Former Dunedin Technical football star Aaron Burgess is packed and ready to go to the World Cup. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSHAaron Burgess has always been about the goals — and he hopes to see plenty at the World Cup. The Otago football great tells Hayden Meikle about his imminent trip to North America. It is a long way from Culling Park to Los Angeles and Vancouver. Aaron Burgess thrilled a generation of Dunedin Technical fans with his prolific scoring and you can bet there will be plenty of old tales when he and a former team-mate swing through North America on their World Cup trip of a lifetime. Burgess and Justin Flaws, who combined to help Technical win the Chatham Cup in 1999, head to Los Angeles today to join some others for a footballing odyssey. They will arrive in the City of Angels shortly before the United States play Paraguay, and while they do not have tickets for that game, it should be a good early chance to find a World Cup pub or fan zone and start embracing the buzz. "It will be exciting to get on the plane and get over there and start soaking up the atmosphere." Burgess said getting to the US was the culmination of a five-year plan that involved squirrelling away a small amount of savings each week. His group has tickets for two All Whites games — their opener against Iran at the plush SoFi Stadium, home of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, and the clash with Belgium in Vancouver — as well as Austria v Jordan in San Francisco and Qatar v Bosnia in Seattle. Burgess, a senior sergeant overseeing frontline staff at Dunedin police, naturally hopes the All Whites will create some waves in their third appearance at a World Cup. "I think we’ve got a lot of really good quality players compared to previous World Cups. "Pretty much all of our players now are professionals in some of the best leagues in the world. "I think defensively, we can keep good shape and we can defend really well, so I don’t see us conceding a lot of goals. "My question would be around how many goals we are going to score. Attacking and finishing ... you’ve got to get the ball in the back of the net at the end of the day." As you would expect from a striker who retired with over 200 goals for his club, Burgess sees the All Whites captain and leading scorer as the key man at the World Cup. "A lot will rely on Chris Wood. He’s been plagued by injury throughout the season, but if he can be fit and firing, that can give us those opportunities we need. "We’ve got other good, creative attacking players as well. "Fingers crossed. I’m confident we can get a result in that first game against Iran, but it’s a tough group. Iran and Egypt are in the top 30 in the world, and Belgium are obviously world-class. "It’s certainly not going to be easy." Burgess said it was hard to go past France and Spain if he was asked to tip a winner. But he expected defending champions Argentina to contend, and he always hoped England would do well. "There’s always a team who surprises, like Morocco getting to the semifinals last time. "I’m hoping one of the African nations might be able to do something — someone like Senegal or Nigeria — and some of the Asian nations are decent." He has seen plenty of World Cup games, but Burgess does not have to go back far to find his favourite moment. The 2022 final, which ended in the great Lionel Messi finally lifting the trophy in Qatar as Argentina beat France on penalties, would live long in his memory. "It was awesome. An amazing spectacle, 3-3 draw, into extra time, penalties. "I remember watching it with my kids four years ago and it was just one of those great games. "Big finals are often quite tight, a 1-1 draw or something, but both teams went out to attack, and it was a great advert for football." The apple has not fallen far from the Burgess tree. Dunedin Technical’s scoring king is a proud dad now as daughter Ruby, who also has a fondness for finding the back of the net, captained the New Zealand under-15 team at an Oceania tournament in Fiji and plays for the Dunedin City Royals in the South Island league. hayden.meikle@odt.co.nz
