Anthony Hudson interview: New Zealand's World Cup ambitions
Tuesday 19 July 2016 07:07, UK
England came up short at Euro 2016 but the country will still have a coach at next year's Confederations Cup.
Anthony Hudson has guided New Zealand to the 2017 tournament in Russia having won the Nations Cup in Oceania. Adam Bate caught up with Hudson to find out how he is harnessing the culture of the All Blacks with one eye on the 2018 World Cup…
England's familiar lament upon being eliminated from a major tournament usually includes the old line about the failure to produce enough coaches. But here's the irony: this is a country that overlooks the ones they already have.
For while England need not concern themselves with the Confederations Cup in Russia next year, there will be an English coach waiting for Portugal, Chile and the rest in 2017. Anthony Hudson is set to become the first Briton to take charge of a team at the tournament.
New Zealand suffered a shock defeat to New Caledonia under Hudson's predecessor Ricki Herbert four years ago, but the 35-year-old managed to guide the All Whites to Nations Cup victory in June to secure their spot in Russia.
It's just the latest experience for the Londoner, son of former Chelsea and England player Alan Hudson, in a career that's already taken him to Holland, America and the national team job of Bahrain. It also more than makes up for the digs about England's latest struggles.
"You get people being clever," Hudson tells Sky Sports. "Every time England do badly they laugh at you. In fact, what you'll see is that there'll be a load of Portuguese coaches in the Middle East soon. They just follow who is winning. It definitely has a knock-on effect.
"But I'm enjoying it in New Zealand. I've been here two years and it's been tough in a way because we haven't played a lot of games and it's difficult to get people together. But we've got this tournament to look forward to now and that's massive. It's all opening up now."
Some of the challenges faced are predictable ones. The 30-hour round flight to play against Oman means tackling jet lag. Trips to see English-based stars such as West Ham's Winston Reid and Leeds striker Chris Wood take Hudson even further from his Auckland home.
But other problems have been more unusual. Hudson took the proactive step of taking charge of the Under-23 side for Olympic qualifying with a view to spending more time with the young players and instituting a defined style across all age groups.
On the field, it was a success with the team winning all of their games. But Deklan Wynne was deemed ineligible despite having a New Zealand passport and having lived there since childhood. The team was disqualified. "It's just something where the admin guys held their hands up," says Hudson.
"This rule came in from FIFA to stop countries buying in players and nationalising them. But that's not what happened here. He came here as a kid not as a footballer. He went to school here and then he became a footballer later. He's now been cleared and is eligible.
"I've never been in a situation like that before. We just got handed an envelope. On the day of the final we were waiting around before we were told we couldn't play. There were young players in tears because it's a dream to go to the Olympics. It was a tough time."
Fortunately, the anticipated positives have still emerged. "It's because of things like this that we've got such a good bond," says Hudson. "It's given the youngsters a lot of character and brought the whole team together, so it's all been worthwhile. It's all part of the story.
"In fact, it's worked out brilliantly because we've brought half of that team into the senior squad and we finished the qualifying tournament for the Confederations Cup with seven Under-23s on the pitch. They know exactly what's required and they've been through it all."
Building a strong unit has been a priority for Hudson. In doing so, he's not afraid to take inspiration from New Zealand's more illustrious rugby union side. "I've spent time with the All Blacks to understand the culture," says Hudson. "We think it can give us an edge.
"It's very hard to copy the All Blacks but we've tried to implement certain things within our setup and then tweak it to make it work for us. Everything with them is amazing in terms of their standards. One thing is for sure, they really value a strong team culture.
"How many training grounds do you go to where they have their values printed up on the wall but in reality they are just words? They rarely mean anything. With the All Blacks, they live those values. The players and staff hold people accountable. That makes it powerful."
Drumming home that team culture is vital for Hudson as he travels the world - last year he visited 14 different countries - to keep his small group of players focused on their collective goals with the national team. He can't afford any high-profile international retirements.
"It's very different to my last job where the furthest I had to go to see my players was Qatar or Kuwait," says Hudson. "I go to Holland, France, England and Switzerland. It's a tough trip because you just spent a couple of days watching training to spend time with the players.
"But they are really important trips because there are such big gaps and they need to see me and hear from me. We don't have a huge squad so it's important that the players are engaged in what we're doing and I keep them excited about going to the World Cup."
That World Cup, of course, is the main priority. New Zealand must negotiate regional qualifying and then a play-off against the fifth-place team in South America. As it stands, that could even be Brazil but Hudson remains optimistic about the team's prospects.
"Although it might not look that way from the outside, we have a serious chance of getting to the World Cup," he says. "It's all we are thinking about as players and staff. This is what we're here for. The World Cup is 100 per cent in our mind."
Last year's friendly away to South Korea has emboldened him. Without a host of senior players including Reid, New Zealand's youngsters competed well and only succumbed to a late goal. "All the media here thought we'd get humiliated," says Hudson.
"But we were defensively strong and created chances. The point is that we believe we can do something against these sides. We've got really good players and we've definitely got the makings of doing something.
"The way we've been preparing the team is purely based on a style of play that we think will beat teams at a World Cup and if you were to ask any of the players, they know inside out what's expected of them. As a smaller nation, we have to be tactically really strong."
After an autumn friendly against an as yet unnamed team from the Americas, the audition will come next summer in Russia. "There are eight teams out there and you're guaranteed some big games," he adds. "I really think we can go and surprise a few people, I really do."
If Hudson can help pull off that surprise, expect a bit more attention back in his homeland and maybe even for some of those jibes about his nationality to stop. Could he even return to coach in England? "Eventually," he says. "But I'm not looking past that World Cup."
