What is the reason for Chris Woods' omission?
You obviously haven't been monitoring this thread the last week or so.
Confirmed that Fulham also wouldn't release Dibley-Dias, which is very interesting to hear. Surely must mean he is in their EPL plans?
So we have our 2 EPL club GKs available, but not our 3 EPL club outfield players.
Boxall and Bell to be late arrivals in France.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350336480/three-all-whites-stars-kept-out-paris-olympics-their-clubs
All Whites stars Chris Wood, Liberato Cacace and Marko Stamenic have been prevented from playing for the Oly Whites at the Paris Olympics by their major European clubs.
Uncapped midfielder Matt Dibley-Dias has also been ruled out for the same reason, while right back Tim Payne has been denied a second Olympic appearance after suffering a hamstring injury while on All Whites duty at the Oceania Nations Cup last month.
He has now had to turn to plan B, calling on Sarpreet Singh, an attacking midfielder; Joe Bell, a central midfielder; and Michael Boxall; a centre back. Bell and Boxall are both set to play for their clubs on the weekend of July 20 before linking up with the Oly Whites in France, where their opening match against Guinea takes place on July 24 (local time) in Nice.
He has now had to turn to plan B, calling on Sarpreet Singh, an attacking midfielder; Joe Bell, a central midfielder; and Michael Boxall; a centre back. Bell and Boxall are both set to play for their clubs on the weekend of July 20 before linking up with the Oly Whites in France, where their opening match against Guinea takes place on July 24 (local time) in Nice.
Backup goalkeeper Kees Sims, right back Matt Sheridan, attacking midfielder Jay Herdman and forward Riley Bidois are the four players selected who are yet to make their All Whites debuts, with Bidois and Sheridan clear beneficiaries of Wood and Payne’s absences.
Finalising who was and wasn’t available – and getting the right balance in the squad – has kept Bazeley extremely busy, going back to when he was at the Nations Cup in Vanuatu at the end of June.
“It was pretty recent that we actually got the final decisions together,” he said this week.
“We were just trying to get confirmation from everybody and then trying to balance things and make sure that we've got the right depth.
“When you look at it now, it's a really strong group. The overage players are through the spine. Whilst we are missing a couple of players that are strong players, when you look through the squad, it's a strong squad. It really is.”
“Every different decision opens up the door for another player,“ Bazeley added. ”It's been a real balancing act to ensure that we’ve got enough defenders, midfielders and attackers in a squad of 18, because it's a smaller squad than normal anyway.
“The good thing with this squad is when you look through it, there's a lot of flexibility with players that can play different positions – fullbacks that can play centre back, centre backs that can play fullback, midfielders that could play a bit higher, attacking midfielders that can play wide or central.
“We feel like we've covered everything now.”