https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPC-gvrW8og
Wow. The width of attack, the speed and working hard off the ball; I haven't seen a Kiwi side work this well against Aussie opposition before. This could be a great group of players going forward.
If Singh could go into that midfield - who would he replace?
A great problem to have.
A very talented group of players with many already at professional clubs.
Hard to compare with different eras to say definitively if this would be our best group of youth players ever.
Probably our strongest in terms of depth in all positions.
We didn't have a national u-23 side until the Olympics switched to being an u-23 tournament from 1992.
Prior to that we only had u-20 and u-17 national sides (or u19 and u-16 for qualifying tournament purposes)
I'd say that our u-20 national team of 1980-81 that performed exceptionally well in qualifying matches for the FIFA u-20 World Cup was also a very good side.
It contained some of our best future All Whites like Wynton Rufer, Ceri Evans and Malcolm Dunford.
In ordinary circumstances, they would have qualified for the 1981 FIFA u-20 World Cup held in Australia.
NZ won the Oceania qualifying tournament - with the Aussies still taking part despite hosting the finals, wanting the extra preparation for their team.
It was the only time we ever beat the Aussies to win the Oceania qualifying at youth level:
http://www.rsssf.com/tablesn/nz-u20-intres.html#80
1980 Oceania U-20 World Cup Qualifiers:
Dec 7, (in Fiji) Fiji 2-2 New Zealand (? - Malcolm Dunford, Wynton Rufer)
Dec 9, (in Fiji) Papua New Guinea 0-5 New Zealand (Wynton Rufer 2, Ceri Evans, F Phelan, J van Helden)
Dec 13, (in Fiji) Australia 0-2 New Zealand (F Phelan 2)
But, oh no....FIFA made us then enter a second qualifying tournament with Israel......and bloody Argentina !!!
And all the games were played in bloody Buenos Aires....
We despatched Israel comfortably - but Argentina in 1981?
They would have had players who went on to win the senior World Cup in 1986 and make the final in 1990.
U-20 World Cup Qualifiers Second Stage:
Mar 18, Buenos Aires: Israel 0-0 New Zealand
Mar 22, Buenos Aires: Argentina 1-0 New Zealand
Mar 25, Buenos Aires: Israel 1-2 New Zealand (Wynton Rufer 2)
Mar 27, Buenos Aires: Argentina 3-0 New Zealand
Still, those weren't bad results against Argentina even, considering their strength in 1981 and the state of our development with no professional clubs or players and limited youth development pathways.
Our 1996 side with Hay, Elliott, Vicelich, Burton, Sean Fallon, Che Bunce and Mark Foy was pretty good too but still outclassed in qualifying by the Aussies: