New Zealand U-23s - Quali Whites

White, Longo, Cleverly, Armstrong to name a few without bothering to research all those that have gone to an U17 (or2) and 2*U20 world cups.

You will have seen my second reply, where I predicted this was your angle, I hope. I have, nevertheless, updated the piece to reflect that the claim was about appearances at men's age-group World Cups.

I don't know if Singh will be in the team, I'm not sure there's any other player whose preseason matters more than his given he will almost certainly be on the Bayern tour. 

That's obviously a factor, but I think he'll be fine. Don't underestimate how much it means to this group of players to be together on the world stage.

... and to experience everything that the olympic village has to offer wink wink nudge nudge

think there are a few players at NRFL level who will be in the mix too

who do you reckon? can't think of any who would be good enough

think a few GK's are better than Brown

I believe some poor players are in good environments, ala Cam Lindsay ( an example from the past )

Seems unlikely

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/118820505/deep-talent-pool-breeds-anticipation-for-olywhites-appearance-at-tokyo-games

The last time New Zealand sent a men's football team to the Olympics, only half the squad were professionals.

This year, almost all of them will be.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/118820505/deep-talent-pool-breeds-anticipation-for-olywhites-appearance-at-tokyo-games

So much to look forward to this year in terms of NZ teams, mens and womens with the Olympics the initial focus.

Will be exciting to see who we're drawn against come the Olympic football draw in April.

From the  Andrew Voerman article on Stuff:

"Barring a last-minute swerve from Fifa, the OlyWhites will be drawn with:

(A) One European team – France, Germany, Romania or Spain 

(B) One Asian team – Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia or South Korea 

(C) And one team from the rest of the world – Egypt, Ivory Coast, and South Africa have all booked their tickets, with South American qualifying underway at present, and North and Central American qualifying scheduled for March.

 Latest update on South American qualifying (still underway - final games are today NZT):

https://www.fifa.com/mensolympic/news/argentina-win-ticket-to-tokyo-as-continental-champions

• Two-time Olympic gold medal winners Argentina qualify for Tokyo 2020
• Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay remain in the race
• A win for Brazil in Sunday’s final round will see the 2016 gold medallists qualify

Argentina leads the group with six points ahead of Brazil (2 points), Colombia (1) and Uruguay (1).

Reigning gold medallists Brazil require a win in Sunday’s final round to guarantee a fourth successive qualification.

(Games played today in NZ time)

Argentina v. Brazil

Colombia v Uruguay

There's a very real chance that Brazil could miss out.....

It will be interesting to see who the African nations send as the 3 overage players. I don't think clubs will be keen to release players given they will also be released mid-season for the AFCON. Is the release of the 3 overage players mandatory? 

No release of players, whether under-23 or overage, is mandatory, Bear in mind this is still the offseason (just) for most major European leagues.

All of them?

Huh? If this is a joke it’s gone over my head.

Anyway, this is what I was thinking of when I asked the question - https://global.espn.com/football/liverpool-engliverpool/story/4051995/egypt-boss-mohamed-salah-at-olympics-will-be-liverpools-decision.

It was a witticism

One of the best known examples of a player falsifying documentations is Cameroon's international football defender Tobie Mimboe who held several documents during the course of his career that indicated he became younger as time went by.[2]

A right Benjamin Button.

Quick question... who would win

Our u23 squad with their three overage players vs the National Team (best remaining players)

                  Woud                                                     Marinovich 

Billingsley  Pjanker Reid Carcace                 Roux Boxall Smith Wynn

               Bell Thomas                                             Rufer  Tuiloma

Rogerson     Singh         Just                       Barbs    McGlinchey     Rojas

                  Wood                                                         Brockie

Would be a racking game!

the National Team would struggle to score with Brockie Upfront. Goals would have to come from Barbs and Rojas. So many good goal scorers in the U23 squad....

