Expert Blogs

I'm not showing up for work on Friday. No breakfast script meeting for me. No need for our lovely makeup lady Amy to try and make me look respectable on set under the studio lights. I have a prior engagement.
 
While the boys are setting up Brazil against Portugal in a Group G decider, I'll be out of town. After five years and six winters, I'm finally in! Tomorrow morning at 08:30 AM ET, I become a Canadian citizen.
 
I feel enormously proud and privileged to have been able to live and work in Canada. This is the icing on the cake. Canada has laid out the welcome mat and it is only right I demonstrate loyalty to my adopted country in this fashion.
 
Canadians are known the world over for their friendliness. Part of it is to do with approachability, which has something to do with courtesy. Manners cost nothing and sometimes an apology in order. If there was an Olympic sport for saying sorry, Canada would own the podium.
 
With this in mind - this new Canadian feels compelled to offer a sincere apology.
 
In early May, on this website, I wrote off New Zealand as cannon fodder. The Kiwis' only purpose at the World Cup would be as shooting practice for their opponents. The spectacle in South Africa would not be improved one iota by the All Whites' presence.
 
Sorry - eh!
 
I couldn't have been more wrong, and I apologize. I was not the only one who questioned New Zealand's very participation but that is of no consequence. Although they are on their way home, New Zealand is one of the true success stories of South Africa 2010.
 
Ricki Herbert's rank outsiders proved they could play with the big boys. They came with a plan but, more importantly, they came as a team. They didn't win a game, but neither did they lose one and for that deserve enormous credit.
 
No Hollywood screenwriter could have scripted this scenario. Not even the staunchest New Zealand fan would have predicted them finishing ahead of the World champions. The point they stole at the death from Slovakia proved the catalyst for a vuvuzela themed football fantasia.
 
Outrageously, the All Whites had the audacity to score first against Italy. The offside protests apart, Herbert's team had the strength and belief to hold their own in a game they were tipped to lose by a country mile.
 
The magic worked again against Group winners Paraguay. The South Americans scored in their other two games but couldn't find a route to goal past Mark Paston and friends. Of course there was no magic formula but there was spirit, commitment and enjoyment by the bucketful.
 
There is, clearly, the argument that since nothing was expected, New Zealand played with no pressure. As a result the All Whites expressed themselves with freedom. Perhaps, to a point, but their performances and subsequent results were no flukes.
 
Lessons were learned the hard way at the Confederations Cup a year ago. In the summer of 2009 they were outclassed by Spain (5-0), and dealt with by South Africa (2-0) before drawing some consolation from a scoreless draw with Asian champions Iraq.
 
Many of the same players were back in South Africa this time round. But the inferiority complex was nowhere to be seen. A well organised, hard working, tactically aware squad had replaced the previous year's model.
 
This edition of the All Whites has raised the bar. While rugby and cricket continue to dominate the sporting landscape, these players deserve all the praise they're going to get. The commendation has been earned as has this humble Canadian apology.