All Whites' Dead End Road To Russia 2018

Think the key point is that these two, by refusing callups, have decided they don't want to be Hudson's players. And given neither of them are of a level where their presence is a must, there's no point in him chasing after them, as he's said. 

How do we know Hudson's not talking porkies.  He porkies his wiki and his chats with British media.  I think he's on Gleeson's back due to his own demons with booze.  Also why is he treating Reid different to them?

Also both these players are better than players he's selecting so your last point should read that their presence IS a must. 

How was Rufer good enough to go to Russia with no game time/severe lack of match fitness and yet now that he's playing for the Nix gets dropped?  What does Hudson smoke?

Reid has only turned down callups due to injury in the Hudson Era.

Hudson gave Tommy Smith a 2nd chance why not Boyd or Gleeson?.

Because Tommy reached out to him, eager to make amends, and Boyd and Gleeson haven't done that, or so he says.

Because Tommy plays in the fatherland England

Good point - Anfony gave his reasons for Tuiloma and Lewis (like them or not), but we are seriously short in midfield, so why not have Rufer (or Ridenton) in there, and get Keat or Benji vdB over. Keat has been playing pretty regularly in Sweden according to Transfermarkt......Benji must have kicked Anfony in his goolies or something to not get another chance. Ok, apparently he isn't liked but I don't like the people I work with either, yet we still get the job done.

The news that Hudson wants to stay on after his current contract runs out will be good news to many lol

Because neither of them are as good?

Smith also instigated his return

a Grandparent makes you eligible ie Kosta Barabrouses could have played for NZ (birthplace), Greece (parent(s)) or Romania (grandparent)

I'd say the reason we haven't seen van den Broek is that he wasn't good enough, although Hudson has proved with Moses Dyer that doesn't necessarily mean you won't get selected, but van den Broek was playing for Barrow in the English conference and is now in the dutch 2nd division playing for a team that finished 16th out of 20 last season. Also heard that he wasn't particularly liked in the dressing room.

The question I want to know the answer to is if Lewis and Tuiloma are deemed to be unfit, how has he managed to select Andrew Durante who isn't even training at the moment due to an injury and is only supposed to be coming back around the 20th august?

He's questioning their professional attitude, and lack of turning up in peak fitness. Equivalent of being sent to the naughty chair

Possible explanation for him casting James aside.

Don't worry everyone, it's only a friendly and we'll have plenty of competitive games between now and the WC playoff to get our full strength side together, so it's fine that Hudson is dropping two of our most effective midfielders.

Oh wait...

Tuiloma fit enough to play 90 minutes last weekend. To add to his bizarre file, I think Hudson just doesn't like Portland Timbers. I mean, look at their great stadium, awesome fans, successful team - clearly rubbish

I reckon he was just at Barrow as a 'placeholder'......like picking up a temp job while you're killing time until your next contract comes along? While the Dutch 2nd Division isn't much, it's still better than the SSP or playing for Whitecaps 2. I'd also guess it would be pretty similar to A-League, but I'm only basing that on gut feeling (given that Rojas traded 'up' going into the Eredivisie)

It'll probably 7 or 8 November.

Stadium was (still is?) booked for 10th and 11th. 

Doesn't matter. The two FAs will have to agree the dates, and if they can't, FIFA will set them. And there is no way either the South American side, or FIFA, will accept a three-day turnaround for an intercontinental play-off.

Both intercontinental playoffs last time around were played a week apart, and no reason why that won't be the case again.

Hilarious if Westpac is booked during the week by someone else and they have to move the game. 

Bring back Hutt Rec.

Messi at Davey F is something worth having. 

Messi at Naenae 1. We might even have a chance then.

Would they dare move it to QBE Stadium?

Eden Park will be out for 2-3 months over that period

10th, Friday night NZT, seems likely.

Any earlier, and players are having a tiny 'turnaround' prior to game one.

Leave clubs Monday, all get to NZ by Wednesday, play Friday, over to SA, play Tuesday.

He's not a silly boy - he's the messiah!

