OPP perhaps the bolter for the world cup nobody saw coming. Pleased for ADJ to get another look in, hopefully he can make it count. Also great reward for Stanger as well, with the bulk of our up and coming talent being in that defensive space he's had to wait patiently.
Once Stanger is capped, 10 of Des's starting 11 in the U20 WC R16 game verus Colombia will have progressed onto the AWs.
All bar Gianni Stensness (a Socceroo) who would have been an All White.
Woud, Libby, Pijnaker, Stanger, Elliot, Stensness, Bell, Singh, Waine, Just and McCowatt.
Just swap OPP for Stensness and made it a perfect 11.
I'd say that's unheard of in the history of NZ men's football. Some of the previous age cohorts less than 50% would have become fully capped internationals.
Wilkins is under an injury cloud after leaving a Cup match for his Danish club Kolding IF with a hamstring issue last Friday (NZ time) and Bazeley will likely have to turn to A-League Men if a replacement is needed. While McGarry was the back-up left back in the last squad, his Brisbane Roar side play on the opening night of the season, so Bazeley could opt for Perth Glory’s Sam Sutton, whose season begins at home against the Phoenix a day later.
Once Stanger is capped, 10 of Des's starting 11 in the U20 WC R16 game verus Colombia will have progressed onto the AWs.
All bar Gianni Stensness (a Socceroo) who would have been an All White.
Woud, Libby, Pijnaker, Stanger, Elliot, Stensness, Bell, Singh, Waine, Just and McCowatt.
Just swap OPP for Stensness and made it a perfect 11.
I'd say that's unheard of in the history of NZ men's football. Some of the previous age cohorts less than 50% would have become fully capped internationals.
The 2015 U-20 team had 15 players who had become or would become All Whites (and two of the other six were called up). A Stanger debut would put 2019 at 13.
Unsure how Ben Waine gets a call up, but here we are!
Would have been a good chance to try Ben Gibson.....but maybe it was logistically a bit hard.....or he didn't want too....
Gibson would fall into the same category as all the other A-League Men players, where they haven't been carted to the other side of the world for scratch minutes off the bench.
You'd hope everyone is getting all these injury niggles out of the way early. You'd be gutted to have this many under injury cloud come the big dance next year
Didn’t he get selected for an Australian under 23 squad the other day?
He did. That is a bit of a weird one though. While Ben Gibson is under-23 eligible at present, and was for that tournament, which Australia won to qualify for the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup, which he will also be eligible for, as AFC uses a rolling cut-off, he won't be eligible for the Los Angeles Olympics, should Australia make it by finishing in the top three (or by finishing fourth and winning a playoff), assuming the qualification process remains the same as it was for the 2024 Paris Olympics, so there's not much of a pathway for him there.
I understand he is as open to New Zealand as he ever has been, but seized the opportunity that was there.
Depending on the impression Andre de Jong makes in October and November, a hot start to A-League Men with the Newcastle Jets is what Gibson needs to put himself in the mix, but he likely still has Kosta Barbarouses and Jesse Randall ahead of him behind Chris Wood at the very least.
You'd hope everyone is getting all these injury niggles out of the way early. You'd be gutted to have this many under injury cloud come the big dance next year
Apart from Libby, Pijnaker and maybe Wilkins it's very close to everyone available.
Exception being Barba and Rufer who would be picked if we were talking the World Cup right now. But as AV says what's the point potentially missing the start of the ALM season, for some 15 min cameos in Europe. All the other 6 ALM guys bypassed this time from the Sept window, are far more marginal WC selections. Same Tommy Smith.
Deserved chances for Stanger, OPP & ADJ to show where they are at.
Odds on someone will sadly be injured when the World Cup comes around. That will be the same for every country there.
We will notice it more, as we will likely have the smallest talent pool of senior professional players (70-80 only?) for any country that is yes at the Big Dance.
Maybe NZF will host a 30-35 player type training camp from late May next year, with guys invited in to show their wares before the final cut is made down to 23 or 26 whichever it is. Any such camp might even be in Qatar/UAE, as easier to get to for all, and maybe a quality friendly scheduled as well. The Socceroos ran a similar sort of camp before their crucial Japan & Saudi WC qualifiers in June. Selection candidates coming in & out.
You'd hope everyone is getting all these injury niggles out of the way early. You'd be gutted to have this many under injury cloud come the big dance next year
Apart from Libby, Pijnaker and maybe Wilkins it's very close to everyone available.
Exception being Barba and Rufer who would be picked if we were talking the World Cup right now. But as AV says what's the point potentially missing the start of the ALM season, for some 15 min cameos in Europe. All the other 6 ALM guys bypassed this time from the Sept window, are far more marginal WC selections. Same Tommy Smith.
Deserved chances for Stanger, OPP & ADJ to show where they are at.
Odds on someone will sadly be injured when the World Cup comes around. That will be the same for every country there.
