Steven Holloway: How the Oly Whites are navigating a 'crazy' tournament

Oly Whites coach Anthony Hudson. Photo / Jason Oxenham

One week ago All Whites coach Anthony Hudson made an inexperienced public relations gaffe.

The typically calculated, forward thinking Englishman used the media to complain about the "sub-standard conditions" and "crammed playing schedule" of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Papua New Guinea, labelling the whole scene as "crazy."

He was right, of course, but his comments on the eve of the Oly Whites departure for Port Moresby had ramifications; it put New Zealand offside with the hosts.

For days Papua New Guinea Today ran stories slamming Hudson's comments for slating a tournament the locals were very proud of, before the Kiwis had even arrived.

The Oly Whites had lost any sympathetic local ear for the next two weeks and Hudson had made a volatile local community even more hostile.

But his comments did have merit, and the Olympic qualifiers/ Pacific Games tournament may go down in history as one of football's strangest designs.

* The winning team will play five games over the course of 10 days.

* The majority of games are played between 12pm and 3pm, designed explicitly for the hottest part of the day.

* There are two tournaments (Pacific Games and Olympic qualifying) running simultaneously, to save money.

* Three of the eight teams involved in the tournament are not eligible to play at the Olympics, but can directly affect other teams who can.

* In one group, Fiji and Vanuatu have automatically qualified for the semi-final without kicking a ball.

* There is a team in the tournament (Micronesia) who can only arrange practice games when a ship visits their island, and have so far conceded 68 goals in two games.

* New Zealand's game today against New Caledonia is a dead rubber, as both teams have won the group for their respective competitions.

The Oly Whites were expected to stay at the Pacific Games village in Port Moresby with the rest of the Kiwi delegation, but the New Zealand squad didn't like the look of the mesh windows, bunk beds or the ratio of 50 players to four showers, or eight players to one shower in some ensuite rooms, so they booked a hotel.

Their training grounds have no pitch markings or nets and are dry, rock hard with minimal grass. It's a dystopian nightmare contrasted with the beautifully manicured training grounds and facilities many of the New Zealand squad experienced weeks ago at the World Cup in New Zealand.

A training ground in PNG.

If this sounds overly critical of PNG bear in mind that next year they will be hosting the Women's Under 20 World Cup where Fifa's requirements will surely require a drastic overhaul.

But should Hudson and New Zealand Football lower their expectations for the Confederations lowest common denominator? Is participating in these low rent tournaments a fair price to pay for having an easy qualification run to most age group World Cups and Olympics? Will we feel the same way if the Oly Whites don't win?

It's easy to understand Hudson's frustrations. Olympic qualification is such an important part of his master plan and failure in PNG could have huge All Whites ramifications.

But the Oly Whites have made a solid start to the tournament, with wins over the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, without conceding a goal.

In such testing conditions, Hudson opted for a long ball strategy against PNG which went against most of his alignment philosophy. But he simply must find the easiest way to win and so far, he's doing a good job.

But he should delegate the complaints to someone else.