I think with a mix of 2 of Rufer/lewis/bell we will win a lot of ball and actually hold some possession for once.
Since Peru in 2022 (when from memory we totally struggled to get out of our half in the first stanza esp), we have played alot of top 70 teams and I feel done pretty good possession wise. Costa Rica, Australia x2, Sweden, Qatar, Congo, Australia, Greece & Eire. Maybe the Swedish game & lesser extent the Greek game we struggled for possession.
However mostly those opponents have just been better at creating clear chances, and then more clinical. On the whole they have better players. But the average technicial ability of our midfielders is leaps ahead of previous generations, so holding the ball for periods is now expected.
It definitely felt the 2nd half of that Irish game could be a turning point. Lets not forget most of those games above, Singh hasn't been available. Him being fit is absolutely crucial (more even than Wood) to the AWs achieving anything of note.
I’ve got a horrible suspicion that Lewis is too slow for the international level we want to pitch ourselves at.
And if we want Singh to set the tempo, he has to have the option to drop deep, perhaps even between the CBs and roam on both sides of the pitch. Which leaves him in a space where we potentially have 3 other midfielders.
Also, I think Rufer might be in better form than Stamenic, but I don’t watch the latter enough and Rufer too is playing in games at a slower pace than we want to be playing with the AWs.
Is Rogerson completely out of the conversation? Just that he’s a classic winger, which we’re short on, and a little bigger than Just. Again it depends on our formation.
Another worry of mine is Cacace hasn’t racked up any goals or assists, despite coming close. What’s his missing puzzle piece, because he should be an attacking force of nature!
Which leaves me worried that the team should actually be built around Garbett as he’s been involved in most of our goals of late.
All of which leads me to conclude: we play too little international football and I worry too much.
I don't mind the idea of building around Garbett. He has displayed the most heart when he puts the fern on. If you consider the previous Olympic campaign as the starting point in the modern all whites era where we stepped out of hiatus and decided we were competent enough to attempt to play possession based football. He wasn't supposed to be there but took his chance. Since then while, he hasn't had the luxury of his peers who come from being established in higher calibre teams and leagues. He's been the one who has made things happen from open play in Singh's absence. Thinking back to the Costa Rica kerfuffle and the second half of the Ireland game.
There's an extra quality about him when he puts the all whites jersey on. You can tell he really fudgeing wants to be there.
While we have, not quite embarrassment of riches but certainly a stronger competition than usual when it comes to competing for midfield starting spots, and when it comes to getting on in that starting XI, I think Garbett has done enough go get priority for the time being if fit.
He also had a nicely taken goal against China at the ROF, March last year. Garbett certainly has passion, and there is alot of that, lets try and make something happen, not be passive.
Had a storming 2nd half against Peru in Barcelona as well. Plays without fear almost. Still young, and hopefully some greater consistency will come. Him & Old should be a good midfield pair in Paris, if a bit similar. Stamenic behind them. Singh maybe in front as an o/a player. Will be a good shop window for a few of the OlyWhites.
I think Old is different to the other midfielders in the All White Mix or u23 side currently in the sense he is more direct and better with the ball at his feet.
It will be interesting to see how he is used for the u23's. Is he used against a tiring defense.
Jay Herdman is another player who might make things happen. A lot will depend on his recovery from his knee, but he offers something a little different.
I remember after our under 20 team competed in Poland (2019) being disappointed that it didn’t look like we had another generation like that coming through. Up until 12 months ago it still looked a little bleak. But it’s amazing what a year can do. I know this squad is U23 and not U20 but it’s still exciting to see.
Hughes and LKH can swap in an out + we have some other u23's logging pro minutes in Conchie etc as well.
Defo need a RB in there, because Bindon’s not one. Him and Surman could form a sensational backbone for us in the years to come. Unfortunately, much like our senior squad, there’s not much in terms of solid RB talent
Woodsman & Payne yipe, but I'd go Singh over Cacace. With Sutton & LK-H have some good quality OlyWhites cover at LB. LK-H has an impressive time in Paris, and who knows who's watching. He could very quickly be the next big Nix overseas transfer.
