Max Mata almost slammed the door behind Stephen Kenny. And James McClean.
As these League of Ireland sons took leave of the international scene last November – Kenny being cut loose as Republic of Ireland manager while McClean retired on 103 caps – the Sligo Rovers striker threatened to steal the show.
Not many fans remained inside the Aviva Stadium to notice. Those paying attention witnessed the Aucklander of Cook Island parentage bound off the New Zealand bench for his seventh cap, and fifth as a sub, mainly because Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood owns the All Whites number 9 shirt.
In the dying embers of the Kenny era, an unmarked Matthew Garbett made it 1-1 with a shot from outside the Irish box. As the hosts failed to muster a response, the 104th-ranked football nation went about seizing a rare opportunity.
Darren Bazeley sent Mata on to finish Ireland off at Lansdowne Road. The 23-year-old had three chances – a spin and shoot effort that blazed over, an off-target header after leaping over Ryan Manning, and finally, a toe poke that Mark Travers needed to parry because Andrew Omobamidele and Shane Duffy could not contain his diagonal run.
“That’s going back a couple of months now,” says Mata, displaying the essential goldfish mentality of a striker. “Representing your country is the best part of being a footballer but, if I remember, it was quite a dead game. Both teams were pretty bland to be honest. But, yeah, I should have scored. It would have been nice to score against Ireland in Ireland.”
Admittedly, Mata trades in goals, 22 in 51 Sligo Rovers appearances earned him a move to Shrewsbury Town last year. One from 11 starts in England’s League One, coupled with a change of manager, prompted a quick return to the northwest, where his form was waiting patiently. Two neat finishes last Monday helped the Bit O’Red to a 5-0 win over Dundalk at Oriel Park.
“The wind and rain was pretty strong, to be honest, but we done well, scoring four into the first-half wind. It was amazing to get back on the scoresheet.”
Shrewsbury manager Paul Hurst might feel justified, having sent Mata back to the League of Ireland to “enjoy his football and get a bit of confidence back” before returning to Shropshire in June, potentially ahead of a League Two campaign.
Either way, Sligo has become a home away from home. He feels the warmth of the Showgrounds as much as he felt a chill at New Meadow, where Nigerian striker Dan Udoh leads the line.
“We had a change of manager at Shrewsbury and I was out of favour. He wasn’t putting me in the squad so I had to find somewhere to go out on loan. Sligo were interested. It was the right option to take as I didn’t have to adapt to a new team. I pretty much knew how everything works here. I took them up on the offer pretty quick.”
The announcement, on the eve of this season, forced many a rewrite of League of Ireland previews. With Mata and German midfielder Fabrice Hartmann both returning on loan, John Russell’s side were no longer spoken about in relegation terms.
“I am going back to England for preseason so the best thing I can do is to turn [Hurst’s] head while I am here. That’s the plan but football is unpredictable. You put the work in and go with the flow.”
Shamrock Rovers bring a technical quality to Sligo on Saturday night that is as close as Mata has experienced in the English third tier.
“The English game is a lot more physical. I wouldn’t say it is faster, but the intensity changes a lot more. It speeds up and slows down a lot more in games. You fight for everything, wait for somebody to make a mistake, and then you capitalise.
“It is a different type of football, for sure. It is more competitive; they have 24 teams in the league [Shrewsbury currently lie 20th], whereas we only have 10. It’s quite fun actually to go to stadiums in different parts of the country. But it is definitely a lot more physical, and I’d say more tactical as well.”
Efforts to make a surfing connection between Strandhill and Rarotonga fail to catch the intended wave.
“Cook Islands is my motherland, but I’ve never actually been. My brother Ben captains the national team so he’s been a few times. Every time I try to go, it doesn’t fall into place.”
Professional football got in the way, ever since he was scouted by Grasshoppers in Zurich, took a detour to Estonian club Kalju and played in Utah for Real Monarchs before Sligo part one, Shrewsbury and Sligo part two.
How does a New Zealander find his way into European football? “I was scouted at the under-17 World Cup in India. That was my shop window but there are more and more connections to European clubs nowadays. We have the players, they just need to take their opportunity.”
Next on the Max Mata world tour is a friendly against Egypt in Abu Dhabi on March 22nd. Those Cook Island beaches will have to wait.
“Playing for New Zealand is always at the front of my mind. We get few opportunities to do it, about eight games a year. Any player will tell you that it is the most precious part of being a professional footballer.”
The All Whites reached the 1982 and 2010 World Cups, where they helped facilitate some special moments, including the Zico bicycle kick in 1982 and drawing with defending champions Italy 14 years ago.
The expansion to a 48-team tournament offers them several routes to North America in 2026.
“Every camp, we talk about it. That’s our goal. Ever since we failed to qualify for the last one we have been laying down building blocks to reach the World Cup.”
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