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Winston Reid acknowledges the crowd at Eden Park during his final appearance for the All Whites. Photo / Photosport
Winston Reid is open to staying involved with the All Whites in the future, though he has yet to have any discussions about a possible role.
Reid wore the silver fern for the last time
The 34-year-old has been a vital element of the squad, particularly across the last 18 months, providing leadership and experience to a mostly young group.
Coach Danny Hay indicated he wants the long time English Premier League defender to continue to contribute, in some capacity.
“He has been a fantastic role model for the group of players that we have emerging,” Hay told the Herald last week. “I would love to keep him on board. Someone like Winston Reid needs to be a big part of the fabric of the All Whites moving forward; any way that he can continue to add value should be seriously considered.”
There are recent examples. Former player Rory Fallon has been an assistant coach under Hay since 2019, while ex-captain Ryan Nelsen has been a mentor to various players and joined the team in camp on a couple of occasions.
It’s early days for Reid, after only announcing his retirement last week.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone in New Zealand football,” said Reid. “So yeah, I don’t know. [But] I’m a Kiwi, I’ll always be there to help the team and the nation and whatever I can do, but there has to be, you know, certain things in place before that happens. It’s getting better from where it was, definitely.”
Reid was alluding to the high performance structures with NZF and the perceived lack of a coherent long term vision and plan for the national team.
In his final interview as an All White, Reid also revealed he received an approach from the Wellington Phoenix earlier this year, to canvass his interest in playing for the A League club.
“It was February or around there,” said Reid. “I had made a decision back then that I wanted to see the World Cup cycle through, but my family had to be a big priority. I didn’t want to take them from where they were (Dubai), moving halfway around the world.
“And I didn’t want to be away from them because we tried that (loan spell in MLS) and it was very difficult. And, as I’ve mentioned before, when you get older, you get different priorities in life. I spoke with them and [coach Ufuk Talay] understood the reasons and that was sort of it but I was appreciative [of] the phone call.”
Sunday’s match was an anti-climax – in front of the third biggest crowd in New Zealand football history (34,985) – as the All Whites struggled to find their rhythm.
There were some promising moments, especially in the first half, but nothing went to plan after the break.
On a heavy pitch, fatigue from Thursday’s exertions in Brisbane were a factor, as the Socceroos had a completely new team, but the All Whites never really settled into the occasion and were a few levels down on what they showed against Costa Rica, while they were obviously affected by the early withdrawal of Chris Wood through injury.
“We didn’t play particularly well, considering what we’ve been able to do,” said Reid. “That was a shame because the public deserve more and we spoke about it afterwards as well.
“It’s just unfortunate; we wanted to really give something to the crowd, because obviously we haven’t played in [New Zealand] for such a long time. But it just didn’t click in the way we wanted to. I was disappointed that the public didn’t get to see it but that’s just the way football works sometimes.”
But it was still a memorable afternoon, especially as Reid walked down the tunnel for the last time, introduced separately to the large crowd.
“It was nice,” said Reid. “A little bit awkward, I must admit, but it was nice. I appreciated it.
“And it was just nice being back. I’m just grateful for the support that the public showed the guys. For myself personally, just grateful to be able to play all these years for the national team. It’s meant a lot to me. [And] to play my final international match here was something special.”
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