2021 All Whites International Fixtures

Doloras

Yeah, I'm really disappointed in Tzanev, who's been in the UK during their COVID nightmare and got to see all the carnage close up. Brits and people living there keep crowing about how "we're going back to normal" but unless "normal" means "mass deaths", it has to mean mass vaccination.

As another living here (UK) it's nowhere near as bad as the BBC/kiwi media/Govt. make out.  Just have a look at official documentation readily available online.

I have many friends here who are still unvaccinated from a multitude of backgrounds (NZers included) whereas I've been double jabbed for months.  I may not agree with their stance but it's hardly Ebola that's floating about, especially when deaths are "within 28 days of a postive COVID TEST", irrespective whether it was a car crash, stroke, heart attack etc.  Be careful with your assumptions.

Thankfully the three/four players mentioned as being POSSIBLE anti-vaxxers are hardly first choice players anyway.

It’s hardly Ebola? The number of Ebola deaths worldwide ever is fewer than the number of covid deaths in the past three days. Probably two days, if official numbers are an undercount. So yeah, it’s hardly Ebola. 

The UK government does not record a car crash (or any other accident) as a death caused by covid, I doubt any government does that.

What's missing in the covid stats are the thousands of preventable deaths that occur in people that don't have covid but die because the health system is overloaded. So, the impact on deaths from covid are under-reported, not over-reported. 

And while only a mere 5 million people world wide have died, rest assured the true deaths are in fact much higher then that are being reported in what the UK would call third world or developing countries.

This isn't the news forum I'm in is it. I thought discussion was on properly important stuff like football. 

https://theniche-cache.com/football/2021/11/3/all-whites-vs-the-gambia-squad-yarns

Worth noting that Aussie/NZ based players were not considered again. Also there are some slippery slopes with a few of the club timelines here. The FIFA window runs from November 8-16, Monday through to the following Tuesday. And considering that the All Whites game vs The Gambia is on that Tuesday, the last day of the window, that may cause some trouble.

Remember how Sarpreet Singh left the last window early because his team had a Friday night game? Well, the MLS Playoffs begin that following weekend and both Bill Tuiloma and Michael Boxall are likely to be needed there and you may recall what a tantrum the Minnesota United coach threw about Boxall’s availability before the Olympics. As it happens Boxall wasn’t fit enough to play until after the tournament so Danny Hay’s gotta cop some of that too but point still stands.

Also, The Gambia will be the last fixture of the year. Might even be the last chance to play before the March 2022 Oceania World Cup qualifiers in Qatar, although there is a late-January window that they could try take advantage of. It’s also the last proper fixture for the Gambian side (known as The Scorpions) before the African Cup of Nations in January – the first time the nation has ever qualified for that tournament. Coached by Belgian Tom Saintfiet, they’ll have a squad of players spread out mostly all over Europe. Omar Colley of Sampdoria, Sulayman Marreh of Gent, and Bubacarr Sanneh of AGF will probably be key players.

coochiee

https://theniche-cache.com/football/2021/11/3/all-whites-vs-the-gambia-squad-yarns

Worth noting that Aussie/NZ based players were not considered again. Also there are some slippery slopes with a few of the club timelines here. The FIFA window runs from November 8-16, Monday through to the following Tuesday. And considering that the All Whites game vs The Gambia is on that Tuesday, the last day of the window, that may cause some trouble.

Remember how Sarpreet Singh left the last window early because his team had a Friday night game? Well, the MLS Playoffs begin that following weekend and both Bill Tuiloma and Michael Boxall are likely to be needed there and you may recall what a tantrum the Minnesota United coach threw about Boxall’s availability before the Olympics. As it happens Boxall wasn’t fit enough to play until after the tournament so Danny Hay’s gotta cop some of that too but point still stands.

Also, The Gambia will be the last fixture of the year. Might even be the last chance to play before the March 2022 Oceania World Cup qualifiers in Qatar, although there is a late-January window that they could try take advantage of. It’s also the last proper fixture for the Gambian side (known as The Scorpions) before the African Cup of Nations in January – the first time the nation has ever qualified for that tournament. Coached by Belgian Tom Saintfiet, they’ll have a squad of players spread out mostly all over Europe. Omar Colley of Sampdoria, Sulayman Marreh of Gent, and Bubacarr Sanneh of AGF will probably be key players.

