Their team was literally only named 24 hours before ours, so you suspect Henry was juggling the same club v country stuff as Bazeley. As Austin who I think lives in France says, they have a big number of players made unavailable.
We with our much smaller talent had 4. It’s all sort of relative. The more players at the powerful bigger clubs the more unavailabilities you get
I think the team NZ/France/USA think will be relatively the weakest is Guinea - but honestly - their squad may not be pushovers. Mostly euro based (France/Belgium etc). Not sure how much first team experience they have.
Freshly landed in the Forez, Ben Old had to quickly leave his new partners to join the selection of New Zealand engaged in the football competition of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
AS Saint-Etienne had given his agreement for the player to participate in the competition. Eventually, Ben Old's (21 years old) will stay with Olivier Dall'Oglio's group and will not participate in the Olympic event.
According to our information, the player had a discussion with his coach. Arrived in Saint-Etienne with a small pain in the ankle, the player does not feel 100% of his abilities. He will also follow for several days an individualized program accordingly with a lot of athletic work to achieve. It is therefore a personal choice, difficult to take for the neo-Stephanois who prefers not to take any risk.
Ben Old is therefore very present at the Greens internship in Chambon-sur-Lignon and will be able to carry out the entire pre-season preparation with his new club and new partners.
Interesting that he has gone from "yeah I'm ful;ly available and want to go and the club has agreed to let me play at the Olympics. it was part of our discussion" to "oooo I have a little owie on my ankle, I can't play"
Especially when last season for us he played with one leg for a good part of the season.
Stupid comment, don’t belittle genuine injuries. Him playing on one leg is exactly why he needs to manage any ankle injuries carefully. If that becomes a routine issue then you end up with another Ryan Thomas.
Personally I have no interest in our most exciting player’s international career ending due to recurring injury for a second time.
Please, career ending! reported as an ankle niggle, hardly career ending. He's either been caring this for a while and Bazely knew about it and shouldnt have selected him or he got a little tap in his first training with the new side and their doctor has 'recommended' he stays with them. If it's genuine then I'm disappointed for him and the team. But the timing is very suss.
The 8 non-travelling reserves named were: Alby Kelly-Heald, Scott Morris, Luis Toomey, Finn Linder, Aaryan Raj, Ronan Wynne, Zac Zoricich and Nathan Lobo.
Of those I'm guessing Luis Toomey is the most likely to fly over to become one of the 4 travelling reserves.
The 8 non-travelling reserves named were: Alby Kelly-Heald, Scott Morris, Luis Toomey, Finn Linder, Aaryan Raj, Ronan Wynne, Zac Zoricich and Nathan Lobo.
Of those I'm guessing Luis Toomey is the most likely to fly over to become one of the 4 travelling reserves.
Yeah looking at that list in retrospect, isn't it weird?
Two goalkeepers, five defenders (three FBs, two CBs), one midfielder and no forwards
At least we had two Premier League overage players back then and here we are 16 years on with pros all over the world still making up the squad with Northern League players. Naby Keita will have a field day for Guinea. At least the 2008 crop got a historic draw against the host nation - that is not happening in 2024.Khalil Media
coochiee
Reportsare
This must be the worst NZ Olympic squad ever assembled.
My prediction: 3 games, 3 losses, no goals scored.
Knee jerk reaction. The run on 11, will still be okay. Hopeful of a result against Guinea.
It's not historic to get a 1-1 draw against China (even in China). Their football setup is a continual mess. Current FIFA ranking 88th.
Even Guinea are higher at 77th.
But yeah I'm happy to have a wager on the Guinea game. $100 bet. Loser pays to charity of winner's choice. NZ lose I pay the $100. We get a draw or win you pay the $100. There won't be any Northern League players starting in France.
Anyway Toomey & Gillion (likely just travelling reserves in France) will be A League players by October. Same Randall who's already an AW, and played pro in the US.
With player availability it is what it is. It's just bad timing that Stamenic & Old have signed for new clubs, in big important moves for them. Ain't no fault of NZF.
It's not historic to get a 1-1 draw against China (even in China). Their football setup is a continual mess. Current FIFA ranking 88th.
Even Guinea are higher at 77th.
But yeah I'm happy to have a wager on the Guinea game. $100 bet. Loser pays to charity of winner's choice. NZ lose I pay the $100. We get a draw or win you pay the $100. There won't be any Northern League players starting in France.
Anyway Toomey & Gillion (likely just travelling reserves in France) will be A League players by October. Same Randall who's already an AW, and played pro in the US.
With player availability it is what it is. It's just bad timing that Stamenic & Old have signed for new clubs, in big important moves for them. Ain't no fault of NZF.
Doesn't look like it will be streamed on FIFA+ like the women's game was.
Can only presume it's behind closed doors. No real problem with that, if it makes it harder for Guinea to scout us. The match/result will immediately be forgotten about anyway. Who remembers that we had a win against the Olyroos pre Tokyo. It's all about the 3 tourney games from next week.
Looks like a 3-1 loss for the Olywhites against Uzbekistan. They took an early lead, we equalised in the 85th minute through Jesse Randall, but two very late goals sealed the deal for the opposition.
Uzbekistan apparently in control of the match, with NZ struggling to get out of their own half. Uzbekistan’s second goal looked to be a bit of a Kees Sims error, a hard shot slipping through his gloves
NZ's goal from Jesse Randall, a beautiful curler from range
Uzbekistan grouped with Spain, Egypt and the Dominican Republic.
Predictable result. This was uzbekistans 3rd warm up friendly. With 1-1 and 2-1 loss to Mali. Mali also beat japan u23 3-1 and had a 0-0 with Guinea in qualifiers. Nz didn't even acknowledge this practice game.
If from a photo an uninformed one was asked to pick who was the LB between LK-H and Issac Hughes they would get it wrong every time
New Zealand Football didn’t respond when asked if Ben Old had joined the Oly Whites after it was reported in France he was out of the Olympics with an injury but they have posted a team photo from the team’s first training session and he’s not in it. pic.twitter.com/Kwzk4uoG9f
I imagine they are crossing fingers St Etienne will release Old, giving them as much time as possible to assess his injury and recovery etc. Even if the final decision is only a few days before the first game
Far from ideal but it is what it is. Big loss if he’s now not released
Looks like the late arrivals are Riley Bidois, Mikey Boxall, Joe Bell & Henry Gray. Old we don't know what's happening yet. Luis Toomey on standby back in Auckland or is it too late for that now.
New Zealand Football didn’t respond when asked if Ben Old had joined the Oly Whites after it was reported in France he was out of the Olympics with an injury but they have posted a team photo from the team’s first training session and he’s not in it. pic.twitter.com/Kwzk4uoG9f
The Argentina Olympic team just lost 0-1 to Guinea in a warmup game. Argentina played three players from their Copa winning team including Julian Alvarez from Man City and Otimendi. I guess the Guinea team could be quite useful. The kiwis will have to be on top of their game to get any points IMO