Auckland bars excited for busy world cup matches

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Fans celebrate at opening match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup at Eden Park, which New Zealand won against Norway.
Photo: AFP/ Saeed Khan

FIFA fever is building after the Football Ferns historic opening match win, and bars and restaurants near Eden Park are expecting a busy day as Auckland prepares to host its second FIFA World Cup Match.

The New Zealand women’s football team beat Norway 1-0 in front of a sold out Eden Park crowd of nearly 42,000 people on Thursday. It is only the third time New Zealand has qualified to play in the competition, and was the country’s first game win at a FIFA World Cup.

Manager of Kingsland’s Citizen Park bar Victoria Ridling said the bar had been packed for the match on Thursday, and it should be packed again for tonight’s match.

Tournament favourites, the United States, take on Vietnam at Eden Park at 1pm.

“Expectations for that is we are going to be busy. We’re pretty much fully booked, fully staffed up, ready, prepared to have an absolutely crazy, amazing day again.”

While some of the less popular games might not bring in as much of a crowd, Ridling hoped the knockout stage would garner the same buzz as the debut match.

“We do think that even the smaller games we are getting quite a few bookings from, and with the knock-outs and then the semis that are playing there – it’s going to be chaotic.”

Read more: FIFA World Cup, how the groups break down

Hamilton’s portion of the World Cup begins tonight, with Zambia taking on Japan at 7pm at FMG Stadium.

The Zambian team, nicknamed the Copper Queens, is based in the city and, although locals spoken to by RNZ did not know exactly where Zambia is, they were throwing their support behind the team.

Children from Silverdale Normal School visited an open training for the Zambian team this week, and told RNZ it was “amazing” to see them play, and they were excited to cheer them on.

Meanwhile, The Netherlands team hit out at FIFA World Cup organisers, saying their team training facility in Tauranga was an injury hazard.

Coach Andries Jonker said officials were asked to remove a hard cricket pitch block from the Bay Oval venue months ago, but he was “disappointed and angry” to find it still there when they arrived. And they had not been able to hold full-field practice sessions ahead of their opening match against Portugal in Dunedin on Sunday night.

The Dutch squad’s mascot, an orange lion named Kicky, spent the day signing team merchandise and posing for photos with fans in Tauranga, on Wednesday.
Photo: RNZ / Jordan Dunn

Friday’s matches

Overnight, Spain showed why they are one of the FIFA World Cup favourites with a dominant 3-0 opening win over Costa Rica at the Sky Stadium in Wellington.

And New Zealand’s group rivals Switzerland and the Philippines met in Dunedin, with the Swiss prevailing 2-0.