We will notice it more, as we will likely have the smallest talent pool of senior professional players (70-80 only?) for any country that is yes at the Big Dance.
Maybe NZF will host a 30-35 player type training camp from late May next year, with guys invited in to show their wares before the final cut is made down to 23 or 26 whichever it is. Any such camp might even be in Qatar/UAE, as easier to get to for all, and maybe a quality friendly scheduled as well. The Socceroos ran a similar sort of camp before their crucial Japan & Saudi WC qualifiers in June. Selection candidates coming in & out.
If you held a training camp who would attend though? We already know our top 30 players and then below that there is only another 5-10 playing at a decent level.
It's a 23 man squad for this window, with 9 changes from Sept (22 man squad?). So that's 31 different players over the Sept & Oct windows?? Throw in Cacace & Pijnaker that's 33.
Sutton (34) may replace Wilkins if Dalton pulls out. Tommy Smith & Kees Sims makes 36.
Others like Gibson as mentioned above could have a standout ALM campaign, to come right into the mix.
It will likely be more narrowed down by May next year, but 30-35 players in contention is not unrealistic. The ALM is finishing a week earlier this season, due to the World Cup. That will help give Poppa and Baze a bit more time to run pre WC training/selection camps if they wish to.
Ive heard of that Lewandowski guy....apparently hes quite good. Actually Poland has some very important WC qualifiers coming up so I expect they will give the fringe players a run against us. They will still give us a good game
Ive heard of that Lewandowski guy....apparently hes quite good. Actually Poland has some very important WC qualifiers coming up so I expect they will give the fringe players a run against us. They will still give us a good game
Must be decent to get the call up over the mighty Zawada
Ive heard of that Lewandowski guy....apparently hes quite good. Actually Poland has some very important WC qualifiers coming up so I expect they will give the fringe players a run against us. They will still give us a good game
Must be decent to get the call up over the mighty Zawada
You’d think looking at the clubs of the last two forwards that Zawada wouldn’t be too far behind if he had a consistent season in the Netherlands.
Men’s U-20 captain Lukas Kelly-Heald (@WgtnPhoenixFC) has been added to the All Whites squad for the upcoming games against Poland and Norway next week.
Eli Just and Dalton Wilkins have had to withdraw from the squad due to injury. pic.twitter.com/L1HClZERi9
, So LKH defending against Lewandowski and then Haarland and Sorloth......ummmm...ok Hes a good prospect with huge potential but far from being an international quality LB and far down the list of AW CBs Not ideal for the Nix either. Sfrange call IMO
A rare chance for anyone on this forum to see someone from my hometown club, indeed the captain of the mighty Pogon Szczecin, Kamil Grosicki (who retired last year at 36 but then did a Dame Nellie Melba and somehow is playing in the WC qualifiers at 37, and he is a winger).
Actually, getting outplayed quite a bit these days
A rare chance for anyone on this forum to see someone from my hometown club, indeed the captain of the mighty Pogon Szczecin, Kamil Grosicki (who retired last year at 36 but then did a Dame Nellie Melba and somehow is playing in the WC qualifiers at 37, and he is a winger).
god that's a blast from the past, remember him from his Hull days. Can't be too quick these days surely
A rare chance for anyone on this forum to see someone from my hometown club, indeed the captain of the mighty Pogon Szczecin, Kamil Grosicki (who retired last year at 36 but then did a Dame Nellie Melba and somehow is playing in the WC qualifiers at 37, and he is a winger).
god that's a blast from the past, remember him from his Hull days. Can't be too quick these days surely
He is not. It's more of a testimony to how bad the PL national team is, to be immediately improved by Grosicki volunteering to come back from retirement!
Actually, getting outplayed quite a bit these days
Something else to consider here is that there has been more whispering about the potential for FIFA to keep squad sizes at 26 players instead of the 23 that we’re used to.
If the All Whites are allowed to take three extra players though that removes the issue of picking Tommy Smith as a limited playing presence because there’d be room for an additional Bill Tuiloma or George Stanger. It’d mean we can add Thomas without losing Rufer, since Roof does provide a nice counter-balance as a disciplined defensive option. It’d also mean a nice reprieve for one of those forwards. Waine could be the beneficiary. Or perhaps Owen Parker-Price impresses the All Whites staff as much as he’s impressed his Örgryte coaches and swoops on through (in which case Rufer would also return to ‘watch your back’ mode).
They expanded squads for the Qatar event as a tacit acceptance that interrupting the club season because of the inhumane heat of the host country during the usual window was probably going to lead to injuries. The next World Cup won’t have the same climate problems but it is being held across the breadth of three massive countries so travel will be punishing for those nations that progress beyond the initial group stage (the format of the 48-team WC is the same as the old one just with an extra knockout round... and a bunch of third-place qualifiers ruining the fun of the four-team groups – which is dumb but not as dumb as it could have been). We’ll see what happens.