New Zealand Men's U-17s

Aye it's a long way to travel from Porirua to Wellington so that must be it!

Most of the Lower Hutt City players play in Cap 1, not the Central League team. Make of that what you will.

Napier are winning that league, maybe they should take more Napier guys. Oh, that's right, they have an average age of 26. Largest number of Ole boys are also too old for U17. Most of their U17 CL starters are at the camp.

LHC are coming 7 out of 10 because their oldest player is barely 20 and average age is <18. 4 regulars are 16. To quote one of them "we are legit just kids in a men's div". Add to that the likes of Hillis, Hamilton and van Hattrick (sic) missed a few games through injury, them and a couple others due to Panda Cup trip, U20 WC and Pacific games. Not to mention that if one of those narrow losses was a win they'd be third, 

LHC "reserves" are in Cap 1 and are all U17. And sitting 4th, only 5 points behind leaders and 3 behind second, kids who haven't started shaving in a men's league.

As for camp being in Wellington, it's to spread the pain with a large % being Wellington based. Last camp was in Auckland. And in case you are wondering why so many Wgtn players are at the camp, I should point out that most of them are from other places and have moved to Ole or Phoenix for football development.

Love the typo BTW ;)

is it really that hard to understand that most are based in Wellington because of Ole and Nix? 

NCR played wouldnt have passports either being imports

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Which of the LHC players have not played CL this year?

Kennet, who's only 15 and behind Jones and Paulsen, hasn't. 

Who else?

Let me rephrase. Most of the Lower Hutt City players have played the majority of the winter in Cap 1. I believe Oskar, Henry, Harry and Alex are the only four to have played significant Central League minutes.

Yep, (understood what you meant) but who of the others (if any) have none?

Pretty sure Max, Kris, Adam and Oldie have some, but Finn and Blake?

Everyone except Callum has played at least one (1) minute.

That doesn't really explain how Wests won the league 2 seasons ago with a team with average age of 18 (and largely the team that went on to win the National League with Eastern Suburbs) and also finished 2nd last season and are only 1 point of the top at the moment - maybe its the difference in academy philosophies? 

Now lads don't forget it is a Talent Identification Camp not NZF U17 squad camp. Players from other areas (inc those mention may have already been scouted)  I know the NZF coaches travel.

Please Bruce, the lads were only just getting started. And everyone has misspelt van Hatrick, just the one t-ease.

Sorry about the raw nerves all - just wondering about the level of quality from this U17 cycle - as asked by another five tantrums ago.

Was also wondering, as mentioned above - if there were others being looked at when the camps were in Auckland or heaven forbid - Christchurch/Ashburton legit footballing hotbeds. 

In the name of the Sumner, the Nelsen and the Holy Sigmund, Amen.

Who's that guy?

.

Thanks Andrew. Not up to your usual "stat man" standard of player-a had x-starts, y-appearances and z-minutes, but hey-ho, it's all I asked and good enough ;)

I know all Ole lads, Jesse and Jacko have all CL minutes, how do the Billy from Neilson, Waibop and AK players fare in equivalent leagues?

There were players outside that list involved anyway. Chris Marsh tweeted the Keeper group and there were 5.

[/quote]

Please Bruce, the lads were only just getting started. And everyone has misspelt van Hatrick, just the one t-ease.

Sorry about the raw nerves all - just wondering about the level of quality from this U17 cycle - as asked by another five tantrums ago.

Was also wondering, as mentioned above - if there were others being looked at when the camps were in Auckland or heaven forbid - Christchurch/Ashburton legit footballing hotbeds. 

In the name of the Sumner, the Nelsen and the Holy Sigmund, Amen.

[/quote]

It's a pity you made the spelling correction.

Muphry' Law.  But what correction?

Injury replacement. But it's definitely not a squad influenced by the location of the camp.

Injury replacement. But it's definitely not a squad influenced by the location of the camp.

[/quote

Cheers for the info above - I don't care where the players come from - just that they are the best.

- you guys answered my question in two sentences - this is what happens when you live in your frontal cortex rather than your limbic system. 

- I also find it amusing how a common language can divide us - with no facial expressions or voice intonation - you can't see my eyebrows going up in down as I type.

Best of luck to the U17 squad.

I'll just park this here

Oskar van Hattum

Oops..wrong button

I'll just park this here

Oskar van Hattum

Henry Hamilton

Matt Garbett

Marko Stamenic

Adam Hillis

Harry Bark

Highlight clips from a few of the U17 camp attendee

Edit to add...

Billy Check

Article about Oskar van Hattum on FIFA's u17 webby https://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/news/newest-van-hattum-set-for-fresh-brazil-experience

so OFC are currently holding a youth tournament, why is there no NZ team involved? Yet India and Estonia are? 

