New Zealand Men's U-17s

Having watched highlights on You Tube I think so...

A bit disappointed with those goals we conceded in last 15 mins, should have got a draw at least.

An average performance but generally showed a lot of heart.

Just was impressive as was Sinclair and Van De Hoven

Clark looked in goal ok first game but apparently beginners luck.

Spragg chased but did not get much service.

Curry's distribution and positional play is poor.

For me too many 2001's and players from same academies or schools not being strong or fit enough.

Forgot Ben Deeley who showed his versitality and poise.

Saw him play Auckland Grammar v St Peter's where he was man of the match with three goals playing right back in front of Zorro. Heard he played there all season.

Germany getting ripped apart by Iran.They look clueless at the back.

Mali 3 - 1 NZ 

Played poorly today, we didn't press at all in the first 45 and just sat waiting for attack after attack. Pretty much played with a back 8.

Feel bad for the team as we almost certainly landed in the most difficult pool.

I think that the temperatures and humidity in the last two games affected our boys.

Apparently it was in the high 30's for the final game against Mali and very humid.

Conditions that suited both Paraguay and Mali who are used to such conditions.

(Apparently temperatures of 38 degrees are common in Paraguay in the summer) 

Turkey struggled too with the hot weather  - the climate there is no warmer than NZ in most populous areas and often even colder in winter.

Bad luck really that we struck two teams from hot countries used to such conditions.

Mali looked just as sharp at the end of the game as at the beginning, whereas our players looked really drained.

India in early October is often very hot like that - it only starts cooling as Autumn kicks in in late October.

When I arrived in India in late October a few years ago, it was no hotter than 30 degrees and mostly in the late twenties.

It doesn't cool off a lot until November and December.

New Caledonia, on their tournament debut, finished with as many points as NZ after drawing 1-1 with Japan in their final game.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_FIFA_U-17_World...

A much better debut than NZ in 1997 in Egypt when we lost all our games, scoring none and conceding 22:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_FIFA_U-17_World...

We lost to Mali 4-0 in that tournament, our best result...

The weather did not seemed to stop the Poms.

Thats not really true average temps for Istanbul in summer are high 20's (thats the average) In Ankara it is not uncommon to get temp in high 30s

don't really think we can use weather as an excuse, as has been pointed out the English seemed to do ok

If we didn't handle the weather that comes down to poor planning from our management. It's not like we only had a couple of weeks to prepare and didn't know it was going to be hot in India 

It's true that a team of real ability like England (only lost on pens to Spain in the UEFA u-17 Final in May) will do well no matter the climate.

But a weaker team like ours will struggle even more if not used to the heat and humidity.

England made a big thing in pre-tournament publicity of consulting England Cricket and the Indian senior national football coach (an Englishman) to help prepare for the conditions.

If the NZ team management didn't do that, as you say, that's poor.

I've been to Istanbul and my mother lived in Turkey in her youth.

They've had some horrendous summers recently - up to 39 degrees this July I believe.

It's been getting much hotter in recent years with global warming but never used to be - the historical average high for July is 27 degrees, average temp in July, 23 degrees.

http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weatherall.php3...

Winter in Istanbul is really cold- some days it never gets above below zero when it snows.

So did any of them get anything overseas?

There were rumours that Elijah Just got a trial in the Netherlands, according to Declan Edge's tweets - Although the name of the player was never revealed, The Niche Cache wrote "Sound's a bit like Elijah Just" 

The 2018 U-17 OFC Championship has been drawn, sees us in Group A with Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guina. https://www.oceaniafootball.com/cms/wp-content/upl...

Says its U16.

Yeah they have to be U-16 for the tournament so they can play the U-17 World Cup, same with the U-20 is now U-19 tournament. Was changed in the last few years.

Capital = pheonix and ole academy (mostly pheonix) no surprises There as Paul temple is assistant coach of under17s and also acadeny director of pheonix academy also only one player from the south island intrestingly

Here, I'll help you find nearly 25% of New Zealand's population...

Do any of the Ole or Phoenix Academy hail from ourside Wellington?

How many Ole players there?

6 or 7 each from Ole and Nix; not sure how many of those hail from out of town.

None from Waibop

I believe these are the WPFA/OFA players in that squad, with their provinces of origin.

WPFA

Braddock - Wellington

Hamilton - Wellington

Hillis - Nelson

Lee - Auckland (I think)

Manuel - Wellington

Naicker - Auckland

Old - Auckland

Paulsen - Auckland

van Hattum - Taranaki

OFA

Garbett - Wellington

Bright - Auckland

Is one of the reasons the Sth Island always under represented simply because Football just isn't as popular as the more migrant heavy Nth Island.

CHCH has a strong rugby culture and heritage.

Just a wondering.

Mainland usually does pretty well at National Age Group tournament; Pride always in top few women’s teams; Dragons finished 3rd and Youth Dragons topped the Youth League, Cashmere Technical have won Chatham Cup and Coastal Spirit NZ Womens Knockout in the last few years. Not sure what Canterbury rugby has to do with it. 

