Caught ball-watching: Phoenix HQ erupts for Finn Surman header
Monday, 22 June 2026
To any football coach, it's a scourge when the whole team races to the same spot, leaving hectares of space unattended. Yet that's exactly what happened at Wellington Phoenix HQ on Monday.
At 1pm, marketing, community engagement, communications, social media and even men's coach Chris Greenacre — who should know better — converged on a small area of the Upper Hutt offices in front of a television.
Work was shelved as staff swarmed to watch New Zealand's World Cup qualifier against Egypt, leaving enough room for the likes of Adelaide United, Melbourne Victory or Sydney FC to stroll straight in unnoticed.
It paid off.
Just 16 minutes in, Phoenix academy graduate Finn Surman rose to head New Zealand into a shock 1-0 lead over Egypt. Surman, who started every A-League match for the Phoenix in 2023-24 before earning a move to the Portland Timbers, remains a club favourite.
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The roar that erupted in Upper Hutt was so loud you could almost hear it in Portland - and that's only a short drive from Vancouver.
First, initial reaction: “GET IN BOY!, What a header!!!”
Then, tactical analysis: “free from six metres out … how did he get so much room?”
At that stage and for the rest of the first half, the game was threatening to be the most satisfying Kiwi-Egypt encounter since El Alamein in 1942.
And then, the return of the Pharaohs.
When Mostafa Zico scored with more than half an hour left, his goal was greeted with the sort of language that evokes extreme disappointment yet rarely makes it into newspapers. 1-1.
And then the moment we all feared: Egypt talisman Mohamed Salah unleashed his explosive pace, clinical finishing, goal-scoring mojo. 2-1.
“Ahhh, vintage Salah,” this time spoken in admiration and rueful acceptance, without colourful descriptives, but containing substantial dollops of gallows humour.
“Too old eh, Mo Salah, too old … yeah, washed up.”
And then a third: talk about kill the mood, Egypt.
And then it was over. Everyone went back to their desks, and Greenacre into his office, where he talked of an excellent first half with good attacking intent, then an Egypt reset that proved an irresistible force.
“It was just the momentum, you become sort of overrun, and it's really hard to defend for long periods like that, and there's fatigue and everything else,” he says.
“Once teams get kind of that second wind, it's really hard to crack them, it's tough in general when you're up against it.”
Maybe there could have been more belief when Egypt were reeling, maybe the ref did not call a foul that left the All Whites vulnerable to a goal-scoring counter-attack, but overall the game was good for New Zealand football, he said.
“At this level in the big moments, we have to be on our game every time we play. Things are changing, as you can see, we're competing at this level, which is great.
“We've got players that are playing at good levels throughout Europe, is Chris Wood playing in the English Premier League every week … the pinnacle.”
More than half the All Whites’ 26-strong World Cup squad have Phoenix ties, three of them are still with the club.
Social sensation Tim Payne, club captain Alex Rufer and midfielder Sarpreet Singh are with the Phoenix, Liberato Cacace, Finn Surman, Joe Bell, Alex Paulsen, Ben Old, and Ben Waine came through the academy.
Kosta Barbarouses, Michael Boxall, Callan Elliot and Callum McCowatt all launched their professional careers with Wellington Phoenix.
Socceroos midfielder Cam Devlin also launched his career in Wellington. Devlin was an unused substitute in Australia’s 2-0 win over Türkiye in their tournament opener.
Belgium next, the final group match on Saturday at 3pm. New Zealand can still qualify for post section play.