What value would an under-18 tournament hold for a New Zealand team right now?

probably more value than a ID camp! Often hear that our players dont have enough international experience. U17 could have gone some games before their world cup for the purpose of the tournament we could have called them u18. 

We sent a 3rd string team to Samoa for south Pacific games. Realistically how many of that team will play in qualifying and Olympics. So that tournament survived little purpose.

Australia just announced friendly's with England, Brazil and Korea in the UK for there U17. Hope NZF finds some friendly games for this lot before the WC.

Panda Cup was U18. Good experience for the U17 (potential) squad.

Agree though this one probably not at the right level.

Solomons who have also qualified for the FIFA u-17 finals are also not participating.

https://www.oceaniafootball.com/oceania-four-mark-historic-openers/

https://www.oceaniafootball.com/youth-tournament-helping-paint-the-bigger-picture/

https://www.oceaniafootball.com/vision-2026-leading-development/

The inaugral "OFC Youth Development Tournament" for u-18 sides features OFC representatives New Caledonia, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea and host Vanuatu, as well as Estonia from Europe and India from Asia.

"Organised in partnership with UEFA through the UEFA Assist Programme the main aim of this tournament is to provide players, coaches and referees in our region with the necessary tool that will enhance their performance on off the field at international level."

OFC Head of Education & Development Giovanni Fernandes "says each part of the event – the competitive environment, the knowledge exchanges, the inter-confederation relationship building – will contribute to the overall objectives of the OFC Football Development Strategy 2026.

“The bigger picture we talk about relates to the 2026 vision of having two OFC nations qualify for the FIFA World Cup. We want to leave a legacy which will see OFC Member Associations being competitive in OFC and FIFA competitions.

OFC President Lambert Matlock: “At this moment we find it difficult to match up with the international teams outside Oceania. I think we need to accept that there is a deficiency in capacity between the majority of Oceania nations and countries from outside the region....

“But we have to keep trying to bridge the gap.”

“Having UEFA onboard through the UEFA Assist programme is really significant to us and incredibly important for Oceania football.

“Initially the project was aimed at helping those nations in OFC which had already qualified for a youth world cup. But we wanted to go further and give opportunities to more nations.

“I’m really pleased the initiative has allowed us to give inter-confederation exposure to a wider audience.”

Hoped to become a regular event.

OFC also see it as helping bridge the gap between their regional u-16 and u-19 finals.

So it's not really aimed at u-16 or u-17 sides.

India have entered their u-19 side preparing for the upcoming AFC U-19 Championship and the South Asian Football Confederation Championship.

Estonia were also available to add a European element and have been forging ties with OFC, their senior team having toured in 2017.

Any news on the U17 build up games?

Team leaves NZ on Oct 13 (or close to that) and has its first WC match Oct 27, so you'd bet on a couple (at least) v other competing teams in that fortnight.

Ecuador and Nigeria 

Would be nice to get USA as well, but doesn't seem that likely.

How are they able to be competitive with just two games prior to tournament. Surely the team should be playing half a dozen games against central or northern league teams prior to leaving. How does there preparation compare to the men’s u20 team?.

The same as the U20s. Arguably better if you include the panda cup.

As far as I can recall, the 2019 U20 team didn't play any games against local sides during its various camps – and it never had anything close to its final XI available during any of them.

They had two games in Poland pre: the World Cup – and keeper Michael Woud didn't even play in those.

The U17s have played games v clubs during some of their camps (different strokes for different coaches – plus they have 99% of their players on hand).

They also got three internationals at the Panda Cup, something the 2019 U20 team didn't.

It is less than ideal that they will have done nothing together from mid-July until mid-October. A camp in the school holidays (which are the fortnight before departure) might have been useful.

Please angst below: 

a lot of comments on FB about this being a Lower Hutt team... with that representation they must be the best age group team in the country!

Does look bad without context of knowing about the academies etc and going by results at the national school championships.

Who missed out from last squad any bolters 

CB Nicholas Milicich and LB Robert Sabo went to the Panda Cup in May (18 man squad, 19 after an injury replacement) and didn't make the World Cup squad.

Third GK Callum Kennett, MF Otto Ingham, RB(?) Harry Bark, and MF Ben Old have come in to join the other 17 from that tournament.

GK Joseph Knowles (who's eligible for the next U17 cycle, as is Kennett), DF Joel Clissold, MFs Hayden Aish, Billy Check, Jackson Manuel, Ryan Verney and FWs Riley Bidois, Blake Driehuis and Stephanos Georgiou were named in the squad for the last camp in July and didn't make the World Cup squad.