Uh, because I know you know his, uh, or you knew his father, Fabian, pretty well through the Croatian society and, and Auckland City as well.

Yeah, great moment for Stipe.

He's, uh...

A- a- and for those other players, you, you talk about, uh, George here and Henry, you know, players coming into the squad for the... and, and hoping to get their debut is always a special time in their careers.

Um, yeah, for Stipe, he, Stipe, he worked away, uh, uh, as a kid with Century United and Auckland City Football Club.

Uh, his late father, Fabian, used to take him training every day a- and just working, uh, hard at his dream, and he was a young kid coming through i- in, in New Zealand and, and hoping to, to become a professional footballer.

So it's great to see someone who's come through Century United and, and Auckland City academies.

How's that emotionally for you to, to now be seeing him potentially making his international debut?

Uh, tell us a little bit about Stipe's journey, mate, uh, because I know you know his, uh, or you knew his father, Fabian, pretty well through the Croatian society and, and Auckland City as well.

Yeah, great moment for Stipe.

He's, uh...

A- and for those other players, you, you talk about, uh, Georgia and Henry, you know, players coming into the squad for, and, and hoping to get their debut is always a special time in their careers.

Um, yeah, for Stipe, he, Stipe, he worked away, uh, uh, as a kid with Century United and Auckland City Football Club.

Uh, his late father, Fabian, used to take him training every day a- and just working, uh, hard at his dream, and he was a young kid coming through i- in New Zealand and, and hoping to, to become a professional footballer.

So it's great to see someone who's come through Century United and, and Auckland City academies, worked really hard.

How's that emotionally for you to, to now be seeing him potentially making his international debut?

Having watched this current all-white side develop, Ivan, what gives you confidence they can make an impact at this World Cup?

Yeah, look, it's a really good team, I believe.

It comes across as a young and a bit of a mix there, but a lot of them have a lot of experience on the world stage and also at club level, a lot of games under their belts.

So those are the fundamental parts of the package that need to be there and they're coming into this tournament with games under their belt fitness is good um you know there's one or two niggles here and there but in general you know the the team looks to be very strong and uh very a lot of quality in the team and that's what brings my uh excitement up because you know you have players like stumman and sherman who just dominates games and we've seen that over the last two or three years Chris Wood is obviously having an incredible moment in his career as well, scoring goals non-stop in the Premier League, which was something special.

The ingredients are there and Come game day, that excitement, that buzz of the World Cup, incredible moments in their careers to be there.

But as soon as that whistle goes, all of that, in a way, as a player on the grass, goes out of the window.

And it's just got to do your job, got to get everything right, got to work together and do all that.

How important do you think it is that they get something out of the first game tomorrow against Iran, even if it's a point, but just to get themselves going rather than having to go into the games against Egypt and Belgium still looking for their first points?

Having watched this current All Whites side develop, Ivan, what, what gives you confidence they can make an impact at this World Cup?

Yeah, look, it's, it's, uh, a really good team, I believe.

You know, it comes across as a young and, and a bit of a mix there, but a lot of them have a lot of experience on, on the world stage.

Uh, and also at club level, a lot of games under their belts.

So, you know, those are the fundamental, uh, parts of the package that need to be there and, and they're coming into this tournament with games under their belt.

Fitness is good.

Um, you know, there's one or two niggles here and there, but in general, you know, the, the team looks to be very strong and, uh, uh, very ...

How important do you think it is that they get something out of the first game tomorrow against Iran? Even if it's a point, but, but just to get themselves going, um, rather than having to go into the games against Egypt and Belgium still looking for their first points.

[laughs]

But the reality, you know, when you get older is, as everyone here knows, it's very difficult to, to get there.

And yeah, so the, the dream of, I guess, lining up in that tunnel and, and, and knowing it's, uh ...

the factor of, of playing at a World Cup was, was re- really special for me, you know? Really special.

And, uh, all the hard work to get there for the whole team and that obviously for the country, first time in 28 years I think it was, was really special and, and, and, and to be involved in that was great.

I mean, but, you know, once you're in there and you're in that bubble as a, as a player, everyone knows that you've gotta, you've gotta in a way push out that sort of enjoyment side of it and just focus on your job and, uh, and put in a good performance.

And, uh, so yeah, there's a bit of both towards it.

[laughs]