TOMMY’S NEW WORLD DREAM

By Dave Flett

A RUN-OF-THE-MILL Championship contest between Plymouth and Ipswich in October 2009 might not be remembered by many present at Home Park on the day.

But for Tommy Smith, who was in the visitors’ line-up for the 1-1 draw, it represents the pivotal moment in a career that might just see him play in a second World Cup finals later this year. Smith, now captain of Colchester, had a chance conversation with then Plymouth attacker Rory Fallon after that game about his experiences living in New Zealand from the age of eight to 16 following his parents’ decision to emigrate from the UK.

That led to Fallon, already an All Whites international, recommending the Macclesfield-born centre-back to the coach and, having qualified to represent the country courtesy of dual citizenship, he received his first call-up five months later.

Unbeaten

He subsequently played every minute of New Zealand’s second-ever World Cup finals that summer in South Africa, where the team were the tournament’s only unbeaten side despite failing to progress beyond the group stage after draws with Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay.

Fast-forward more than 12 years, via the small challenge of facing Neymar and Mo Salah at the London Olympics, and Smith is just one match away from helping the Pacific Island nation win a place at this year’s Qatar showpiece.

He has just returned from the Middle East country, where a gruelling Oceania qualification pool, encompassing five games in 13 days, culminated in New Zealand beating the Solomon Islands 5-0 to book a play-off meeting against Costa Rica in June. The last place in a mouthwatering Group E that currently boasts Spain, Germany and Japan will be the reward for the winners.

Remembering where his international odyssey began, Smith recalled: “I didn’t realise I was eligible until that chat with Rory and it has led to some fantastic experiences for me all over the world.

“I’m proud to play for New Zealand. It’s where I had most of my football education and, alongside England, it feels like home. I’ve lots of special memories from my time living there and I try to go back as often as I can. South Africa was an amazing experience for me but I was only 20 and probably didn’t appreciate it as much as I would do now that I’m more mature.

“If we do get to another World Cup, it would be a really tough group, but you want to test yourself against the very best. To have the carrot of playing Spain and Germany makes it an even bigger incentive to get there, not that anybody really needed one.”

Smith’s last two attempts at reaching a second World Cup finals ended at the final playoff stage when intimidating crowds in excess of 90,000 for the away games in two-legged affairs proved decisive as Peru in 2018 and Mexico four years earlier won those matches 2-0 and 5-1 respectively.

Quality

This time, though, New Zealand and Costa Rica’s fate will be decided by a one-off contest in Qatar and Smith admitted: “Having a neutral venue probably does favour us.

“I’m sure, if we were playing in Costa Rica, their fans would create a similarly hostile atmosphere to that we have faced before. It’s also probably the best draw we could have had.

“We might have been up against Australia or Peru again, but that doesn’t mean we are silly enough to think it will be a rollover. There’s some real quality in their squad with recent World Cup experience but whereas, in 2010, we had a good 11 or 12 players, I think our current squad’s strength in depth is a lot better.

“We have players with real quality who are missing out on squads now. Nobody’s place is a given and we’ve got some very good young players, so we will be analysing them and seeing where we can hurt them.”

BIG STAGE: New Zealand defender Tommy Smith gets tight to Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo in the Confederations Cup in Russia in 2017 and, Inset, Smith playing for Colchester against Oldham

PICTURE: Alamy