All Whites' Dead End Road To Russia 2018

Brought a tear to my eye

150 minutes and counting...

My guess

God, please not Dyer again.

I was thinking:

Strangely enough if it came down to Watson and Smeltz that'd be a tough one, but Watson possibly has been fitter and has been in scoring touch of late, plus is a bit more driven with something to prove.  Aside Fallon, Wood and Smeltz there's not a lot of AW experience of big games- not friendlies against Thailand 'B' or 'C'. Midfield and defence are missing some keystones methinks!

that midfield would look a lot more solid with Riera in it, but I guess we're working on the assumption that he hasn't been granted citizenship yet then. Or do they name him then use the selection in the squad to justify the grant of citizenship?

All Whites squad to play the OFC Nations Cup (Club side, country, caps and goals for New Zealand):

Goalkeepers

Max Crocombe (Oxford Utd, England 0, 0)
Stefan Marinovic (SpVgg Unterhaching, Germany 3, 0)
Tamati Williams (RKC Waalwijk, Netherlands 1, 0)

Defenders

Luke Adams (South Melbourne FC, Australia 0, 0)
Michael Boxall (SuperSport Utd, South Africa 14, 0)
Sam Brotherton (Wisconsin University, USA 1, 0)
Kip Colvey (San Jose Earthquakes FC, USA 0, 0)
Thomas Doyle (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand 2, 0)
Louis Fenton (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand 3, 0)

Midfielders

Te Atawhai Wihongi (Onehunga Sports FC, New Zealand 1, 0)
Moses Dyer (Onehunga Sports FC, New Zealand 2, 0)
Clayton Lewis (Onehunga Sports FC, New Zealand 3, 0)
Michael McGlinchey (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand 33, 3)
Matt Ridenton (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand 1, 0)
Bill Tuiloma (RC Strasbourg Alsace, France, 9, 0)
Themi Tzimopoulos (PAS Giannina FC, Greece, 3, 0)

Forwards

Kosta Barbarouses (Melbourne Victory, Australia 29, 2)
Rory Fallon (Bristol Rovers, England 18, 4)
Monty Patterson (Ipswich Town FC, England 0, 0)
Logan Rogerson (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand 1, 0)
Marco Rojas (FC Thun, Switzerland, 23, 1)
Shane Smeltz (Sydney FC, Australia, 51, 24)
Chris Wood (Leeds Utd FC, England 39, 14)

Two notable omissions in Hudson’s squad are regular skipper Winston Reid and Tommy Smith (Ipswich Town FC). Reid was made available for selection by West Ham United for the FIFA international fixture window but not chosen after missing 23 games of the season due to injury, while Smith was undecided on his commitment to the national team.

“Winston and Tommy’s situations are very different,” said Hudson. “Winston has had an injury-interrupted season with West Ham and I have decided it is in his and the team’s best interests to get him right for the rest of the year.

“Winston is 100 percent committed to our team. While Tommy has not been able to commit to us again, and as a result I will not be selecting him for the All Whites going forward. It is too disruptive to our preparation.”

There were a number of players not considered for selection due to injury and this list included Glen Moss (eye), Ryan Thomas (knee), Storm Roux (multiple), Deklan Wynne (groin), Henry Cameron (knee) and Alex Rufer (leg), but Hudson is confident he has the squad to get the job done.

That defence is light as.

wow, passive aggressive comments from Hudson re Smith

Chat in the new Nations Cup thread for the time being. Thanks.

fixed

Ok so next stop from here is 2 groups of 3 teams. Home and away series starting in November. Winners of each group have a playoff in October 2016, with the winner going to the intercontinental playoff in November. 

Also sounds like we might have some friendlies in the October window. 

Odds of a full squad in any of the Group games?

When does the draw take place for the group stage? I read that it would be soon after the Nations Cup, but not sure how soon.

That's an interesting question. The 4 group games in the next stage of qualification are set to be played over 3 fifa windows. So the format could go two different ways

2 of the 3 teams play home and away in one window. So one team sits out an entire window but plays 2 games in the other 2 windows.

Or each team plays at one game in two of the three windows, and two games in the other window. It might be hard to attract plays back home for just one game under this options.

First option seems much better, but this is OFC we are talking about.

hearing it will be the first option. Which would mean we would get the bye in the June window as it will be used for friendlies before the Confeds Cup.

fixed for you

March and October wouldn't it be? FIFA website says the next round of qualifying is from March 2017-October 2017

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/oceania...

It's apparently being moved forward a fifa window. So our four group games will be in Nov and march. June will be friendlies and confeds cup.

there seems to be such confidence that will breeze through the actual oceania world cup qualifying - after the AW performances in PNG why would anyone take that for granted? 

because Hudson has the winning tactic for every occasion and circumstances.

Because it's also home and away, we'll play better in our own backyard and in conditions that we're more comfortable in.

He said that we will play a game against South America team in Oct. I think he means central as COMNEBOL are back into WCQs.

Knowing NZF we could be playing a South American team, just not an international one.

Edit: Or, could be one of Suriname, Guyana or French Guyana which are South American teams - not CONMEBOL teams.

Hmm, they'll probably have World Cup qualifying too. Would have to be knocked out CONCACAF side you'd think.

Oops just saw that the hex will start in November.

Confeds Cup in Russia 2017.  Is anyone planning on going?  I figure we aren't gonna make the World Cup, so might as well head across and see this tournament instead. 

Was gonna do some indicative pricing to see if it was worth, unless someone already has an can share the info

I'm hoping to go. Will be in Europe on an OE

I'm not going but I've been to Russia several times and it's not the easiest place to travel in (although so worth it) if anyone needs some advice.

There are also multiple ways to get visas the easiest ways are less than above board but are way simpler, pm me if you want those options.

Rule number one, buy a t-shirt with a "New Zealand" on it, or one that says "Not English"

No, rule number one is try and look Russian. The good thing about traveling in Russia rather than say India is its not hard to blend in. (Unless your in the Caucasus)

Kit yourself out here: http://www.soviet-power.com/

I'm imagining you in the reflective firemans suit......and I feel......uneasy

I do.