New Zealand's Ben Waine scores and celebrates his goal. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / Photosport
All Whites striker Ben Waine has witnessed the highs of Football World Cup qualification from the stands and the lows of missing out on the field. This week he is part of a team trying to get back to football's pinnacle.
Waine vividly remembers watching the All Whites qualify for the 2010 Football World Cup.
It was a rare occasion that the then primary school aged footballer had seen the national team in his hometown.
Waine does not know how his family secured tickets for the sold out game against Bahrain in Wellington in November 2009 but being in the sea of white shirts in the crowd is a memory that has stuck with him as New Zealand won 1-0 and sent the fans into raptures.
"Other than that Bahrain game and maybe one training session that the All Whites had at a local park near where I lived that was really the only time that I saw them in the flesh."
Now aged 23 and with 18 appearances for the All Whites behind him Waine is part of New Zealand's campaign to get back to the world cup for the first time since the 2010 tournament in South Africa.
Waine made his All Whites debut during the qualification process for the last world cup in Qatar that New Zealand failed to qualify for.
Two years on Waine and the All Whites kick start a new world cup qualification process for teams from Oceania against Tahiti in Vanuatu on Friday.
The aim is to become the first team from the region to gain automatic qualification for the world cup.
After Tahiti the All Whites will host Vanuatu in Hamilton and Samoa in Auckland in November as the qualification process continues.
Waine has yet to take the field as an All White in New Zealand and he is looking forward to finally getting to play in front of family and being on the field rather than in the stands for something like what he was a part of back in 2009.
"If we got anywhere near the kind of support the Bahrain game got it would be amazing."
The last All Whites team to win qualification to a Football World Cup playing against Bahrain in 2009. Photo: AFP
Waine joined Mansfield Town in the English League One competition this year on loan from Plymouth Argyle and he has been firing in goals for club and country of late.
He scored four times during the Nations Cup in June - including twice against Tahiti. He also scored in the All Whites last game against USA in September and has been one of the side's most consistent goal scorers.
Despite scoring on debut and making an immediate impression as a senior international Waine is starting to feel more settled in the All Whites environment now.
"I've been in and around the team for a while now but now I feel like I'm fitting in a bit more and I'm feeling more comfortable and I'm really really enjoying my football when I come back so it is a nice feeling."
Winning the Nations Cup gave the All Whites confidence they could have success in the Pacific and will be an experience they draw on on Friday.
"We had talked at length about what we need to do to get the job done and it's almost preparing us for this qualification process because we know it's not going to be easy at all but I think that really put us in good stead for what we have to do now.
"Any qualification process you want to start off with a win and start off with a bang and try and keep that consistency going so for us it is going to be huge to get off the mark in that first game and that is the focus at the moment."
