Real good news. Brilliant even, and I like the goss NZF & Nix relations are in a good space. Thanks Nix Womens team!
Seems a great opportunity to get the A League guys involved, now with AWs. Hopefully the various parties can make it happen. Great chance now for Hay to look at a wider 30-31 man player group, Qatar in March. He'll be able to pop over to Aussie in early-mid January, and run a rule over the contenders, hold a small short camp maybe even. He has 2 weeks now in MIQ to plan it out!
Hopefully Poppa & Corica can be as helpful with likes of Rojas & Barba. I reckon they will. Uffie & the Nix sound like they will do more than do their part.
Talay would have spoken to his players about their experience with Hay at the Olympics. Would have watched the AWs of late. He was involved in Australian U17-20 age group football, he’ll definitely think a few weeks away for some of his players will all be valuable development, that Nix as a club will benefit from. Plus he knows they won’t win the League this season.
News should also motivate all the Kiwi A League guys. They could be involved with the AWs soon, with a possible huge World Cup carrot. Until now with Covid that wasn't looking so likely.
Sweet news also that a pair of AWs friendlies look likely for Jan FIFA window. Considering everything, AWs should be pretty well prepared if they make that big CONCACAF playoff match 13th-14th. Just lacking the leadup of tense qualifying matches that CONCACAF team would have had. You can't mimic that with friendlies sans fans.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/127188300/wellington-phoenix-could-play-role-in-easing-all-whites-world-cup-qualifying-concerns
It is a fluid situation and will continue to be until the end of the January transfer window, where a number of All Whites could change clubs. A more likely scenario would involve around half a typical 23-man squad being swapped in and out halfway through the tournament.
NZ Football is likely to have a useful ally in the Wellington Phoenix, the country’s only professional club, which plays in A-League Men, one of the competitions that doesn’t break for international windows. Any Phoenix players selected would therefore be set to miss a match even if the entire tournament in March was played inside the window, opening the door for a potential compromise.
Seems a great opportunity to get the A League guys involved, now with AWs. Hopefully the various parties can make it happen. Great chance now for Hay to look at a wider 30-31 man player group, Qatar in March. He'll be able to pop over to Aussie in early-mid January, and run a rule over the contenders, hold a small short camp maybe even. He has 2 weeks now in MIQ to plan it out!
Hopefully Poppa & Corica can be as helpful with likes of Rojas & Barba. I reckon they will. Uffie & the Nix sound like they will do more than do their part.
Talay would have spoken to his players about their experience with Hay at the Olympics. Would have watched the AWs of late. He was involved in Australian U17-20 age group football, he’ll definitely think a few weeks away for some of his players will all be valuable development, that Nix as a club will benefit from. Plus he knows they won’t win the League this season.
News should also motivate all the Kiwi A League guys. They could be involved with the AWs soon, with a possible huge World Cup carrot. Until now with Covid that wasn't looking so likely.
Sweet news also that a pair of AWs friendlies look likely for Jan FIFA window. Considering everything, AWs should be pretty well prepared if they make that big CONCACAF playoff match 13th-14th. Just lacking the leadup of tense qualifying matches that CONCACAF team would have had. You can't mimic that with friendlies sans fans.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/127188300/wellington-phoenix-could-play-role-in-easing-all-whites-world-cup-qualifying-concerns
It is a fluid situation and will continue to be until the end of the January transfer window, where a number of All Whites could change clubs. A more likely scenario would involve around half a typical 23-man squad being swapped in and out halfway through the tournament.
NZ Football is likely to have a useful ally in the Wellington Phoenix, the country’s only professional club, which plays in A-League Men, one of the competitions that doesn’t break for international windows. Any Phoenix players selected would therefore be set to miss a match even if the entire tournament in March was played inside the window, opening the door for a potential compromise.
Relations between the governing body and the Phoenix are said to be at an all-time high by sources on both sides and men’s team coach Ufuk Talay indicated this week he would be open to going above and beyond to help New Zealand qualify for a World Cup for a third time.
“That's a discussion that we'll have to have with New Zealand Football and also with Danny, on who he'd like to bring in. I understand it's a difficult process when there are games outside of the window and then inside of the window.
“At the end of the day we'll try to help New Zealand Football as much as we can, so they can qualify and go to a World Cup, because I think it's a great opportunity for those players to be in that spotlight and play in a World Cup. These things don't come very often, so we're trying to help them as much as they can, and we will try to make it work where it helps them and helps us at the same time.”
“At the end of the day we'll try to help New Zealand Football as much as we can, so they can qualify and go to a World Cup, because I think it's a great opportunity for those players to be in that spotlight and play in a World Cup. These things don't come very often, so we're trying to help them as much as they can, and we will try to make it work where it helps them and helps us at the same time.”
Talay acknowledged there “might be a trade-off” to be agreed. One possible arrangement could involve Phoenix players leaving after the team’s match against Brisbane Roar on March 12, missing the one against Newcastle Jets on March 18, but returning in time to face Perth Glory on the weekend of March 26, the match they would have missed if they only left during the window.
NZ Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell they were “taking stock” from an operational perspective now they hadn’t wound up with the format they had preferred – a series of three knockout rounds played entirely inside the March window to narrow eight teams down to one.
NZ Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell they were “taking stock” from an operational perspective now they hadn’t wound up with the format they had preferred – a series of three knockout rounds played entirely inside the March window to narrow eight teams down to one.
The All Whites are close to locking in a pair of matches against Asian opposition for the January international window. They have then been drawn with Fiji, New Caledonia, and Papua New Guinea in group B for the Oceania qualifiers for the World Cup, which will also take place in Qatar, next November and December.