 Well as a Danish Superliga fan, if an AGF player is one of their key players, and Bubacarr Sanneh at that who's had a poor season, then we've nothing to worry about at all. 

Gambia named their squad this morning. Looks a lot of firepower up front, but then only a couple big hitters further back.

GOALKEEPERS 

Babouccar Gaye - Koblenz (German 4th tier- 14th) - 14/19 games this season

Sheikh Sibi - Virtus Verona (Serie C - 11th) - 6/13 games

Lamin Sarr - Torns (Swedish 3rd tier - 14th) - 21/23 games

DEFENDERS 

Leon Guwara  - Jahn Regensburg - 1 start, (5 subs)/14 games

Omar Colley - Sampdoria (Serie A - 15th) - 10(1)/11 games

James Gomez - Horsens (Danish 2nd tier - 5th) - 14(0)/16 games

Noah Sonko Sundberg - Östersund (Swedish 1st tier - 16th) - 27(0)/31

Ibou Touray - Salford (League 2 - 17th) - 15(0)/19

Saidy Janko - Valladolid (LaLiga2 - 5th) - 4(4)/14

Mohammed Mbye - Sölvesborgs GoIF (Swedish 4th tier - 13th) - 20(0)/25

Maudo Jarjue - Elfsborg (Swedish 1st tier - 3rd) - 21(0)/31

MIDFIELDERS 

Ebrima Sohna - Fortune FC (Gambian 1st tier - 1st)

Dawda Ngum - unattached (last at Brønshøj, Danish 4th tier)

Sulayman Marreh - Gent (Belgian 1st tier - 9th) - 1(1)/24 - 0G/0A

Ebrima Darboe - Roma (Serie A - 4th) - 4(0)/17 - 0G/1A

Yusupha Bobb - Piacenza (Serie C - 13th) - 11(2)/15 - 1G/2A

Ebou Adams - Forest Green (League 2 - 1st) - 12(2)/19 - 2G/0A

Ablie Jallow - RFC Seraing (Belgian 1st tier - 16th) - 13(0)/15 - 2G/1A

FORWARDS 

Steve Trawally - Ajman Club (UAE Pro League - 7th) - 9(1)/11 - 3G/1A

Ebrima Colley - Spezia (Serie A - 18th) - 4(2)/12 - 1G/1A

Lamin Jallow - Fehérvár (Hungarian 1st tier - 4th) - 3(4)/12 - 2G/0A

Assan Ceesay - Zürich (Swiss 1st tier - 2nd) - 13(1)/15 - 11G/5A

Muhammed Badamosi - Kortrijk (Belgian 1st tier - 9th) - 4(6)/14 - 0G/0A

Musa Barrow - Bologna (Serie A - 9th) - 9(2)/12 - 4G/4A

Dembo Darboe - Shakhtyor Soligorsk (Belarusian 1st tier - 1st) - 29(2)/33 - 20G/7A

On paper 2 squads pretty evenly matched. And Europe can be a village at times. Both teams having players in Bundesliga 2 (team mates even), Danish 2nd tier, Serie C (though different regions), League Two & First Division Belgium.

Stamenic missed the game, but his HB Koge beat Gomez's Horsens last weekend. Cacace's S-T lost on pens to Jallow's RFC Seraing 10 days ago in a Cup game.

Have we actually got two games sorted? 

Announced second game against Algeria, on Saturday morning NZ time. It isn’t a full strength Algeria however, it will be a local-based squad, so none of the European big guns. But there will be motivation for them as they have the FIFA Arab Cup (the dress rehearsal tournament for the World Cup, in place of the discontinued Confederations’ Cup) starting on the 30th of this month in Qatar which will be apparently the same squad.

Tuiloma is unavailable through injury for either game

carlind

Announced second game against Algeria, on Saturday morning NZ time. Tuiloma is unavailable through injury for either game

That should be a good test.

Algeria A.

carlind

Announced second game against Algeria, on Saturday morning NZ time. It isn’t a full strength Algeria however, it will be a local-based squad, so none of the European big guns. But there will be motivation for them as they have the FIFA Arab Cup (the dress rehearsal tournament for the World Cup, in place of the discontinued Confederations’ Cup) starting on the 30th of this month in Qatar which will be apparently the same squad.