LOL... thanks, I was waiting for someone to pickup on that

So our Messiah thinks he might stay on as AW coach. Obviously all his self promotion for a gig in the UK has foundered on the poor showing at the Confeds Cup. I don't think his standing in the UK is much. His teams performance against Russia was described in some of the UK press as worst than pub team level. Hudson knows he has a soft position here.....easy job, compliant sports media, plenty of time to walk the dog, no pressure.

Drops Tuiloma for lack of match fitness and then the kid gets through 90 minutes no problem. No one is keeping Hudson to account...he can do what ever he likes

quote]

LOL... thanks, I was waiting for someone to pickup on that

So our Messiah thinks he might stay on as AW coach. Obviously all his self promotion for a gig in the UK has foundered on the poor showing at the Confeds Cup. I don't think his standing in the UK is much. His teams performance against Russia was described in some of the UK press as worst than pub team level. Hudson knows he has a soft position here.....easy job, compliant sports media, plenty of time to walk the dog, no pressure.

Drops Tuiloma for lack of match fitness and then the kid gets through 90 minutes no problem. No one is keeping Hudson to account...he can do what ever he likes

[/quote]

Of course he can, he's employed by NZF, and you assume he has to report to the CEO and Board from time to time, and as much as he doesn't seem to have the public's support and especially not the forum members support you have to assume he has the Boards.

I personally don;t like (nor trust) the guy and think his selections are full of contradictions.

No. For international qualifying matches, clubs have to release players 4 days prior to the game, and 5 if the game is on a different continent. So there is absolutely no danger of 'tiny' turnaround at the front end.

Like I said, in 2013 both intercontinental playoffs were played a week apart (with both games midweek), and there is absolutely no reason for that not to happen again.

I actually think that's a bit unfair.  Hudson is a professional and he wants to win.  The issue is, I think, his ego gets in the way of taking a more pragmatic view of how to succeed with the All Whites.  I actually think that this team has a lot of improvement in it so I get that he would possibly want to stay on and see it through.  Not everything he has done is terrible but there have been some major shortcomings and the relaity has been a very long way from the dream we have been sold.

The international window starts on Monday. If they schedule the game or Tuesday, are you saying they'd be missing their games the weekend before, outside the window. (Is this what happened with the Nix in Christchurch in 2013?)

What makes the intercontinental playoff special, that it can't be scheduled like any other window (Friday/Monday, Saturday/Tuesday). Is it just the intercontinentality?

There are rules about how many days in between games when a certain distance has been traveled, NZ to South America will fall into that area

Yeah, there are rules. Teams are allowed to play matches on the territory of only one confederation/continent, and can only arrange friendly matches outside that if they involve no more than 5 hours' flying, and no more than two time zones.

The intercontinental play-offs are the only exception to this rule:

5.

Representative teams shall play the two matches within an international

window on the territory of the same confederation, with the only exception

of inter-continental play-off matches. If at least one of the two matches is a

friendly, they can be played in two different confederations only if the distance

between the venues does not exceed a total of five flight hours, according to

the official schedule of the airline, and two time-zones.

Yup, I know those rules, big part of why I find the endless bitching about the All Whites never having games and especially never having home games to be so stupid and pointless.

Nothing here that doesn't tell me why it can't just be Friday/Monday Saturday/Tuesday like a normal window. I get that you'd want a longer break because of the longer travel, but doesn't seem a huge deal. Players leave clubs in Europe and South America on the Sunday night/Monday AM, they don't want to be playing in NZ on the Wednesday night or Thursday night - Ryan Thomas has been said to have only been arriving in NZ on Wednesday the last two OFC windows. 

Intercontinental travel on a short turnaround is a huge deal. The minimum 2-day break between games is mandatory for games played on the same continent, so clearly an extra day for intercontinental matches spanning multiple time zones and including travel that could realistically take around 20 hours on its own goes pretty much against player welfare goals that those rules are designed to implement.

Not to mention that such a short turnaround favours one side over the other more than if the turnaround is longer, so it's another factor. I'd say it's 99.9% certain that the games will be on the Wednesday night here, and Tuesday night over there (which would be Wednesday morning here).