McGlinchey of Central Coast Mariners
Former Celt Michael McGlinchey has spoken out about his World Cup frustrations after watching all three New Zealand matches from the bench.
The All Whites did a Scotland and returned home undefeated after three draws against Italy, Slovakia and Paraguay.
Riki Herbert’s side were expected to take a few hammerings but in finest Wattenacio style parked the bus to frustrate all three oppoents- as well as midfielder McGlinchey.
After failing to make the breakthrough at Celtic Wellington born McGlinchey headed to Australia just in time to break into the New Zealand squad that qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 28 years.
A short spell on loan at Motherwell sharpened him up for the World Cup but after featuring in all of the build up matches the matches in South Africa turned out to be a big let down.
Before getting a 15 minute run as a substitute in the 1-1 draw with Honduras he told the NZ Herald: “By the Paraguay game, you have not played a single minute – your World Cup is coming to an end in 20 minutes – and you are sitting on the bench.
“You just want to go and say to the manager ‘put me on’ but you can’t – so you sit there and wait your time.
“It was that game especially where I felt I could’ve made an impact. I felt I could’ve broken through and been more of a link between midfield and attack. It wasn’t to be and I’m disappointed – but that’s football.
“The feedback was that I was doing well. We had a good chat and they (All Whites coaches Ricki Herbert and Brian Turner) told me I wasn’t far away from it.”
After the euphoria of World Cup qualification and putting in creditable performances in South Africa the All Whites are enjoying back-to-back friendlies at home to Honduras and Paraguay.
Away from the pressures of the World Cup finals Herbert is hoping to give McGlinchey an extended chance to prove himself at international level.
“He is a really exciting talent,” said the NZ boss. “He can beat fullbacks, he is lively, he can play off the striker, he can play in behind a front two. I think he has got a lot of permutations which should give him a lot of chances to play.
“He can offer something different for us and I think his time in the sun will come now.”
Domestically McGlinchey is playing in Australia’s A-League for Central Coast Mariners and has played the full 90 minutes of all 8 games so far this season.
Jean-Joel Pierre Doumbe at Toulose
Follow Video Celts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
Welcome to Dating 2.0, the 21st Century way to make a date.