Ok tell me this. What is the purpose of the All Whites? Is it to qualify for the world cup? Unquestionably it is yes for me.
Well how do you get there? Surely it is by developing a squad that peaks for the 2017 playoff. If that is the case, don’t you want to involve players now who are likely to be around for 2017/18.
Is Chris James young enough to be involved then? Yes. Is he one of our better midfielders? Yes. Is he going to be clubless for most of the next 3 years? No.
So why does it matter his current circumstances matter if they are very little to improve in the near future?
I think this is a very good argument 2B, and ultimately a pretty pragmatic response to our overall playing stocks. But at the same time isn't there also an argument that if you cannot convince someone to pay you to play football you ultimately don't deserve to be picked for our national team? If you don't have a club in the middle of the football season are you even a footballer at that point? Maybe a friendly is a different story and a bit more leeway can be allowed, but I don't think if this was a competitive game that we should pick unattached players.
Why doesn't he have a club? I do find it a bit odd that he got let go by his last club when he was pretty good for them it seemed and then did well in the qualifiers