New Zealand Men's U-17s

Yeah I know chopah, just trying to bring the FTC chat back to u17s. You're in auk aren't you? WYNRS/school lads ok with getting a one off opportunity in holidays? I know of at least one sth island lad who missed out and promptly transferred to central united to try to impress jose in his own backyard. Hoping to play for Wanderers youth. Commitment I suppose. Also, without naming names, I know the standard of one of the players still in the 20 at this stage is well below others even in his own club who are not doing FTC by choice. There's a lot of sorting out to do yet; but so far the process seems as fair as it can be.

just question if they not doing FTC by choice how is it that they are meant to be seen in this current situation? Is it the club coach saying this kids is good enough or what?

To answer WFA re scouting non FTC players, I believe it will be the coaching staff relying on their networks including, but obviously not limited to, FDMs in each region. Assistant Coach due to be announced according to 2ndBest, and GK coach and Physio advertised recently.

So very limited chance of being seen outside of Hamilton and Auckland then

U17 coach jose Figueira is to take the sth island Talent on Location day next week. TOL is the trial day for FTC players looking to make NTC. Great to see nat coach getting out of Auckland to see players.

Trails tomorrow in palmy for non-NTC players in central region

Temple assistant? his twitter page saying he was in Pamly scouting for u17.

Jose is there to look at the 98/99's for the U17's, this is a second chance for those that weren't picked at the last NTC U17 trials. there is another coach looking at the 2000's and younger for the next NTC camp.

Jose in Chch today to look at Sth Island TOL. These are FTC players who are striving to make NTC. Fantastic to see national coach looking at Sth Island players again. Any FTC/NTC Sth Island players who miss out can have no complaints about not being given chances to be seen. 

Does amyone know if the U17 assistant coach has been appointed yet?

Paul temple; though I didn't see an announcement anywhere.

I'm not a fan of either but I have to give kudos to Jose with what he has done at Central this year so I may be changing my tune on his coaching soon depending on what else he can produce. The appointment of Temple was signposted the instant Jose got the job though.....

http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/4825c657-7b38-4a60-ac31-e0e785916dcb/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Jan 11-27

11 teams in 2 groups. We are in the group of 6 based in Samoa.

Semi finals and finals.

Potentially 7 games. That's a bargain for $1,000.

http://www.wellingtonphoenix.com/article/internati...

Wonder if the full squad has been released yet?

Not yet. Can't be far away.

http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/mens-u-17-squad-named/

Goalkeepers
Reuben Clark – Onehunga Sports/Auckland Football
Michael Woud – Waitakere City/Northern Football

Defenders
Sione Fa’apoi – Fencibles Utd AFC/Auckland Football
Luke Johnson – Hamilton Wanderers/WaiBOP Football
Ben Mata – Onehunga Sports/Auckland Football
Jack-Henry Sinclair – Three Kings Utd/Central Football
Liam Williams – WaiBOP Utd/WaiBOP Football
Sam Wilson – Wellington Phoenix/Mainland Football

Midfielders
Oliver Ceci – Queenstown Rovers/Football South
Billy Jones – Onehunga Sports/Auckland Football
Daniel Lough – Birkenhead Utd AFC/Northern Football
Louie Mills – Birkenhead Utd AFC/Northern Football
Sarpreet Singh – Onehunga Sports/Auckland Football

Forwards
Jack Anderson – East Coast Bays AFC/Northern Football
Ben Kiore – Green Island AFC/Football South
James McGarry – Wellington Phoenix/Football South
Connor Probert – WaiBOP Utd/WaiBOP Football
Logan Rogerson – Hamilton Wanderers/WaiBOP Football
Sean Skeens – Birkenhead Utd AFC/Northern Football
Jamie Woodlock – Hamilton Wanderers/WaiBOP Football

Management staff
Head coach: Jose Figueira
Assistant coach: Paul Temple
Goalkeeper coach: Adam Bannister
Manager: Jamie Scott
Physio: Dawn Chalmers
Sports Scientist: Tim Wilson

As a Waikato lad, Im very happy to see the number of boys in this squad who got the call.  

