guys reflect on your performance at the tournament obviously from our perspective there was so much pride in the way you guys went out and performed and competed with the best and and you know shone on the world stage but there was also a small part of disappointment how do you guys reflect on your your experience

Yeah, I think there's a lot of different emotions from different parts of it.

I think there was some periods where we played really good and I think, like you say, we made ourselves proud and made other people proud.

And I think that the tough thing about it is that we kind of look back and look back at probably those first two fixtures, those first two games, and especially in the positions that we're in, they were missed opportunities, essentially.

You know, being up twice against Iran and then being up at 55 or 60 minutes against Egypt.

I think letting those two games kind of slip is what we're going to look back on and be a little bit disappointed with.

I think the Belgian game was going to be difficult no matter what and the position we were in where we had to win made it harder as well.

So just talk to us about what that was like witnessing a couple of your teammates perform at that level.

How did you feel about it?

Yeah, it was, it was definitely up there.

I think that...

H- honestly think that the last, or against Iran and then Egypt, the two halves against Iran and Egypt was, I think is some of the best football that we've played, um, since I've kind of been part of the team.

Um, and so yeah, that first 45 against, against Egypt was really good.

I thought that we were solid.

I think that we didn't give them too much, um, in the way of opportunities and chances and, and I thought we were pretty good with the ball and, you know, created chances as well to, to put more-- to, to score more goals.

Are you at the point now where you can look at them as that's just their number 10 and that's just their number 22? Or is it still, "Oh man, that's Mo Salah"? [laughs]

How did you feel about it?

Yeah, it was, it was definitely up there.

I think that...

I honestly think that the last, or against Iran and then Egypt, the two halves against Iran and Egypt was, I think, is some of the best football that we've played, um, since I've kind of been part of the team.

Um, and so yeah, that first 45 against, against Egypt was really good.

I thought that we were solid.

I think that we didn't give them too much, um, in the way of opportunities and chances and, and I thought we were pretty good with the ball and, you know, created chances as well to, to put more, to, to, to score more goals.

Are you at the point now where you can look at them as that's just their number 10 and that's just their number 22? Or is it still, "Oh man, that's Mo Salah"? [laughs]

I'm intrigued of what are some of the values and habits and traits that have stuck with you during that 8 year period that maybe some of our younger players in Canterbury can hold on to?

Mate, I don't know, there's a lot.

There's a hard question to answer.

I think that There's the most obvious one, which is you've got to work hard.

And I think that's something that I've always valued and tried to stick with.

And then I think the other thing, I think no matter what you're doing, whether it's football, whether it's something to do with study or working, whatever it is, I think that you have to learn to love what you're doing.

And so in my case with football, you have to learn to love football.

And just back on the pitch, given that you've got Belgium this Saturday, how do you approach that?

How did you feel about it?

Yeah, it was, it was definitely up there.

I think that-- I honestly think that the last, or against Iran and then Egypt, the two halves against Iran and Egypt was, I think, is some of the best football that we've played, um, since I've kind of been part of the team.

Um, and so yeah, that first 45 against, against Egypt was really good.

I thought that we were solid.

I think that we didn't give them too much, um, in the way of opportunities and chances, and, and I thought we were pretty good with the ball and, you know, created chances as well to, to put more, to, to, to score more goals.

And so I think that's what kind of frustrates everyone is that we've, we've shown that we can be so good.

Are you at the point now where you can look at them as that's just their number 10 and that's just their number 22? Or is it still, "Oh man, that's Mo Salah"? [laughs]

But I, I know, like way back in the day, I did a football fanzine in Scotland, and I wrote an article in the '90s about what football was like in New Zealand and the National League and because the country's split between the two islands, how have you seen the game kind of progress there, uh, in the last few years?

Yeah.

Um, in the domestic scene, it's been, uh, it's been, yeah, changing a lot.

I think that, you know, f- I can't remember exactly, but five or six years ago, there was kinda... y- you'd have your winter and summer competitions, and the summer competition was the, the entire kinda country, whereas your winter competitions are more club-based.

Um, and then, yeah, it slowly transitioned a bit more to being club, club-based all year round, but expanding, um, bigger.

I think that the North Island regions have tended to, or yeah, the North Island federations have kind of grown maybe s- slightly faster, slightly bigger than, than the ones down in the South Island.

But in saying that, there's, there's kind of a couple, there's probably two or three, um, clubs in, in the South Island, in, in Canterbury especially, that are massive.

What's your memories of, off that debut, your memories as well of the, the first goal you got against Tahiti?