Whether he has a personal connection or not Soccer Fan raises some valid questions, namely: 1. is the Auckland bias in team/coach selection resulting in better players not being selected; 2. Did Bazely & Co. instruct the defenders to hoofball so regularly that it was utterly predictable? If so, why? 3. Is there a selection bias against private academy players (not sure there is as plenty APFA/Ole kids keep being selected).
To me though, the biggest question is have we got he right youth coaching team in place AND how can we better prepare a squad? Next U17 cup is Chile 2015 and we wont have any initial squad selection until July 2014 earliest; coach appointment probably just beforehand. Other countries ALREADY have squads selected, training camps and/or year round programmes in place, playing tournaments (and that is just Australia!)
Yes, but age-groups for 2015 (born 1998, 1999) are already (largely) training together at FTCs and the top talent from those should be coming together twice a year at NTC level. Possible that coaching team will come from FTC or NTC setup so they will be familiar with players and vice-versa.
For all the good work that academies do, it does really come down to players needing to work within the NZ Football system (for right or wrong) to increase their visibility and building relationships with the staff who are ultimately going to select them to play for New Zealand.