Tuiloma is unavailable through injury for either game

It's worth noting that Algeria 'A' is an actual team that comes together on a semi-regular basis, has a full-time coach, a page on Algeria Football's website, etc. There's a biennial tournament for African teams consisting of domestic-based players (Algeria is hosting the next edition in Jan 2023) they compete in and as Carlin notes, they will be playing at the Fifa Arab Cup.

Was expecting a club side so that’s not bad tbh.

I'd say they will be a tough opposition, and we'll be up against it. Hope it's televised.

Credit to NZF putting together 2 games.
https://www.nzfootball.co.nz/newsarticle/109555?newsfeedId=1275622

Will Tuiloma be replaced? They already have 1 defender less than the previous squad.

I guess Reid who looks to be training hard will be there as a mentor. Maybe he’s not far off being ready for bench cameos.

Ranix

I'd say they will be a tough opposition, and we'll be up against it. Hope it's televised.

The Algeria 'A' match 100% will not be broadcast. It is a behind-closed-doors match.

coochiee

Credit to NZF putting together 2 games.
https://www.nzfootball.co.nz/newsarticle/109555?newsfeedId=1275622

Will Tuiloma be replaced? They already have 1 defender less than the previous squad.

I guess Reid who looks to be training hard will be there as a mentor. Maybe he’s not far off being ready for bench cameos.

Tuiloma won't be replaced. They have four CB options – M Boxall and Pijnaker, who will likely start v The Gambia, then Smith, and de Vries.

andrewvoerman

coochiee

Credit to NZF putting together 2 games.
https://www.nzfootball.co.nz/newsarticle/109555?newsfeedId=1275622

Will Tuiloma be replaced? They already have 1 defender less than the previous squad.

I guess Reid who looks to be training hard will be there as a mentor. Maybe he’s not far off being ready for bench cameos.

Tuiloma won't be replaced. They have four CB options – M Boxall and Pijnaker, who will likely start v The Gambia, then Smith, and de Vries.

I reckon it will be Pijnaker/Boxall verus Algeria 'A'. Then Pijnaker/Smith verus The Gambia. 

Date of Portland v Minnesota playoff yet to be officially released, but will be sometime 20th-22nd Nov. Gambia game 16th Nov. Boxall will face a 15-20 hour return trip to Minny, from the UAE. If Singh was released early last window (skipping Bahrain game) for a regular JR league game (and only a 4-5 hr flight to Germany), you'd not be surprised if similar leeway given to Boxy & MU for their biggest club game of the year.

So if Boxall snr skips The Gambia, squad a little thin with debutant de Vries (who has been playing LB for his club all season) as the sole CB backup.

Guess all likely depends on how is Hay's relationship with Minny coach Heath. Plus state of Boxy's body to backup games quickly on a short turn around, and lengthy travel. 

Edit - note actual games now moved from Abu Dhabi (training base) to Dubai.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/126929282/nz-football-still-finalising-broadcast-details-for-all-whites-match-against-the-gambia

Sky Sports saying they aren't producing anything as of yet. Really hope this gets sorted and to a decent quality as well. Still I suppose this late in the piece it makes sense that it's not airing on sky sport as they haven't had too much forewarning. 

carlind

Announced second game against Algeria, on Saturday morning NZ time. It isn’t a full strength Algeria however, it will be a local-based squad, so none of the European big guns. But there will be motivation for them as they have the FIFA Arab Cup (the dress rehearsal tournament for the World Cup, in place of the discontinued Confederations’ Cup) starting on the 30th of this month in Qatar which will be apparently the same squad.

Tuiloma is unavailable through injury for either game

Injured or undisclosed non vaxxed? The cynic in me wonders......

Rusty Dunks

carlind

Announced second game against Algeria, on Saturday morning NZ time. It isn’t a full strength Algeria however, it will be a local-based squad, so none of the European big guns. But there will be motivation for them as they have the FIFA Arab Cup (the dress rehearsal tournament for the World Cup, in place of the discontinued Confederations’ Cup) starting on the 30th of this month in Qatar which will be apparently the same squad.