Get Rogerson out, he's done next to nothing for Acfc. Mc Cowatt or Waine in

So, South American Olympic qualifying completed on Monday with Brazil beating Argentina (who had already qualified as top of the single group) 3-0 and Uruguay beating Colombia 3-1 but missing out by one point to Brazil.

Seems a bit unjust in terms of quality that Asia get four spots at the Olympic mens football finals while South America only get two, the same as CONCACAF.

(Europe gets four, Africa three spots)

In fairness, it's only actually three v two.

Olympic Line up?

Woud 

Billingsley-Pijnaker-Reid-Cacace

Thomas-Bell

Waine/Mata-Singh-Just

Wood

McCowatt will do better in this team coached by Des, than he is in the Nix set up and style of play.

Just my opinion here, but I rate Stanger over Pijnaker. Both very good, but I thought Stanger was unreal at the U20 WC. In saying that, haven't seen either play much after it.

Has Stensness ever played CB?

Yeah, you're probably right. He played very well at the u20 world cup

Played there a bit for Weenix last year, but probably wouldn't start him there. Especially when considering that Ashworth, Pijnaker and Stanger are avliable as CB options.

I wouldn't disagree with that starting line-up but I would definitely have McCowatt and Matt Garbett in the squad as attacking options.

Garbett turns 18 in April but is already in the senior squad at Falkenbergs in the Swedish top flight who expect big things from him. 

A standout for NZ u-17's in the World Cup last year, scoring against Angola and Canada.

Article from Falkenbergs FF website on him:

https://falkenbergsff.se/nyzeelandsk-juniorlandslagsman-till-fff/

He can play up front or deeper as an attacking mid.

Senior football in NZ since age 14, Chatham Cup Final 2018 aged 16 with Western Suburbs, also played for Eastern Suburbs and Team Wellington.

He scored the opening goal in Western Suburbs' exciting 3-2 win over Cashmere Technical in the 2018 Chatham Cup semi at Garrick Park here in Christchurch.

There seems to be a real chance that the Olympics will be cancelled now.

Various IOC officials and public health experts have been saying this week that the Olympics will be cancelled if there is any sizeable spread of the Corona virus in Japan by the end of May. 

It's not looking good, with the J-League football league and top rugby competitions in Japan having been postponed....

179 cases in Japan, three deaths as of today (this excludes the 700 passengers quarantined on the cruise ship).

(Fourth worst-affected country after China, South Korea and Italy):

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/countries-confirmed-cases-coronavirus-200125070959786.html

the big difference is how organised the Japanese are... if ever there was a country to manage an outbreak, it's Japan!

If the Tokyo Olympics are postponed for a year, I wonder if they will give exemptions to players who turn 23 in that year. No precedent. 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/olympics/120565121/under23-footballer-fears-he-might-be-too-old-to-attend-tokyo-olympics-in-2021

Hopefully Fifa and IOC 'age up' the restrictions

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/120821098/coronavirus-fifa-extends-age-limit-for-tokyo-olympics-mens-football-tournament

Thread title needs a tweak

I think this was a sensible move.
Now let's try to exploit it ?
Who became available for selection overnight?

Ummm the same bunch of players that would have been available if the Olympics were held this year.

Ahaha yeah I get but will there be anyone who just missed out and is now available by chance or have they moved the olympics exactly one year away so nothing changes really?

The regulation was 'players born Jan 1 1997 or later' and the decision that's been made is to not change that, so that instead of being under-23 in 2020, it now is under-24 in 2021.

If anything, it will allow some younger players to develop more before the Olympics than they would have had they been this July (some of the standouts from last year's U-17 World Cup, for example).

we had stand outs in the u17s last year?? Bar for Harbert,  they were very disappointing.

Assume Harbett is Garbett, then he would be one of the three names that come to mind, especially when you consider that these players have more to them than three matches at a tournament where the lineups/formations/tactics were all over the place.

Marko Stamenic and Campbell Strong would be the other two that I'm thinking of, especially when you consider that midfield (the 2 in Des Buckingham's 4-2-3-1) is one of the weaker areas in the 1997-2000-born cohort.