But there is no one like Singh at any level of NZ football, to unlock a defence with a magic ball.
But I imagine alot will depend where say Libby or Singh are with their club football. Sarpreet could be on the move again (especially if Rostock get relegated to Liga 3) and the Olympics being in August, would be an important pre season period at a new club. Libby more settled at Empoli, though they to are also in danger of the drop.
Bindon has played RB on a few occassions for his club side - so don't discount him playing there.
Have we ever had a u23 side where (minus the over age players) where all forseeable starting players were on professional contracts?
And arguably (excluding Dias) th NIX players are playing at the lowest level.
Awesome!
Bindon is 19. At 19 Tim Payne was at Blackburn I think as an AM.
Reading who see Bindon day in day out, have seen enough to try him at RB on a couple of occasions. He ain't the biggest CB. We can't rule out that RB maybe his future position, esp for the AWs where for a long time now it's been a problem spot.
Bindon has played RB on a few occassions for his club side - so don't discount him playing there.
Have we ever had a u23 side where (minus the over age players) where all forseeable starting players were on professional contracts?
And arguably (excluding Dias) th NIX players are playing at the lowest level.
Awesome!
Bindon is 19. At 19 Tim Payne was at Blackburn I think as an AM.
Reading who see Bindon day in day out, have seen enough to try him at RB on a couple of occasions. He ain't the biggest CB. We can't rule out that RB maybe his future position, esp for the AWs where for a long time now it's been a problem spot.
Smart player would have identified just that, RB being an opening in the AW's that he could fill. Talk to the club to give him some positional training and he can then fill/play two defensive roles. Win/win!
Bindon has played RB on a few occassions for his club side - so don't discount him playing there.
Have we ever had a u23 side where (minus the over age players) where all forseeable starting players were on professional contracts?
And arguably (excluding Dias) th NIX players are playing at the lowest level.
Awesome!
Bindon is 19. At 19 Tim Payne was at Blackburn I think as an AM.
Reading who see Bindon day in day out, have seen enough to try him at RB on a couple of occasions. He ain't the biggest CB. We can't rule out that RB maybe his future position, esp for the AWs where for a long time now it's been a problem spot.
Smart player would have identified just that, RB being an opening in the AW's that he could fill. Talk to the club to give him some positional training and he can then fill/play two defensive roles. Win/win!
Ah, he’s arguably Reading’s best CB right now, one of their best performers overall, but without sugarcoating it he wasn’t good at all at RB when he filled in there (though his one goal did come while playing RB) and he was switched back to CB once the experiment ran its course. Would be interesting to see what happens in the future regarding this as he’s definitely technically gifted, but doesn’t have the physical tools to excel there just yet.
Definitely chance in the future to chop and change, but right now he won’t sacrifice anything in his club career to play in a position he doesn’t excel in nor enjoy a few times a year, especially when he’s smashing it right now and garnering EPL interest.
A year ago, depth at CB was very weak too, tbh - now a Bindon/Surman partnership sounds superb. What a time to be a Kiwi footy fan!
I’d be keeping an eye on Matt Sheridan for that RB role. Obviously has only seen very limited minutes but he looked super dangerous coming off the bench vs MacArthur.
Baze must be stressed about our injuries at present- wood, Stamenic, Garbett, Mcgarry, Mata (?) and the fact the Scandinavian guys have been playing friendlies..
Might need a few a league players who are getting game time in the squad- rufer etc
From Flying Kiwis. Lets hope we get a look at Dibley-Dias in March
THE PHYSIO’S TABLE
With an eye on the upcoming All Whites fixtures against Egypt and either Croatia or Tunisia. It wouldn’t be an international window without a few injury concerns, and the current situation is no outlier.
Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest) – Suffered a hamstring issue at the start of the month which was expected to keep him out for 6-8 weeks. The All Whites games align smack-bang in the middle of that timeframe so it’s a possibility. Flip a coin to see if he recovers in time – the last spell he spent injured, he made his first start back for the national team (albeit after one bench cameo for his club first).
