New Zealand U-23s - Quali Whites

You'd hope they caught us sleeping at the start and parked the bus and we spent the whole game with attacking goal, but who knows. Could be that we were lucky to only concede one.

Ryan

You'd hope they caught us sleeping at the start and parked the bus and we spent the whole game with attacking goal, but who knows. Could be that we were lucky to only concede one.

Considering Aussies have been making a ton of subs both matches, and not necessarily focusing on the result, I'd say it's very unlikely they even considered parking the bus... that is more of a NZ thing to do in a training match.

Why would either team park the bus in a training match, where the result matters so little. And yeah highly unlikely the Olyroos would have, with the subs coming on keen to make an impression you’d think.

Optimist view though is Hay is very clear on what his starting team is, and probably has been mostly for months. Arnold not so much.

7 of the starting 11 in both games for NZ, played together alot at the U20 WC in 2019. Some others on the bench. With such limited prep for Tokyo compared to other sides, those old muscle memory combinations are going to be really handy.

coochiee

Why would either team park the bus in a training match, where the result matters so little. And yeah highly unlikely the Olyroos would have, with the subs coming on keen to make an impression you’d think.

Optimist view though is Hay is very clear on what his starting team is, and probably has been mostly for months. Arnold not so much.

7 of the starting 11 in both games for NZ, played together alot at the U20 WC in 2019. Some others on the bench. With such limited prep for Tokyo compared to other sides, those old muscle memory combinations are going to be really handy.

What worries me is there hasn't been enough match time in the legs of guys outside the first 11. 

When there are only a few days between games you need to manage players a bit and use your depth if you want to go deep in the tourn.

Our first team is decent enough on paper, but if they are playing almost 90 mins each match, which the warmups would indicate, we will be struggling by the third game. 

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

What is the point of giving these guys a couple of minutes??

Exactly.   A waste of time in a practice match....   If they want to waste time, just go shopping instead.

coochiee

Why would either team park the bus in a training match, where the result matters so little. And yeah highly unlikely the Olyroos would have, with the subs coming on keen to make an impression you’d think.

Optimist view though is Hay is very clear on what his starting team is, and probably has been mostly for months. Arnold not so much.

7 of the starting 11 in both games for NZ, played together alot at the U20 WC in 2019. Some others on the bench. With such limited prep for Tokyo compared to other sides, those old muscle memory combinations are going to be really handy.

Why are the Aussies making plenty of substitutes? Mmmmm....
- They have a very experienced and successfull coach?
- Their coach is not suffering from indecision and insecurity?
- Arnold understands the need to rotate player for fitness and camp morale?
- Arnold has seen that it is just a friendly and results count for nought?

coochiee

87' Substitution 

Sam Sutton, Matt Garbett and George Stanger on 
Eli Just, Libby Cacace and Winston Reid off

I presume they again played a back 3 (5) with three CB's.  I wonder who stepped into Reid's role as centre CB?  

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

What is the point of giving these guys a couple of minutes??

were they coming on to take penalties???

According to Danny Hay's statement on NZ Football, it sounds like the goal was a goalkeeping error:
After the game, Head Coach Danny Hay spoke about the performance:
“Obviously disappointing to lose a football match first and foremost, probably the manor of the goal is not ideal but we’ve seen that happen at every level of the game. It’s just one of those things that happens to goalkeepers from time to time. 
“But look, the way the boys rallied, they didn’t lose any confidence, they didn’t drop their heads. They really worked their way back into the game. 
“I thought particularly the second half we were excellent. Created some really good opportunities towards the back end of the game and probably a little unlucky not to come out of the game with something at least.”

coochiee

Why would either team park the bus in a training match, where the result matters so little. And yeah highly unlikely the Olyroos would have, with the subs coming on keen to make an impression you’d think.

Optimist view though is Hay is very clear on what his starting team is, and probably has been mostly for months. Arnold not so much.

7 of the starting 11 in both games for NZ, played together alot at the U20 WC in 2019. Some others on the bench. With such limited prep for Tokyo compared to other sides, those old muscle memory combinations are going to be really handy.

Well if you're in the so called group of death, like Australia is, then your game plan may be to defend deep and try and catch your opponents on the counter.

COnst

coochiee

87' Substitution 

Sam Sutton, Matt Garbett and George Stanger on 
Eli Just, Libby Cacace and Winston Reid off

I presume they again played a back 3 (5) with three CB's.  I wonder who stepped into Reid's role as centre CB?  

