Jason Pine: The All Whites' new ethos could be the difference against Costa Rica

Danny Hay talks to Niko Kirwan and Liberato Cacace. Photo / Photosport

OPINION:

Two nights before the All Whites played Bahrain in Wellington in 2009, skipper Ryan Nelsen gave one of the great motivational speeches of all time.

Addressing only the players, he told them there would be times in the game when they faced the choice of doing – or not doing – a seemingly tiny or irrelevant thing which probably wouldn't affect the game's outcome. But – he warned – it just might.

Don't be the one, Nelsen said, who doesn't make the run to close down an opponent or won't make themselves available for a pass from a teammate in trouble. Not doing it probably won't matter, but very, very occasionally, it will, and it'll cost your side the game. No one else will ever know, he said, but you will, and it'll haunt you forever.

What one of our greatest sporting leaders was talking about was courage. The bravery to do the unseen things, stick to the game plan and willingly complete the dozens of difficult but necessary actions that make up any game of football.

It might feel like the winning of Wednesday morning's intercontinental playoff against Costa Rica will hinge on a Chris Wood header, or a last-ditch Winston Reid challenge, but what it'll really come down to is courage.

You can't get through one of coach Danny Hay's media conferences without hearing that word. It's a mantra for the class of 2022. It's what goalkeeper Oli Sail was doing on Monday against Peru.

Rather than hoof a back pass upfield and out of danger, his first thought was to trap the ball with his less-favoured left foot so he could punch a pass out to defender Nando Pijnaker with his right, as per the New Zealand system.

His touch was heavy, and a Peruvian forward pounced on the error to score the game's only goal. But Hay himself must now have the courage to stick with Sail. What would it say about his team's ethos if he dropped him for doing exactly what he asked?

Ironically, Hay doesn't need to instil bravery into his current crop. Players like Joe Bell, Libby Cacace, Alex Greive and Matt Garbett hadn't even reached their teens when Rory Fallon's header hit the back of Bahrain's net in 2009, but they now carry the hopes of New Zealand football fans against Costa Rica.

And they do so with a fearlessness and boldness borne from an entrenched attitude that there really is no other way.

Watch Bell late in a game as he makes gut-busting box-to-box runs to break up opposition attacks and set his own team in motion.

Watch Greive and Garbett snap at the heels of opponents to win possession high up the field.

Watch Cacace roar down the left flank leaving defenders in his wake.

None of those young men need Ryan Nelsen's advice. It's already deeply ingrained in the way they play.

As with all one-off, sudden-death, winner-take-all contests, Wednesday's game could be decided on a single moment.

What it won't be decided by is timidity or hesitancy. That simply isn't in the DNA of Danny Hay's band of fearless footballers.