At 44 years of age, it’s fair to say that Anthony Hudson has had quite the globe-trotting career. Since launching his coaching journey in 2007, he’s had the chance to manage in the United States, England, Bahrain, Qatar and Thailand, working with both clubs and national teams. However, arguably the most successful spell of his managerial adventure came in New Zealand.
After resigning from his position with the Bahrain national team, Hudson took charge of New Zealand in the summer of 2014. He was given an all-encompassing role which saw him oversee not just the senior team, but their youth sides. Hudson rewarded the trust of New Zealand Football by guiding the U-20 side and the U-20 side to the knockout stages of their respective World Cups in the same cycle for the first time ever, whilst he also made impressive progress at the senior level.
However, Hudson’s time with New Zealand wasn’t without difficulties. Hudson took charge of a New Zealand U23 side that had won all three of their pool games and semifinal without conceding a single goal in their Oceania Olympic Qualifiers at the Pacific Games in July 2015, but were disqualified and had their semifinal win overturned due to fielding an ineligible player because of an administrative error from the national body. In doing so, he lost players for selection for preparation of his matches against Myanmar and Omar. In January 2016, Hudson criticized the federation for failing to find fixtures against suitable opponents in the March international window.
Despite this shortage of fixtures, and despite losing players who were no longer eligible, New Zealand won four matches to advance to the 2016 OFC Nations Cup Final, where they edged Papua New Guinea on penalties. This victory would also see them qualify for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, where they would lose 2-0 in their opening match to host nation Russia. New Zealand would take an early lead in their second match after Chris Wood broke the deadlock before halftime, only for Mexico to storm back to a 2-1 victory. And in their third and final group stage match, the All Whites succumbed to a 4-0 defeat to Portugal.
Whilst he received offers from English clubs like Norwich City, MK Dons and Derby County, Hudson remained at New Zealand and guided them to the top spot in Group A of the third stage of Oceania World Cup Qualifiers. In September 2017, New Zealand won the OFC Final against Solomon Islands with an aggregate score of 8–3 to win the OFC Qualifiers and qualify for the Inter-continental play-offs qualifier.
Going up against a Peru side that was ranked 10th in the world at the time, New Zealand held Peru to a 0-0 draw in Wellington before succumbing to a 2-0 loss in Lima. In doing so, New Zealand missed out on a chance to qualify for the 2018 World Cup by the narrowest of margins, prompting Hudson to resign from his position. Since then, Hudson has worked with MLS side Colorado Rapids, the US Men’s National Team, Qatari outfits Al-Markhiya and Al-Arabi, and Thai side BG Pathum.
Unlike his father Alan, who was one of the best footballers of the 1970s, playing for Stoke City, Chelsea, and Arsenal and making it to the PFA Team of the First Division on two separate occasions, Anthony never amounted to much as a footballer. However, he’s put his underwhelming playing career in the rearview mirror and achieved success throughout the globe as a manager, and today, he finds himself tasked with a brand new role as the technical director for the Thailand national team.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