Have I missed something? What evidence is there that they have started with a back 5 in either warmup?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/olympics/125771167/olywhites-lose-to-australia-in-final-warmup-game-after-conceding-early-goal

Ryan

coochiee

Why would either team park the bus in a training match, where the result matters so little. And yeah highly unlikely the Olyroos would have, with the subs coming on keen to make an impression you’d think.

Optimist view though is Hay is very clear on what his starting team is, and probably has been mostly for months. Arnold not so much.

7 of the starting 11 in both games for NZ, played together alot at the U20 WC in 2019. Some others on the bench. With such limited prep for Tokyo compared to other sides, those old muscle memory combinations are going to be really handy.

Well if you're in the so called group of death, like Australia is, then your game plan may be to defend deep and try and catch your opponents on the counter.

Unlikely, but it's a warmup so I guess you play around with formations etc. However that's not the way Arnold coached SFC, plus the Aus football public/media would see that as a backward step. They savaged the likes of Holger Osieck for being too negative.

Arnold is talking up about going 'toe to toe' with Argentina, Spain & Egypt. Of course easier said than done, especially against the Spanish!

coochiee

1-0 it ends in Ichihara as an early Mitch Duke goal in the 3rd minute secures the win for @Socceroos 
#AUSvNZL 

Someone at NZF thinks we were playing the Socceroos. 

Two good hitouts. Starting 11 seems set in concrete, and has now had good minutes together as combo. Bring on Korea.

The @Socceroos twitter account is what Football Australia is using for their Olympic team.

What is the aussie write up like.

I don't get the complaints about our subs not getting enough time. We have played together in how long and have a very limited window to work on combinations. You need to play your shadow 11 as much as possible to allow them to gel. Not to mention that some of that 11 are in their off seasons and need minutes in the legs.

COnst

coochiee

Why would either team park the bus in a training match, where the result matters so little. And yeah highly unlikely the Olyroos would have, with the subs coming on keen to make an impression you’d think.

Optimist view though is Hay is very clear on what his starting team is, and probably has been mostly for months. Arnold not so much.

7 of the starting 11 in both games for NZ, played together alot at the U20 WC in 2019. Some others on the bench. With such limited prep for Tokyo compared to other sides, those old muscle memory combinations are going to be really handy.

Why are the Aussies making plenty of substitutes? Mmmmm....
- They have a very experienced and successfull coach?
- Their coach is not suffering from indecision and insecurity?
- Arnold understands the need to rotate player for fitness and camp morale?
- Arnold has seen that it is just a friendly and results count for nought?

It's hard to judge from far away without TV coverage, but could be some truth in what you suggest. Did Hay get a little sucked in by a bit of ego to beat Australia twice, even though the games were really meaningless warmups, soon forgotten?

I would have thought having same starting 11 but then making wholesale changes at HT, and giving likes of George Stanger at least 45 mins would make some sense. What if Boxall doesn't get to Japan, and Reid or Pijnaker get injured in game one. Stanger comes on with hardly any game time prior.

Other school of thought is the top 11, would have had very little football the last 4-8 weeks, and there is no better way to get/stay match fit, than actually playing. Reid for example has barely played since leaving Sporting Kansas last year, so agruably needs big mins in the legs, and now has a week to recover before facing Sth Korea.

Also looking ahead, with the AWs having barely played since 2017, you want this playing group (top eleven) having as many games together as possible, building combinations towards some big games in 2022. Who knows when the AWs will next get together. Only Pijanker (M Boxall), Stensness (Thomas) & Lewis (Singh) from yesterday would definitely not be starters for the AWs currently. Reid, Cacace, Bell & Wood shoeins. Woud, Ingham, Just & McCowatt tossups.

Edit - is still only 9.30am here in Australia, but I can't find any reporting of the game anyway, apart from final score on socceroos.com
Indication perhaps that is was just a soon to be forgotten warmup game. 

All sports media stuff here is about the AFL & NRL teams rushing to leave NSW & VIC as those states deal with their latest lockdowns. Long forward to a future where 90% of news stories don't include the words Covid or virus.

Marto

Irrespective of the outcome of this match, I feel that we will do a lot better in the tourney then the Olyroos.  They have been average at best in their recent friendlies.

