I think we can be pretty certain that Payne is the Olympics right back, with Bazeley saying he sees Bindon at CB for the Olympics and Bazeley not taking any other plausible alternative to the Nations Cup. If Payne wasn't going to France then surely Sheridan would have got a chance in Vanuatu to show what he can do. Payne also has plenty of A-League experience at CB and could be useful cover there if Surman or Bindon aren't able to play every minute. Understudies LKH & Hughes are much more inexperienced.
Mentions MDD in the same breath as Garbett & Stamenic as u23 players likely to come in for the Olympics, seems he is very confident he will be there.
And says Libby will captain the All Whites, though will be interesting to see who is captain in the first game as he is suspended for that game and Tommy Smith will be at a wedding. You'd think Rufer must be favourite.
Edit: Finn, u20 World Cup captain, is another possibility, though would be a bold call.
I believe playing in the Olympics could cap tie you if you are 21 or older and only eligible to play for one nation at the time you play. I know from looking it up previously that Zawada is cap tied to Poland due to one too many appearances for a Poland u23 team when he was 21.
And if you are eligible to play for multiple countries, then in some circumstances, playing one or two games in a competitive senior international tournament may not cap tie you, this from Wikipedia:
"If a player was eligible to play for multiple nations prior to making a competitive appearance, they are cap-tied to a nation after playing more than three matches for one national team, including at least one competitive appearance (if the player is under 21 at the time, no matter the level of competition, as long as they have not played in the finals of a major tournament), or after making a competitive appearance (if the player is over 21 at the time and the appearance is for the senior team). Allowing young players to play a couple games before becoming cap-tied was a change to the rules announced during the 2020 FIFA congress, with the hope to prevent "one-cap wonders"; it was seen as an opportunity for some dual-national players, like Spanish-Moroccan Munir El Haddadi, who were called up as promising players for European nations, but not afforded more than one or two caps, to elevate the level of their African heritage nations."
Edit: actually, upon reading that again, maybe the Oceania nations cup is considered the finals of a major tournament, in which case maybe any appearance there does the job. In any case, if the Wikipedia page on this is anything to go by, it's all rather complex and confusing.
Edit 2: the Forbes article the Wikipedia article cites seems to make it clear that an appearance the ONC would cap tie a player
It’s a pity that Zawada is tied to Poland through kids football. Highly unlikely he’ll ever play for their national team but could end up becoming a kiwi. Would be very useful for us. Him and Wood up front would be quite exciting.
This is obviously off topic, but even if Zawada wasn't cap tied to Poland, and he stayed in the A-League playing for NZ teams in the long term, he still wouldn't have been eligible for NZ until after the 2026 World Cup, so the first important games he could play in would have been the 2030 World Cup, at which he would be 34 years old... So at the end of the day it is not a great loss.
This is obviously off topic, but even if Zawada wasn't cap tied to Poland, and he stayed in the A-League playing for NZ teams in the long term, he still wouldn't have been eligible for NZ until after the 2026 World Cup, so the first important games he could play in would have been the 2030 World Cup, at which he would be 34 years old... So at the end of the day it is not a great loss.
Yep same as Ball supposedly wanting to play for NZ... naturalized players need to come over here at quite a young age and stay to actually be of any use.
I see Pennington played some U23s games for Aus but is only 2 years away from five years in NZ - would he be eligible for us?
Playing only in friendly competitions at any level does not cap-tie a player. A player who competes for one nation in a friendly match is not considered cap-tied and may represent another nation in a competitive fixture, should the opportunity present itself.
As far as I can tell, all his u23 appearances were friendlies...
Do you know what would be neat?? A thread in this channel, much like the one detailing Nix players' contract expiry dates, but focusing on AWs whose eligibility still isn't 100% confirmed or who aren't cap tied. It could be something like:
Sapreeet Singh / confirmed eligible / not yet cap tied
I don’t understand the fascination with trying to get everyone who’s ever played for the Nix, eligibility for NZ, and wanting to ‘cap tie’ every kid with a Kiwi grandparent despite them never having set foot in the country. Yeah, let’s take a sixteen year old, ply him with promises and cap him so he can never play for the country he truly loves and associates with.
The only reason Pennington would ever want to play for NZ is personal ego to say he was an international despite not being good enough for Aussie selection. If you think he’s a better option in NZ midfield than say Stamenic or Singh you are a dreamer.
If you want to watch a team of mercenaries, perhaps club football is for you. Maybe find a sugar daddy to help you buy Canberra, or start saving now for a future Christchurch bid and call the team “Ball Whites”
Pennington doesn't really play the same position as Singh. With Lewis potentially looking at a career-ending ban, and us having no way of knowing whether MDD will ever commit seriously to NZ, I think we could use more central midfield depth, the Oceania Nations Cup squad is evidence of that. Pennington could be quite useful in the 2030 World Cup cycle, he'd only be 31 by the time that rolls around.
Pennington doesn't really play the same position as Singh. With Lewis potentially looking at a career-ending ban, and us having no way of knowing whether MDD will ever commit seriously to NZ, I think we could use more central midfield depth, the Oceania Nations Cup squad is evidence of that. Pennington could be quite useful in the 2030 World Cup cycle, he'd only be 31 by the time that rolls around.