Marko Stamenic (Crvena zvezda) – Not sure if this is an injury or not, just that Stamenic wasn’t in the squads for the first couple of Red Star games post-winter break. He didn’t play their third match over the weekend either, a 3-0 win against Cukaricki, though he was at least on the bench as an unused sub. He was pictured training with the team during the week so hopefully he was injured (otherwise it means he was dropped) but also hopefully it was nothing serious and he’ll be good to go from here on.
Matt Garbett (NAC Breda) – Remember when Garbs blew his shoulder out and they said he’d miss several weeks and then he returned after missing only one match? Yeah well he’s not been witnessed for three games since. Not sure if it’s still the shoulder that’s bothering him, all the club’s website had to say was that he was injured (specifically “not fit to play”).
James McGarry (Aberdeen) – Actually, this one’s tracking fine. McGarry missed a few months with a hamstring injury early in the season, then a few weeks back hurt the same hamstring again in a different way. He’s not played since December... but he’s now back in training and was even on the bench for the 2-0 loss against Kilmarnock over the weekend. Given that the Dons have not won a game in their last seven Scottish Premiership matches (their only win since McGarry’s injury being the very first match), surely new boss Neil Warnock won’t hesitate to give him a crack soon.
Matt Dibley-Dias (Fulham U21s) – Needed surgery on an injury he aggravated with the All Whites last tour, but we’ve already covered his return in these pages over recent weeks. MDD played ninety minutes in a defeat against Everton U21s this very morning – his first full match since his recovery.
If past windows are anything to go by there will still be another 10 days at least before the squad is named, so still a chance for the likes of Garbett & Wood to sneak in
Mohamed Salah 'pushed to be left out of squad' as Liverpool vs Egypt debate continues
Mohamed Salah has only been fit enough to feature on the bench in his last three Liverpool games, with the attacker being left out of Egypt's squad for the March internationals
Mohamed Salah pushed Egypt to leave him out of their squad for the March internationals
Egypt face New Zealand in Abu Dhabi in two weeks, with a further game against either Tunisia or Croatia also planned. The break comes two months after their disappointing performance in the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Pharaohs were knocked out at the last 16 stage by DR Congo, with Salah having been injured in their opening group game. The attacker flew back to Liverpool for treatment on the injury, in the hope he may be able to return if Egypt made the final.
Obviously that did not happen and Salah has only been fit enough to feature from the bench in his last three appearances for Liverpool. With his injury issues continuing, Egypt opted to leave him out of their squad for March's internationals.
According to the Daily Mail, that was a decision that Salah played a key role in, with the attacker described as being 'highly influential'. The Liverpool star is reported to have pleaded with his nation to put his long-term fitness ahead of their immediate needs.
That was a plea they ultimately listened too, despite Salah's frosty relationship with new boss Hossam Hassan. Hassan had been highly critical of Salah's decision to return to Liverpool for treatment, before taking over as manager from Rui Vitoria.
They are doing better than decent, given the past absolute paucity of AWs games for Hay (pre Covid) & Hudson in general, they are now doing a brilliant job. I know slating NZF is a popular past time, but they deserve some good kudos with this.
AWs played 8 quality games last year (all top 100 opponents, many in the top 50). By comparison last year the far better financially resourced Australia also played 8 games, and 2 of those were against Bangladesh & Palestine (admittedly an emerging force it seems).
Looks like this year the AWs will have 10 games, including some home OFC qualifiers. Plus we have the Olywhites at Paris. Really it's fantasy land to expect much more than hosting the OFC teams in the lead up to 2026. We have just seen a club verus country battle with Salah. Imagine the Egyptian FA saying to Liverpool, yeah we are going to play FIFA ranking 103rd NZ in NZ, so Mo will be flying a 60 hours round trip. That's okay? Similar NZ asking relegation battling Forest if is okay for Wood just returning from his hammy twinge, to make the same trip. No one from the Northern Hemisphere wants to make the long haul south in a 7 day FIFA window.