The Aussies, by not including any over-age players in their squad, are obviously concentrating on youth development rather than going all-out for results these Olympics. Although you could argue that the young players learn a lot from the senior pros as in NZ's squad and that EPL players like Wood and Reid capture the public's attention.
However, the Socceroos are a bit light on players in the top four European leagues at present with no one in the EPL (the only league most people Down Under follow) and in the other three top leagues, there's only Matt Ryan (just signed as a reserve goalie at Real Sociedad after no longer being wanted at Brighton) and Ajdin Hrustic a bench player at Eintracht Frankfurt the past season.

They've got Mitch Duke, it's surprising they didn't take more from the A-League though

Big Pete 65

Marto

Irrespective of the outcome of this match, I feel that we will do a lot better in the tourney then the Olyroos.  They have been average at best in their recent friendlies.

The Aussies, by not including any over-age players in their squad, are obviously concentrating on youth development rather than going all-out for results these Olympics. Although you could argue that the young players learn a lot from the senior pros as in NZ's squad and that EPL players like Wood and Reid capture the public's attention.
However, the Socceroos are a bit light on players in the top four European leagues at present with no one in the EPL (the only league most people Down Under follow) and in the other three top leagues, there's only Matt Ryan (just signed as a reserve goalie at Real Sociedad after no longer being wanted at Brighton) and Ajdin Hrustic a bench player at Eintracht Frankfurt the past season.

The Aussies with a much bigger player talent pool, more cash and a full AFC World Cup qualifying campaign - also have the luxury of being able to run pretty separate Olyroo & Socceroos programs. Though about 4-5 of their Japan Olyroos squad, were part of recent Socceroos games in UAE.

Hay doesn't have that luxury. He has some massive AWs games coming up in 2022, the AWs have barely played since 2017, and he needs to blend in the older experienced guys with the U20 2019 youngsters, and others like Stamenic & Garbett. So this Olympics is effectively an AWs/Oly Whites hybrid, and a big reason on why he is so keen to get Boxall over to Tokyo, as who knows when an AWs squad will get together next.

Socceroos match report, from last night's game, that says very little.
https://www.socceroos.com.au/news/olyroos-continue-tokyo-2020-preparations-and-get-set-sapporo-switch

And some photos, many of the subs. 19 is Garbett?
https://www.facebook.com/AllWhites/photos/pcb.10159925949797697/10159925948062697

coochiee

Socceroos match report, from last night's game, that says very little.
https://www.socceroos.com.au/news/olyroos-continue-tokyo-2020-preparations-and-get-set-sapporo-switch

And some photos, many of the subs. 19 is Garbett?
https://www.facebook.com/AllWhites/photos/pcb.10159925949797697/10159925948062697

Yes.

Ryan

They've got Mitch Duke, it's surprising they didn't take more from the A-League though

Arnold is taking a new broom approach to the Socceroos, building them up from the bottom.  Not only are the new generation of players more skilled than the old rough and tumble long ball types, Arnold can also get them playing the way he wants.  I can understand why he is concentrating on youth at these games.
He is a very good coach.

Nice weather for an icecream.
https://www.facebook.com/AllWhites/photos/pcb.10159931144472697/10159931138112697

Just had a look at the Olympic coverage here in the UK and it seems we will only get the pommy football and finals.  I'm guessing TVNZ will be showing them but nothing as yet on their website.  Has there been much advertising of the football games being shown on TV back home?

absolute zero for the football specifically, but then in general TVNZ only focuses on the track and field events with its marketing of the Olympics

Don't know about you guys, but I was gonna illegal stream it.

TVNZ said they will broadcast every NZ event, either live or delayed in the case two NZ events are on at the same time. But TVNZ olympic broadcasting starts from 23rd opening ceremony. Means first game against South Korea, will only be on Sky not TVNZ.

These are the times & channels for the Sky TV coverage

Thu 22nd, Sky Sport 6 @ 7:50pm
Sun 25th, Sky Sport 6 @ 7:50pm
Wed 28th, Sky Sport 8 @ 8:20pm

From Flying Kiwis, July 15th.
https://theniche-cache.com/football/2021/7/15/further-adventures-in-aotearoa-olympic-football-preparation

Helpful for OlyWhites prospects, that Honduras senior team with a few U24 players, are currently involved with CONCACAF Gold Cup.

2 days out from our first game and still no confirmation on Boxall availability. Pick up the phone NZF.

