Ive had a good chance to go over this thread and this is IMHO (I've had some dealings with immigration and the FIFA statutes) excuse the grammar, spelling and paraphrasing
I've got a few bullet points to add to the mix.
5. is for players who are born in that country or have familial ties his nationality was gained(dependant on) by residence. If not Qatar etc would be shipping in boat loads of 14 year old Brazilians and the like in to academy's like aspire and fielding them in their youth teams.
6. is for countries who have dual nationalities since he is not from the Cook Islands or Niue N/A
7. is relevant because he has acquired a new Nationality so must use the 18+3 e.g. Ryan DeVries, Dura...
To me NZF was well aware of the situation to even discuss that going for an exemption would be risky and you only get one chance so instead of asking the took the risk, this is apparently the way of things at NZF as no one challenges at youth level so you just need the passport.
FIFA do not check on eligibility. As in the Dura case we had to play him an official match (non friendly) for which the outcome didn't matter and then ask the Solomon's to challenge his eligibility to get them to rule on it Dura Challenge. NZF were unlikely to ask someone to challenge Wynne in the 20's or 23's because they knew they were on shaky ground and both competitions really mattered.
Does any one know what kind of Visa He and his family entered NZ on in 2010 as it is quite a process to gain citizenship and unlikely that it was done in exactly 5 years. One question the Media should be asking is did NZF support fast tracking his citizenship? If so it lends more weight to the argument that it was a calculated risk rather than a mistake.
Edit also this:
"Wynne first represented New Zealand at senior level, his international debut came against China in November 2014 having been called up due to injuries to Louis Fenton, and Tom Doyle. Wynne provided the assist for Chris Wood to equalize at 1–1.[3] He made further international appearances against Thailand four days later, and in March 2015, he played against South Korea."
So played 2 full international Friendlies before he got his NZ Citizenship and Passport.
I'm not buying this he is no special player argument and that he is just a run of the mill kid wanting to represent his country. While he is no Messi he is an incumbent All White (eligibility aside) making him a valuable player and if he was not the best (in the coaches opinion) available in his position then he would not have been selected.
I think NZF have done Wynne the 23's and football stakeholders a complete disservice. Appealing just an exercise to deflect the fact they got caught taking a calculated risk.