Christchurch/Canterbury definitely has a stronger rugby culture than Auckland and Wellington - for pakeha anyway.

If you are a small but gifted athlete in Canterbury far greater chance you will stay with rugby, as many of your mates will be playing rugby etc etc. I bet Dan Carter was not the biggest kid, but doubt for a moment he ever considered playing ‘soccer’. The other 2 big cities with their heavy Polynesian popns I’d wager see a number of pakeha kids either switch to football, or never ever play rugby from the get go.

Have mates in all three cities and see this time and again. So yes must have some affect on number of South Islanders making age group football sides.

Sort of see this filter through to the Hurricanes with heaps of players non Wellington origin (Taranaki, Hawkes Bay and Manawatu esp), and of course Blues have huge number Polynesian players. 

How many of the Dragons are born and bred Cantabrians?

As an aside Beauden Barrett’s farming family spent 1-2 years in Ireland when he was a kid. There he played a bit of football. Once back in rural Taranaki solely rugby. What might have been. Two footed lightning fast.

Lol. Ask the ‘born and bred’ question of every HANDA team.

Btw, Dan carter loves football; turned out for Nomads AFC a few years back until CRFU found out. 

I’m concerned for the game that the second largest Fed in nz has ZERO representation in some of these ‘national’ squads. Kids must be being missed, cannot be good for the game. 

Eastern Suburbs? Team Wellington?

Good on ya DC.

That's not quite true though.  There are kids from all federations in the Ole and Phoenix set-ups.

Fantastic but eastern suburbs and teedubs are the exceptions. 

But I’m concerned for the National game that either the process is flawed or that such a large player base is not/under represented. 

Sure, a few kids who are good enough AND can afford it go to Ole and Nix. 

However very very few Chch kids have done that. The initial weenix academy influx were all at APFA in Chch before Nix bought them. Players like Bell, Tongue, Phillip, Anderson, and Mcgarry from Dndn. Only Ole players of note in recent times from Chch I know of are Sutherland who went to Xavier college in the states, Gerathy who went to Dragons this season and young Feutz who is still there. 

Not many Chch players currently at Nix/Ole I’d wager; but mainland does well at national age tournaments and dragons youth level, so why aren’t more being selected for national age group teams? 

Two different issues though.

No/few born & bred mainlanders in national age group teams, could potentially yes be due to some NZF bias/focus towards Auckland esp, or neglect of talent ID in the South Island.

However it's not job of Nix or Ole to look after South Island or even NZ football. With Ole if you are of a standard, and your parent's have the cash then I presume they are happy to take you on board even if you come from Bluff. 

Is the new Christchurch Football Academy (that Russian businessmen Slava Meyn) at Yaldhurst aiming to provide high quality coaching etc like Ole? 

If so you would expect kids from there will start to get noticed, at a national level.

We've got to stop giving any credence to the NAGT.

The football I've seen there in the last two years has been pretty poor and whilst there is the odd team trying to play football the focus for many is to obviously select the biggest boys who can kick the ball a fair distance.

The vast majority of Wellington's 'elite' players don't attend anyway so it's hardly representative.

It's the same with the Youth League. I've really enjoyed watching this the last two years, but there are teams willing to forgo the result in favour of player development and there are those with 11 guys all over 6'4.

So you might say Mainland does well, but we need to look deeper than just and handful of results.

What about a place like Queenstown? That area is loaded with foreigners to the point where there could be a similar Waiheke United team around there. I went there last year and was surprised to see some decent sport facilities though I never went to any games, football has far more potential to go wild there than any of the main centers in the South Island as its normally neglected by the other codes.

I've sometimes wondered why the Phoenix haven't tried a game there in that Xmas/New Years period? With good promotion, should draw a crowd.

As for actual football players in Queenstown, no idea - but suspect the overseas backpacker population is a bit more transient than Waiheke. 

Some of those Argie boys have been on the island 5 years plus.

Also Waiheke get to play in a decent comp. Don't imagine whatever league Queenstown play in is that great (Central Otago/Southland?) - so if you a decent serious player you probably don't hang around for the football.

Queenstown competes in the FootballSouth Premier League and I believe they were in the top 4 last year. Very similar to Waiheke United in regards to a South American influence, however there is also many kiwis and British in the side.

As well as this, they have had two players in the last two u17 world cups: Olly Ceci and Willem Ebbinge.

Also, the Phoenix have played a pre-season game in Queenstown. Possibly in 2008 v Melbourne

Cool and happy to be corrected. Be some pretty regular and lengthy road trips! Mix of mate and lager.

Actually met a young Argy guy recently here in South America that had his NZ visa, and all set for the Queenstown ski season. He was going to also try find a football team.

Any stand outs in the squad?

Have had a couple players in the wider Southern United squad last couple years, as well as a number of players playing for the Southern United futsal squad who may have won the competition last year? Unsure about this, but do know they did well.

And also will always be 1 or 2 very good young players in the squad destined for higher levels ie. Ebbinge & Ceci

Edit: Its very common for overseas players to only be in Queenstown for 1-2 years and then leave. So the team is constantly changing