48 Hours: Brilliant goal fuels hope beyond wildest dreams

Name your favourite goals from New Zealand soccer history and if they aren't from the 1982 World Cup campaign, chances are that you weren't around for that never-to-be-forgotten period in New Zealand sport.

Grant Turner's stunning header against Australia leaps out of the history books as sharply as Turner rose at the Sydney Cricket Ground; Wynton Rufer's glorious long-range strike against China in Singapore keeps on travelling.

Those exquisite moments more than two decades ago are far too important to be swirled around with any offerings from the Knights just yet. Turner's and Rufer's goals were part of New Zealand football heaven while the Knights still have their feet in the clay.

And yet, it is difficult - impossible - to think of a better club goal than the one Malik Buari of Ghana struck against Adelaide at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday afternoon, in the second round of the 2006 A-League.

"#$@*, was he from our team," exclaimed a bewildered colleague as we talked about the weekend's sport.

Was this reaction, I asked, a reflection of previous Kingz/Knights teams.

"I'm not sure if I've ever seen them score any sort of goal," came the reply.

As a curiosity, Buari's goal may be the best scored in a curtainraiser in this country, since Saturday's match preceded the Chatham Cup final.

Buari, who came to New Zealand via Fulham, also a former home of Knights coach Paul Nevin, hit the late winner against the minor premiers with a fluid power mainly beyond the more laboured skills of players from this country. There was a temptation to yell 'gooooooaaaaal' as it flew in, so brilliant was the strike. It was a moment of soccer hope.

The game needs a flagship in this country. Love 'em or hate 'em - and support for the Knights within the game comes with doubts and provisos - the Knights are it, especially as the All Whites play away more regularly than Bill Clinton.

The Knights need confidence, to be able to walk around town with their heads held high, to feel they really belong in the Auckland and New Zealand sporting scene, rather than having to hide on the fringes.

Through that, they can build more support among the fans, and reach beyond the football aficionados. The Knights are fighting the odds, but at least the current side looks capable of opening a few of the doors that were slammed tightly shut after last season's debacle.

It is both encouraging and disappointing that the Knights are so dominated by overseas players.

Encouraging because it suggests they are not a lost cause and the imports bring skill which is not exactly grown at home in abundance, disappointing because New Zealand needs to produce its own top-drawer players for the sake of the All Whites, the supporters, and to encourage the youngsters.

The bosses of Australian soccer have also made it clear they want a higher native content.

For now though, if the likes of Buari can produce this sort of magic, then the Knights can start to contemplate a future beyond the wildest dreams of the Keystone Kops outfit which turned up last season.

From the left-hand edge of the penalty area, and under moderate pressure from a defender, Buari curled the ball across the goal and into the top right corner of the net for a winner straight out of a boy's own annual. Halfway through its flight, and this being the Knights, you assumed it would veer off into the stands. Instead, it turned a corner into the net with a sharpness that would have made Darrell Hair twitchy.

This goal would not have looked out of place in the English premiership, nor one of its highlight packages.

It is the single most memorable and maybe encouraging moment in New Zealand soccer since I don't know when.

Having conceded a horrific 47 goals last year (18 more than the next worst) the new-look Knights would have caused shockwaves just for having kept two clean sheets.

But two opening nil-all draws would not have been the way to grab much needed attention. Hitting a winner the way Buari did is.

Already, the Knights have matched last season's winning total by virtue of their first-ever victory at North Harbour Stadium.

It's too early to get carried away of course. The one-draw, one-win opening only lacks modesty because the 2005/06 campaign was such a flagrant disaster.

Yet with veteran English premiership professional Scot Gemmill providing the glue and the Ivory Coast's Jonas Salley flashing a type of skill that could get the midfield and the turnstiles ticking over, Buari's brilliant goal may not end up as another footballing flash in the pan.

* Rules are made to be broken, although in the case of the New Zealand Rugby League, they would probably be best advised to steer clear of ill-considered regulations in the first place.

It would be a crying shame if the Kiwis lost Brian McClennan as their coach, should he get the job as the replacement for Ricky Stuart at the Roosters.

His Kiwi future is in doubt because the NZRL has a rule, introduced in recent years, precluding overseas-based coaches from holding the national job.

The early indications are that the NZRL will stick to its guns, which are firmly aimed at a foot.

McClennan has yet to declare if he wants a job in Australia right now.

But ironically, if there is an NRL coaching job that should prevent someone coaching the Kiwis, it may be the one in this country, with the Warriors. It raises too many conflicts.

And if anyone should be worried about a conflict in this case it is the Roosters, who might feel that McClennan could be distracted from his day-to-day tasks if he was also allowed to coach the Kiwis.

The NZRL should step back from the rule, look at the big picture, and try to find a logical reason why it would be damaging to have McClennan coaching the Kiwis and an NRL club. Surely there would be benefits, the main one being that "Bluey" would be in regular and enhancing coaching employment.

McClennan has a much respected lieutenant and mate in Graeme Norton (his logical successor although John Ackland might also be in the frame) to share the Kiwi load.

Top-notch coaching candidates aren't growing on trees. McClennan must surely be a wiser international coach after significant ups and downs already. He forms a well-honed team with Norton. Why throw that all away and have to start again?


Highs

South Africa's return to the winners' circle in rugby. Okay, so the All Blacks lost. But it's been a great winning ride, and the international scene looks a bit sick when the Springboks are laid low. Congratulations Jake White and friends. You showed great spirit. Another high - the Knights' winning goal.

Lows

Weather frustrations at the US Open tennis championship.