NZF have done very well to have Australia and China visit NZ the last few years. Best bet is another AFC team visiting again (Japan and/or Sth Korea would be great) but AFC has a busy schedule of WC qualifying now right up to June 2026. So yeah it will be the AWs hosting a few OFC teams until March next year (end of OFC qualifying), hopefully securing OFC's automatic WC spot, and then playing some quality friendlies overseas again in the lead up to 2026 WC.
Maybe NZF could have tried to get a team to visit NZ in June (when most of the club seasons are finished), but imagine it would have been a real struggle with all the Confederations getting into their WC qualifying. Anyway they have committed the AWs to the OFC Nations Cup, and hopefully the FIFA ranking points boost that comes with winning that.
And yeah aiming to play friendlies in North America makes alot of sense, to get familar with the facilities, transport systems, crowds etc there. I'm guessing Mexico, USA & Canada as hosts & automatic qualifiers won't be in CONCACAF WC qualifying - so should be free for some friendlies in 2025??
Bazeley - “We will likely have another game still to be announced in this window but we are now in a fortunate position of having the 2024 schedule locked in with the W Cup alongside Egypt, Croatia and Tunisia this month, followed by the OFC Men’s Nations Cup in Vanuatu, Olympics in July, this game in September and FIFA World Cup qualifying in October and November.
A second fixture for the September FIFA international window is set to be confirmed and announced in due course.
I wouldn't be surprised if a Canada friendly was announced shortly too. We have the relationship of previous fixtures and the Herdman thing whether that's a positive ir negative. I see Mexico and Canada are facing off against each other in the USA a few days after our match up with Mexico.
I wouldn't be surprised if a Canada friendly was announced shortly too. We have the relationship of previous fixtures and the Herdman thing whether that's a positive ir negative. I see Mexico and Canada are facing off against each other in the USA a few days after our match up with Mexico.
Could also play a Central American team in the US if that works better.
Maybe yes. From Wiki CONCACAF 2nd Round WC qualifying starts in June this year, and then pauses until June 2025. Maybe they have Nations League stuff happening, between that. But yeah could be a few uncomitted teams in September.
Jamaica, USA and Mexico are all in June's Copa America with the CONEMBOL teams. It's being hosted in the USA this year.
Big challenge that thoufh Egypt in Cairo. Mexico in LA later on this year.
Really stepping into the fire in those two fixtures - and either Tunisia or Croatia after playing Egypt as well. But a good challenge ahead, with the Nations Cup in between of course.
Tunisia side named for the Cairo tournie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunisia_national_football_team#Players They've named a very strong side with lots of experienced players from the Bundesliga and other European leagues. Their midfield looks particularly strong with two from the Bundesliga and others from Serie A, Swiss league, Hungary and Brighton. Only seven players from the AFCON squad from January have been omitted, mostly older guys in their thirties. They've been replaced by guys in their early twenties they want to have a look at such as Sammy Chouchene of Brighton u-21. The one big name missing is midfielder Ben Slimane of Sheffield United in the EPL. _________________________________________________
Tunisia beat Egypt 3-1 in a friendly in Cairo in September last year. In the AFCON group stage in January, they opened with a major upset loss to Namibia, then drew with Mali and South Africa and failed to progress. Manager Kalil Kadri was sacked after the AFCON disappointment, after two years in charge including World Cup 2022 in Qatar, and the team currently has a caretaker manager, Montasser Louhichi, the former u-20 coach. Record in their last 15 games this year and last: P: 15 W: 7 D: 4 L: 4
The 2024 ACUD Cup or New Administrative Capital Cup is an international football tournament. It is scheduled for play between 22 and 26 March 2024 in Cairo, Egypt.[1]
EDIT: It is sponsored by the ACUD (the Administrative Capital Urban Development Company) but due to the new Administrative Capital Stadium not being yet ready, will be held in Cairo at the Cairo international stadium and the suburban "30 June" club stadium.