Tuiloma is unavailable through injury for either game

Injured or undisclosed non vaxxed? The cynic in me wonders......

I think Carlind?, ruled out any of the Kiwi MLS guys as being unvaccinated, as to enter Canada from the US during MLS season they would have had to be vaccinated.

But yeah I did wrongly guess earlier before Tzanev was basically outed, that BT being a strong Christian (and living amongst all that anti vax, religious nutty stuff Stateside), could have been sans vaccine.

Rusty Dunks

carlind

Announced second game against Algeria, on Saturday morning NZ time. It isn’t a full strength Algeria however, it will be a local-based squad, so none of the European big guns. But there will be motivation for them as they have the FIFA Arab Cup (the dress rehearsal tournament for the World Cup, in place of the discontinued Confederations’ Cup) starting on the 30th of this month in Qatar which will be apparently the same squad.

Tuiloma is unavailable through injury for either game

Injured or undisclosed non vaxxed? The cynic in me wonders......

He didn't play in Portland Timbers' Decision Day match in MLS and was listed as questionable prior to it with a leg injury.

Rock Hopper

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/126929282/nz-football-still-finalising-broadcast-details-for-all-whites-match-against-the-gambia

Sky Sports saying they aren't producing anything as of yet. Really hope this gets sorted and to a decent quality as well. Still I suppose this late in the piece it makes sense that it's not airing on sky sport as they haven't had too much forewarning. 

It won't be on Sky Sport full stop, because it's not being produced to TV broadcast quality on the ground (NZ Football's/Gambia's responsibility as organiser(s) of the match).

andrewvoerman

Rusty Dunks

carlind

Announced second game against Algeria, on Saturday morning NZ time. It isn’t a full strength Algeria however, it will be a local-based squad, so none of the European big guns. But there will be motivation for them as they have the FIFA Arab Cup (the dress rehearsal tournament for the World Cup, in place of the discontinued Confederations’ Cup) starting on the 30th of this month in Qatar which will be apparently the same squad.

Tuiloma is unavailable through injury for either game

Injured or undisclosed non vaxxed? The cynic in me wonders......

He didn't play in Portland Timbers' Decision Day match in MLS and was listed as questionable prior to it with a leg injury.

That game was basically a dead rubber match for Timbers, so he was never going to play if had a niggle or worse.

FYI - Portland v Minnesota playoff game now confirmed for Nov 21st, 5 days after AWs v The Gambia.
https://us.soccerway.com/national/united-states/mls/2021/play-in-round/r61369/

Surely enough Staff there for someone to man a camera and stream on YouTube. 

Anyone still questioning why Stensness left NZF? 

Yay we got games... but no you can't watch.

Can you imagine this happening with the all blacks?? 

What a fn joke!!

watching_from_far

Surely enough Staff there for someone to man a camera and stream on YouTube. 

 Surely will be. They stream quite a few domestic games during the season so should be able to at least put it on their YouTube channel. 

If it ends up free and I can watch it without forking out for sky I don’t care if Danny films it on his iPhone. Actually with no Fred as a commentator I may prefer it

MetalLegNZ

Anyone still questioning why Stensness left NZF? 

Yay we got games... but no you can't watch.

Can you imagine this happening with the all blacks?? 

What a fn joke!!

It’s annoying because of the whole if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears, does it really fall thing, where for any football fan it’s essentially the equivalent of them not playing, possibly even worse. 

But the All Blacks analogy doesn’t really work, because they’re historically and contemporarily the biggest rugby brand, so are essentially equivalent to Brazil or Germany in football, where there is always appetite for the host of wherever they play to broadcast. As much as I’d love the All Whites to be like that they aren’t, and there’s understandably no interest of Emiratis in the game. An accurate analogy would be something like a test match of Norway vs Nigeria played in Dubai, which probably would have the same broadcast demand.

With Tuiloma out and Singh in doubt, if Hay is to make some really late call ups, I would like to see either Kyle Adams or James Musa replace Tuiloma and potentially Joel Stevens or even Owen Parker-Price join the team with Singh’s omission. 

Again, a lot of factors come to play with vaccinations etc. 

