Article makes no mention of Rufer either way, Piney was either informed or made an educated guess earlier this week that Rufer was not on the squad shortlist and was only on standby.
I think you can maybe infer he isn't in given the article says Old and Kosta are, seeing as they like Rufer also weren't in recent squads.
Edit: I also think this would be an awful moment to call up Herdman, he is on the fringes of the first team and MLS doesn't stop for the window. Surely Baze isn't so stupid
I think you can maybe infer he isn't in given the article says Old and Kosta are, seeing as they like Rufer also weren't in recent squads.
Edit: I also think this would be an awful moment to call up Herdman, he is on the fringes of the first team and MLS doesn't stop for the window. Surely Baze isn't so stupid
Yes fair point about Herdman & Vancouver. He would miss at least one MLS game. But he may only be in their squad currently due to other players being injured?? Whitecaps play later today, so will see if he's in that match day squad.
Each young player is different. Chiefy said last week he wants as many players called up by Bazeley as possible, as long as they are looked after flying business class on the long flights etc. But otherwise yes he sees real value in young players especially, getting international experience.
Maybe Fulham see a different plan for Dibley-Dias at the moment, with him not having not long returned from surgery. An injury he got in AWs camp last year??
But yeah I think D-D would definitely like to play at the Paris Olympics. That won't cap tie him?? Just in case England, Brazil or Portugal ever did come calling. Who knows he goes to the Olympics loves the environment with lots of other talented young players, and commits himself to NZ. But suspect he will give the OFC Nations Cup a swerve (as Tyler Boyd did last time it was played) as yes that will cap tie him to NZ.
Realistically Dibley-Dias won't be good enough for any of the 3 big teams above. But I don't really have a problem if he takes another 12 months or so to decide for good in the lead up to 2026 WC. And as long as the other AWs players are okay with it as well, just see what happens.