admin Winston Reid, the captain of the New Zealand team, will be retiring from international soccer after the friendly against Australia on Sunday in front of home fans in Auckland. The announcement was made by the former West Ham United stalwart on Monday.
The 34-year-old defender has been capped 32 times for the ‘All Whites’, with nearly half as captain. He is one of the finest players of his country.
He was born in Auckland but raised in Denmark. Reid represented Denmark at junior levels before switching sides to New Zealand ahead of the 2010 World Cup schedule where he scored a memorable goal against Slovakia.
He reminisced about the world cup, calling it one of his most memorable matches. “The World Cup was special in my life because I was very young and playing and scoring in it was amazing,” he said in a statement.
“It’s something I’ll always be grateful for and thankful for,” he added. “At the same time, I’ve been lucky enough to have a long career, for both club and country. On top of that, captaining the national team has been an extraordinary honour.”
The centre back has had a successful career, despite combating injuries throughout. Even then, he was capable enough to have made more than 200 appearances for West Ham before ending his 11 year association with the London club last year.
He saw New Zealand through to the sixth place finish at the last Tokyo Olympics that was held last year. It is considered to be one of the best Games performances in the sport of the country.
All Whites coach Danny Hay remembered fondly of the times he had with Winston. He said ‘Winnie’ had proved that New Zealanders could compete at the elite level.
“Winnie is a true legend of New Zealand football who paved the way for future players, along with other legends like Ryan Nelsen, showing that a Kiwi kid could do it at the highest level of the game,” he added.
New Zealand play Australia in Brisbane on Thursday before heading home for the second friendly in Auckland.
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