By the time the 2030 WC rolls round, Conchie is 26, Garbett, Stamenic, Old 28, Just 29/30, plus whoever else comes through like Jackson Manual. Libby, Singh, McCowatt, Bell all a year younger than Pennington. Rufer not a lot older than Pennington. Likely others I’ve missed.
Actual New Zealanders.
Then maybe Kiwis like MDD and Herdman.
Rather watch any of them in AWs than some random import that just happened to play a couple of seasons here.
Sure, if it turns out enough true blue Kiwi CMs develop that Pennington adds nothing to the table, that's ideal. But if it turns out Pennington in 3 years time is still in NZ, sees himself staying for even longer, is eligible for citizenship, and has no prospect of playing for the Socceroos, what is the harm of him having a go at it, like Durante did?
Sure, if it turns out enough true blue Kiwi CMs develop that Pennington adds nothing to the table, that's ideal. But if it turns out Pennington in 3 years time is still in NZ, sees himself staying for even longer, is eligible for citizenship, and has no prospect of playing for the Socceroos, what is the harm of him having a go at it, like Durante did?
Wasn’t a big fan of having Durante in the All Whites either.
Still live in New Zealand and call New Zealand home does he?
But for some reason you're fine with MDD, a boy with the most English of accents using the NZ youth teams and All Whites international friendlies for his development but offering no commitment, when he hasn't spent a minute of his life in NZ and would clearly prefer to play for several other national teams before NZ if he had the chance?
Edit: this was wrong, for some reason I thought he was eligible for NZ through ancestry and not birth. But in any case he has spent very little of his life in NZClubOranje
imanixsupporter
Sure, if it turns out enough true blue Kiwi CMs develop that Pennington adds nothing to the table, that's ideal. But if it turns out Pennington in 3 years time is still in NZ, sees himself staying for even longer, is eligible for citizenship, and has no prospect of playing for the Socceroos, what is the harm of him having a go at it, like Durante did?
Wasn’t a big fan of having Durante in the All Whites either.
Still live in New Zealand and call New Zealand home does he?
But for some reason you're fine with MDD, a boy with the most English of accents using the NZ youth teams and All Whites international friendlies for his development but offering no commitment, when he hasn't spent a minute of his life in NZ and would clearly prefer to play for several other national teams before NZ if he had the chance?
Edit: this was wrong, for some reason I thought he was eligible for NZ through ancestry and not birth. But in any case he has spent very little of his life in NZClubOranje
imanixsupporter
Sure, if it turns out enough true blue Kiwi CMs develop that Pennington adds nothing to the table, that's ideal. But if it turns out Pennington in 3 years time is still in NZ, sees himself staying for even longer, is eligible for citizenship, and has no prospect of playing for the Socceroos, what is the harm of him having a go at it, like Durante did?
Wasn’t a big fan of having Durante in the All Whites either.
Still live in New Zealand and call New Zealand home does he?
Fair enough. Me personally I'd be happy at this point for any player who was keen to commit his international future to NZ to play for us if he was among the best say 5 players in his particular position, no matter how Kiwi he considered himself. Shane Smeltz had a fairly tenuous connection to NZ and never considered himself Kiwi, didn't bother me. Maybe when we are a bit more successful I'd be more of a purist about it. But the MDD thing grates me because I can easily see it becoming another Stensness scenario.
I think Cacace is suspended from the first game due to his recent red card. Crocombe as the incumbent #1 probably starts the first game, with AP more likely to be given his chance when we have 3 points in the bank and a healthy GD after the first game (hopefully).
📷PHOTOS | New Zealand 🇳🇿are the penultimate team to arrive for the OFC Men's Nations Cup, completing the Group A lineup in Port Vila today.⚽#OMNCpic.twitter.com/S99FHLSiGz
— Oceania Football Confederation (@OFCfootball) June 13, 2024
0-0 in the second half. A draw means we will make the semis with a win in our first game will it not?
Edit: Vanuatu lead late. Still means the same thing I think, a NZ win vs the Solomons knocks them out and therefore sends us through. Would be ideal, a chance for Bazeley to experiment as much as he likes vs Vanuatu. Hoping to see our best side on Tuesday
Watched most of the 2nd half off my phone. Lots of crowd noise, and frantic energy from both sides, but low quality stuff. Heavy touches, and generally neither team going more than 4-5 passes. Pitch looked pretty average.
AWs can retain possession well, they should be too good for either of these 2 teams. Admittedly they should both be better for the run, whilst we will be rusty I imagine at least to start the Solomons game.
I have a feeling this will be Max's last outings for the AWs as #1. I think he'll be the first choice for this comp but will be overtaken by Alex after the Olympics.
I expect Alex will improve drastically thanks to the facilities at Bournemouth whether he ends up playing for them or not.
Until Paulsen establishes himself as a consistent starter at a level of football that is higher than League One, or until Crocombe gets dropped at club level or makes a mistake in a white shirt, Bazeley has no reason to drop Crocombe.
Moving to a Premier League club means nothing by itself, especially because he clearly has not been signed with the intention of playing him in the first team this coming season.
I suspect they will alternate. If Crocombe stays in L1 he will likely miss some AWs games, as L1 doesn’t pause for FIFA windows. That’s what happened last year
Paulsen is the future, but one of his strongest attributes - playing out from the back - won’t be as important with the AWs as it was with the Nix