Good on the lad from Queenstown, and I'm guessing Sione is from South Auckland.  Good to see people of PI descent are starting to come through in football given that they have done so well for us in League, Rugby (and Basketball ???), and if he proves to not be NZ international standard, may make a great player for Samoa I'm guessing, in the future.

Nelsen was eligable in 95,96 maybe 97 too, was he not selected?

Louie Mills is probably the best player in that team based purely on technical ability and understanding the game.

Numbers quoted are of Year of Birth of players.

Not sure why Chch players miss out, was some talk the elder Chretien (CTFC) boy might get a run. 

Do players in the wider training group get a breakdown on why they missed out?

the year he was selected for NZ U20 he broke his femur so couldn't be involved

Congratulations to Sam Wilson; Wellington Phoenix/ Mainland on being selected for NZ U17 team for 2015

Interested to see the Mata boy play. From my understanding his younger brother is the player to watch, but apparently he\s technically very good also.

Not having a go Buffy, but I would take this claim more seriously if I believed you have seen every player play, which i dont(could be wrong). I have seen/played with pretty much every player and do not share the same opinion. Hes good, but imo not the best.

Ben was captain of the Wanderers youth team, solid technically and very strong. Max plays up front and is also very good, he trains with the Wanderers youth team

http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/mens-u-17-squad-named/

Geographically, it's a strange spread - also not a single player developed in Wellington has been included (the two Wellington Phoenix Academy players being from out of town, from Nelson and Dunedin).

Though there are three players developed by Football South (two from Dunedin, one from Queenstown) - and two of those still at Otago clubs, so they do seem to have scouted widely.

Sixteen of the twenty man squad are listed as currently on the books of clubs within one and a half hours drive of NZ Football headquarters in Auckland (mostly Auckland clubs but a few at Hamilton clubs).

So with none from Wellington or Canterbury, that's none from a population base of 1,065,800 (574,300 in Canterbury and 491,500 in Wellington region) or about a quarter of the country's population.

You'd wonder why that is?

Also you could speculate on the effectiveness of the whole NTC programme. I imagine that there are large number of boys and girls that regularly pay $600 to attend the NTC camps (in wellington and Canterbury) with what looks like a minimal chance of ever playing for their country, despite the 'big sale' on the whole programme.

You would hope that NZ football are not looking at convenience over effort and just using the national development programme as an opportunity to earn. 

Don't get me wrong I think that any inclusion in a national team should be based on merit, but am very surprised that no one has made it from Sth island and wellington.

Actually four - there's also Ben Kiore from Green Island FC, Dunedin named in the squad.

Heard they drew with WaiBop this week while in camp.

First game at 6pm v Fiji. Tough first up match. Coverage through twitter or the OFC website.

NZ up 3-0 at Halftime over Fiji. 

Goals to WPFC Premier/Academy player James McGarry (2) & Logan Rogerson.

Sounds like NZ started strong but Fiji have fought back in the last 15 mins.

Up to 5-0 with 20 to play. Good result. 

FT NZ 6 - 0 FIJI

Goals to McGarry (2), Rogerson (2), Mata (pen), Probert (pen)

Sounds like a really solid performance from the boys.

McGarry, Rogerson and Probert heavily involved for NZ. 

McGarry sounds like our star man, mentioned in a lot of our good work.

Tue, 13 Jan 2015 6:30a.m.

New Zealand Under 17 coach Jose Figueira is on the line from Samoa ahead of his side’s opening match of the OFC Championship against Fiji.

http://www.radiolivesport.co.nz/Jose-Figueira/tabid/454/articleID/21958/Default.aspx

Unusual for the  sons of two former All Whites to feature for NZ u-17  - Probert and McGarry.

I was at school in Nelson at the same time as Paul Probert who started his national league career with Nelson United in the 1980's and then moved to Gisborne to play for Fallon and got four full All Whites caps.

This seems like it could be a very good u-17 side.