It's that late now it might be better he doesn't go. Allow the new CB to gel more knowing it's not going to suddenly change.

I think if he isn't here now, he probably isn't coming tbf. 

Quotes from MU aren't promising:

 “We agreed for him to go but then he picked up the injury. And I think we owed it to the rest of the group, to the club, to the supporters, really, that we kept our best players here. Had he not had the injury, he would have gone reluctantly, but with the injury, we wanted to err on the side of caution.”

Seems like utter bullshark to me and MU was just looking for an excuse to can it, especially given he's apparently in the running to play their next game. Hope MU is getting some harsh words from NZF. Wonder how Boxy feels about all of this - not clear if the reluctance purely on MU's part, or if he feels the same as well.

Boxy has a good record of turning up for the AWs and if he didn't want to go, I'm sure his club wouldn't have released him initially. I know we are all tainted with Tommy Smith, but I don't think there is much sinister here. 

Nelfoos

Quotes from MU aren't promising:

 “We agreed for him to go but then he picked up the injury. And I think we owed it to the rest of the group, to the club, to the supporters, really, that we kept our best players here. Had he not had the injury, he would have gone reluctantly, but with the injury, we wanted to err on the side of caution.”

Seems like utter bullshark to me and MU was just looking for an excuse to can it, especially given he's apparently in the running to play their next game. Hope MU is getting some harsh words from NZF. Wonder how Boxy feels about all of this - not clear if the reluctance purely on MU's part, or if he feels the same as well.

Shaping as a classic club (hunting playoff football) verus country tug of war. Below is from a few weeks ago. Boxall definitely wants to come to Japan like probably any Kiwi footballer, he's likely crying out for some international football.

Boxy: “I don't need to tell anyone that I don't like to miss (MU) games at all, but we've got a full squad for a reason. These are the types of tournament that when you look back at your career, you can't believe you were there. Anytime you can play these big international tournaments, it's a massive honour. Growing up, ever since I was 5 or 6 years old, whenever the Olympics are on, everything stops. Anytime you get to be a part of it, it has always been something special.” 

2ndBest

Boxy has a good record of turning up for the AWs and if he didn't want to go, I'm sure his club wouldn't have released him initially. I know we are all tainted with Tommy Smith, but I don't think there is much sinister here. 

Smith got pissed off with some of the on/off field incompetent failings of NZF (esp during 2013 Mexico intercontinental playoffs), like Nelsen did before him when unavailable for long streches for the AWs. Post Herbert, once Hudson had convinced/pressured NZF to support the AWs better, Smith came back in and even developed a bromance with the pointy shoed one, following him to Colorado.

National teams are thankfully better resourced these days by the national body, if AWs fixtures still annoyingly scarce esp in the first 2-3 years of each WC cycle. Some sort of OFC/AFC Nations League setup, probably only way to change that.

https://www.facebook.com/AllWhites

Boxall update.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/olympics/125803449/nz-football-not-giving-up-on-injured-defender-featuring-at-tokyo-olympics

Pijnaker and Stensness started both of the OlyWhites’ warm-up matches against Australia last week, though with neither game broadcast, it is unclear exactly how the team lined up.

https://play.stuff.co.nz/details/_6264372754001

So Korea are one of the favorites?? Lost 2-1 to France in their last friendly. Apparently dominated them though according to Hay.

MetalLegNZ

So Korea are one of the favorites?? Lost 2-1 to France in their last friendly. Apparently dominated them though according to Hay.

With a team mostly drawn from their domestic top flight (so less problems having training camps and the like through the pandemic), and 4 warmup games in the last month Sth Korea are likely to be well drilled. Also being in nearby Japan will almost feel like a home tourney for them.

Think Romania (sounds like a heap of their likely first team had to choose club over country), and Honduras (missing a number of players as their senior side is currently playing CONCACAF Gold Cup) offer the best prospects of wins in the pool.

So not end of the world by any means, if do lose to Korea first up.

MetalLegNZ

So Korea are one of the favorites?? Lost 2-1 to France in their last friendly. Apparently dominated them though according to Hay.

They made the U20 WC final. Lee Kang-in won the golden ball, player of the tournament. Plays for Valencia. He's at the Olympics I believe.
But I'm pretty sure we drew with them in a pre U20 WC warm up game. So they won't be taking us lightly.

They also recently beat Argentina. We should be respected now which is nice compared to previous tournaments.