Though it appears it won't be used in the upcoming tournament featuring the All Whites, this is the new home of the Egyptian national team, the newly completed New Administrative Capital Stadium, in the New Administrative Capital outside of Cairo. the second biggest football stadium in Africa and the sixth largest football stadium in the world, holding about 94,000. It's designed with hosting the Olympics in mind, hence the athletics track. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Administrative_Capital_Stadium
Tweet by NZF seems to name the old National Stadium as the venue. Maybe just seem naming confusion
Judean People’s Front or People’s Front of Judea
Also wonder whether will be much of a crowd with Ramadan? Maybe locals will be more focused on their large evening meal as opposed to football. Ramadan also a lot of pure thoughts, family, thinking of God/Allah I understand. Getting away from things like football etc??
Tweet by NZF seems to name the old National Stadium as the venue. Maybe just seem naming confusion
Judean People’s Front or People’s Front of Judea
Also wonder whether will be much of a crowd with Ramadan? Maybe locals will be more focused on their large evening meal as opposed to football. Ramadan also a lot of pure thoughts, family, thinking of God/Allah I understand. Getting away from things like football etc??
And then beloved Salah won’t be there also
The 2024 ACUD Cup or New Administrative Capital Cup is an international football tournament. It is scheduled for play between 22 and 26 March 2024 in Cairo, Egypt.[1]
EDIT: It is sponsored by the ACUD (the Administrative Capital Urban Development Company) but due to the new Administrative Capital Stadium not being yet ready, will be held in Cairo at the Cairo international stadium and the suburban "30 June" club stadium.
The tournament featuring the All Whites in Cairo, the ACUD Cup, has now been added under the umbrella of FIFA's official international friendly series, the 2024 FIFA Series which will be the first edition of the FIFA Series, an invitational association football competition promoted by FIFA that features friendly matches between national teams from different confederations. The inaugural edition will feature five different series, taking place across five host countries from 21 to 26 March 2024.[1][2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_FIFA_Series#Egypt_(ACUD_Cup)
Egypt (ACUD Cup) The FIFA Series: Egypt, also known as the ACUD International Football Cup, will be held in Cairo on 22, 25 and 26 March 2024, and will involve the hosts Egypt (CAF), Croatia (UEFA), New Zealand (OFC) and Tunisia (CAF).[16]
The tournament was originally not part of the FIFA Series, and was called the Winsunited Cup (W Cup).[17] It was scheduled to be played in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.[18] However, due to sponsorship issues, on 14 March 2024 the tournament was moved to Egypt,[19][20] and became part of the FIFA Series.
__________________________________________ It is sponsored by the ACUD (the Administrative Capital Urban Development Company) but due to the new Administrative Capital Stadium not being yet ready, will be held in Cairo at the Cairo international stadium and the suburban "30 June" club stadium.
Looks just like the one on the Auckland waterfront....:PBig Pete 65
Though it appears it won't be used in the upcoming tournament featuring the All Whites, this is the new home of the Egyptian national team, the newly completed New Administrative Capital Stadium, in the New Administrative Capital outside of Cairo. the second biggest football stadium in Africa and the sixth largest football stadium in the world, holding about 94,000. It's designed with hosting the Olympics in mind, hence the athletics track. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Administrative_Capital_Stadium
Tweet by NZF seems to name the old National Stadium as the venue. Maybe just seem naming confusion
Judean People’s Front or People’s Front of Judea
Also wonder whether will be much of a crowd with Ramadan? Maybe locals will be more focused on their large evening meal as opposed to football. Ramadan also a lot of pure thoughts, family, thinking of God/Allah I understand. Getting away from things like football etc??
And then beloved Salah won’t be there also
Night time is when everything comes alive during Ramadan! If the kickoff time is late enough after iftar (the break-fast meal) I'd say the crowd will be decent. Sure, there's a bit more devotional thought - but football and the national team will definitely have plenty of attention :)
