Rowdies' Christie proud to represent New Zealand

FC Tampa Bay Rowdies teammates Jeremy Christie and Takuya Yamada were having dinner at an Italian restaurant at International Plaza when the call came.

Christie, a midfielder who the day before had scored his first goal in a Rowdies uniform in a 2-2 draw against the Austin Aztex, was headed to South Africa.

Considered an outsider by most media to be selected for the New Zealand squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, news of Christie's selection to the All Whites squad immediately made its way around his home country.

"The phone started going crazy," Christie said. "A lot of it from back home, people are interested in football now. It's kind of gone to a new level popularity-wise and I think that's only good for the sport in New Zealand. It's good that there's so much interest, and I was glad to field all those phone calls."

It has been a long path for Christie to Rustenburg, where the All Whites tied Slovakia 1-1 in their opening game of the tournament Tuesday. In fact, it has been a long path for the All Whites, who are only competing in their second finals. The first came in 1982, a year before Christie was born. They lost all three games, but in a country dominated by the sports of rugby and cricket, the hope was an appearance at the World Cup would boost soccer's national profile.

It didn't, and the sport drifted back into the shadow of rugby and the legendary All Blacks.

This time promises to be different. In fact, soccer may be as big as it has ever been in both New Zealand and Australia, thanks to the Australian A-League, a similar-level league to Major League Soccer, and the Wellington Phoenix, based in New Zealand's capital. Christie made 27 appearances in three seasons for the Phoenix under All Whites coach Ricki Herbert prior to joining the Rowdies before this season.

"I think the Wellington Phoenix has been massive," Christie said. "The fact that they qualified for the finals and were one game away from the grand final this year, that alongside the All Whites qualifying for the World Cup really sent football into a different level in New Zealand.

"Football is a cool sport in New Zealand now when before it was a poor cousin of rugby."

The All Whites are not being given much chance to advance into the round of 16, also facing defending champion Italy and Paraguay with the top two teams advancing from Group F.

The side has shown it is more than capable of pulling a shock, earning a 1-0 win in a pre-tournament exhibition against a Serbia team many considered a dark horse to make a run at this year's World Cup. A hard-working and physical group, the New Zealand team lives up to the typical personality of most of its natives.

"We know that technically we're not as good as the South American countries or a lot of the European countries, but you know what, we work harder than anyone," Christie said. "We love playing for each other, everyone gets on so well off the pitch, camp is always fantastic because we're like brothers off the field. We're very proud of the work-rate and the togetherness that we have. There's only four million people in the country and not a lot of those play football, but it obviously works because it's got us to a World Cup."

While having played all 90 minutes in the All Whites' final two warm-up games, reports from New Zealand have Christie out of the starting lineup for today's game in favor of the more experienced Ivan Vicelich. If given the chance, though, he can't wait to get out on the field to represent his country again.

"It's an amazing feeling," Christie said. "I still remember when I was in the under-17s we played in the World Cup and played the opener, the opening game was against the USA actually, and 16-year-old standing in front of 18,000 people in the stadium and everyone singing the anthem; it was a crazy feeling. Now every time I go out and sing the anthem it just gives you goose bumps, and certainly nothing I'll ever get sick of. I can't wait to do it again, it's been a while."