Rovers captain Ryan Nelsen has revealed his World Cup story – one of pride, stomach upsets and maybe, just maybe the end of his era for the national side.
New Zealand defied everyone to go through their group stage unbeaten, they still failed to qualify but considering they were penned in as the whipping boys of a group containing Italy, Paraguay and Slovakia it was an incredible achievement.
Ryan himself was one of the stars of the group stage and put in (for me) the defensive performance of the tournament to keep out Italy.
But prior to the last game Ryan battled a stomach bug and played almost the full game borderline throwing up.
It was a hell of a ride but Ryan has now chosen to talk about it.
Nelsen, speaking to Sky Sports said – “I’ve been throwing up and I hadn`t eaten for two days – I just felt awful,”.
‘I just wish we could have done a wee bit better. I feel really gutted.
‘We were so close but so far. To get the country into the next round would have been incredible.
“But if someone at the start of this whole thing had said you’re going to be unbeaten at the World Cup, I’d have given my left arm for that.
“It’s a pretty amazing achievement actually.”
The New Zealand camp want the Admiral to carry on but Nelsen is going to take time to reflect.
Ryan continued – ‘I don’t know”
“I’ll have to have a good reflection after this and see what needs to be done.’
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