Under the radar U17/U20
Conor Tracey, 17, GK - Beachlands/QPR (Eng)
Ellis Hare-Reid, 16, GK - IFANZ/Cracks (Spain)
Dylan Morris, 17, Back, Ole/St Kents
Dan Allen, 18, CB, Northern Suburbs/Splits (Cro) Trial
Kieran Pinkney, 17, Back, IFANZ, Cracks (Spain)
Birhanu Taye, 19, Wing, APFA, (Slov) - OK - taking the shark a bit - but needed a right wing and missed the U20 cut. He's known.
Dylan Burns, 18, Mid, West Lake/Nottingham Forest (Eng)
Bertie Fish, 17, HMid, Northern Suburbs/Splits (Trial)
Nando Pijnaker, 17, Wing/Mid, Ole/Western Heights - Dutch passport - uh oh - look out.
Waikato Ball, 18, St Pauls/Phoenix Trial and friendly goal (2014)
Max Mata, 16, Striker, Onehunga Sports/Man U tournaments (Brother is in U17 - Ben)
Patrick Hay, 17, Striker, Auckland Grammer/5000 juggles in front of a croud = dedication to a goal.
Hopefully some of these players can get a look in at age group level?
So which one is your kid?
Looks like Ellis Hare-Reid was in the Burnley Academy in Chch, so he certainly is trying as hard as he can to go pro - he went on a tour of England with a guy from Dunedin called Jack Kirkwood, who plays in the Dunedin club scene for Green Island but is probably 19 now - getting old believe it or not aswell as Perth based Burnley Academy players. No England trial for Kirkwood as far as I can tell.
I guess the question is - did missing out on Rep honours so far, give these players the drive to get overseas = great for their development, or did overseas scouts and coaches see something in these players that the FTC/NTC did not see?
Should we have U17A and U20A teams to increase the player pools - or should we just encourage players not in the squads to get overseas and prove their point to selectors?
Or did they just go on a parent-funded trip to the UK to play some football?
When any overseas club talks of an 'academy' in this part of the world there is always the promise of an overseas trial for selected players. Milan doing the same thing right now. Burnley simply honoured the commitment and a couple of Kiwis and Aussies went over. Nothing came of it for any of them but sometimes you just get lucky, ie Cam Howieson.
Cracks looks to be the Spanish football academy run as a business, wit promise of games and 'trials' against other Spanish club youth teams. If you can kick a ball and can pay, off you go for a term, or a year.