Moses Dyer seems to be doing well in Canada as well (Just an observation). 

CactusJones

With Tuiloma out and Singh in doubt, if Hay is to make some really late call ups, I would like to see either Kyle Adams or James Musa replace Tuiloma and potentially Joel Stevens or even Owen Parker-Price join the team with Singh’s omission. 

Again, a lot of factors come to play with vaccinations etc. 

Moses Dyer seems to be doing well in Canada as well (Just an observation). 

yep, Moses and Musa would be my two picks. Musa's not really done anything to not warrant a call-up tbh, other than playing in a low-level league - been a very consistent fixture in the best team in the league. Moses is on fire up front at Valour, so based on his current form and potential as a ST I'd hope Hay's got him deep in consideration for the future

andrewvoerman

Rock Hopper

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/126929282/nz-football-still-finalising-broadcast-details-for-all-whites-match-against-the-gambia

Sky Sports saying they aren't producing anything as of yet. Really hope this gets sorted and to a decent quality as well. Still I suppose this late in the piece it makes sense that it's not airing on sky sport as they haven't had too much forewarning. 

It won't be on Sky Sport full stop, because it's not being produced to TV broadcast quality on the ground (NZ Football's/Gambia's responsibility as organiser(s) of the match).

WTAF???  I want to be supportive, and I'm glad there's a fixture, but seriously, how is this even a thing??  It's 2021, this is just not OK...

Khalil Media

andrewvoerman

Rock Hopper

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/126929282/nz-football-still-finalising-broadcast-details-for-all-whites-match-against-the-gambia

Sky Sports saying they aren't producing anything as of yet. Really hope this gets sorted and to a decent quality as well. Still I suppose this late in the piece it makes sense that it's not airing on sky sport as they haven't had too much forewarning. 

It won't be on Sky Sport full stop, because it's not being produced to TV broadcast quality on the ground (NZ Football's/Gambia's responsibility as organiser(s) of the match).

WTAF???  I want to be supportive, and I'm glad there's a fixture, but seriously, how is this even a thing??  It's 2021, this is just not OK...

See Canada v All Whites, March 2018, online streamed only, for a similar example. Match on neutral territory, not tied into anything involving the host nation like All Whites v Curaçao was last month. That said, it is of course frustrating nothing is locked in yet, but it seems like NZ Football is confident of putting on a stream.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/126929282/all-whites-wont-take-risks-with-sarpreet-singh-nursing-a-knee-niggle-in-friendlies

Couldn’t they just contract a local low level media outlet in the UAE to video the game quite cheaply. Even just a budget 2 camera operation.

I presume they are planning something like this when AV, says NZF are trying to setup a stream.

There actually ain’t many NZF staff over there because of NZ's MIQ requirements. 4 NZ based staff incl Hay (2 coaches, video analyst & kitman), plus others from Europe like Rory and Winnie (already in UAE) I'm guessing. So in NZF’s defence it’s not like they have a lot of spare resources on the ground in the UAE.

Exactly AV, that streaming option v Canada was fine (not amazing, but fine) and would be the absolute minimum we should be expecting.  There's a plethora of media company options around the UAE in general and Dubai in particular, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get something sorted.  Here's hoping that's where their conversations are heading :)

New Zealand Football @NZ_Football

First training session in Abu Dhabi

coochiee

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/126929282/all-whites-wont-take-risks-with-sarpreet-singh-nursing-a-knee-niggle-in-friendlies

Couldn’t they just contract a local low level media outlet in the UAE to video the game quite cheaply. Even just a budget 2 camera operation.

I presume they are planning something like this when AV, says NZF are trying to setup a stream.

There actually ain’t many NZF staff over there because of NZ's MIQ requirements. 4 NZ based staff incl Hay (2 coaches, video analyst & kitman), plus others from Europe like Rory and Winnie (already in UAE) I'm guessing. So in NZF’s defence it’s not like they have a lot of spare resources on the ground in the UAE.

There's a video analyst.... to analyze the video of the match??
But no video for us to view?!

Am I the only one not deeply upset that NZF have prioritised actually playing a game over getting it televised. Sure it’s annoying but it’s the middle of a pandemic, I’m willing to cut them some slack on that one.