Apart from Dibley-Dias, who is out there at the moment, uncapped and eligible for NZ? Years ago you used to find quite a few dual-qualified players on Football Manager, but with today's worldwide scouting network and the Internet it's very rare when an unknown name pops up.
We had the likes of McGlinchey, Tzimopoulos and Van Den Broek appear from nowhere a few years ago, and the Ingham brothers and Champness from Oz more recently.
Is there anyone 21+ out there in a decent professional environment in the world on the radar?
Only one I could really think of at the moment would be Jay Herdman.
Could be worth a look at for the next window? A chance to look at him as part of an experimental lineup against Samoa next month perhaps?
Go with a strong XI against Vanuatu first up and then make some changes for Samoa as I'd expect us to beat them starting with 9 players in all honesty.
Elliot Collier? I know he is on the older end. He has been great for Indy Eleven coming off the bench with 4 Goals and 2 Assist in the last 13 games. He would be great for the last 10min - 20min?
Elliot Collier? I know he is on the older end. He has been great for Indy Eleven coming off the bench with 4 Goals and 2 Assist in the last 13 games. He would be great for the last 10min - 20min?
Had his chance. We shouldn't be picking players from that league. It's not high enough for where we want to be..
Elliot Collier? I know he is on the older end. He has been great for Indy Eleven coming off the bench with 4 Goals and 2 Assist in the last 13 games. He would be great for the last 10min - 20min?
Had his chance. We shouldn't be picking players from that league. It's not high enough for where we want to be..
Yeah not good enough. Only a bench player at a club 6th in the Eastern Conference in a low level league. Got a heap of chances at Chicago Fire in the MLS over 2-3 seasons, for not much in the way of end product. 1 goal and not many assists.
Outside the AWs squad for this window, as forwards - McCowatt, Singh, De Jong and 6-7 guys spread over the ALM (Bayliss, OVH, Rojas, Champness, Randall, Gillion, Mata) are next in the queue.
Collier needs to get himself back in the MLS (ain't going to happen) or into the ALM to give himself any sort of chance. He's likely happy though Stateside (been there a long time) with his Green Card, and looking at a post football career there like so many other ex NZ footballers.
Young Riley Bidois from the same USL League one to watch for sure though.
Was Ben Chilwell ever talked about as a possible NZ call up in his early Leicester days? He's obviously played 20+ times for England now but wondered if he was ever approached in his teens?
English based All Whites fan! Would love to watch an All White game one day.
Was Ben Chilwell ever talked about as a possible NZ call up in his early Leicester days? He's obviously played 20+ times for England now but wondered if he was ever approached in his teens?
I think I remember it being mentioned somewhere that NZF had been in touch but he had his eyes firmly on England.
I do wonder if maybe he's having second thoughts as he's well down the pecking order, much like a certain Judas who played for the Nix and USA back in the day.
Supporter of the world's best football teams: Waikato..., Kingz FC, NZ Knights, The Nix, The Argyle & of course the All Whites
Was Ben Chilwell ever talked about as a possible NZ call up in his early Leicester days? He's obviously played 20+ times for England now but wondered if he was ever approached in his teens?
I think I remember it being mentioned somewhere that NZF had been in touch but he had his eyes firmly on England.
I do wonder if maybe he's having second thoughts as he's well down the pecking order, much like a certain Judas who played for the Nix and USA back in the day.
Oh, yeah. Must be kicking himself; who would want to test themselves and play 21 times for a top 20 nation with top level players against the likes of Holland, Croatia, Czechia, Spain, Belgium, in meaningful competitions when they could have turned out 24 times in the same period for a bottom half nation against Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, with a few friendlies against middling nations thrown in. Wow, he could have even turned out against Malaysia this month. Boy, did he miss a trick.
Chilwell's proud of his Kiwi roots, as evidenced by the detailed tatt he has on his forearm (even has the Stewart Island), but then he's obviously also very proudly English looking at another tatt he has.
He's been in the English setup as far back as 2015 (their U19s). He was always going to choose the 3 Lions if given the chance, but also when he debuted for England in 2018, the AWs programme was basically non existent.
From the Peru playoff games in Nov 2017 up to Hay's first games in charge in Nov 2019 (Ireland & Lithuania) the AWs played a paltry 4 games. Canada (far lower in the rankings back then), and lowly Kenya, Chinese-Taipei & India. Even loyal servant Wood gave all those 4 games a miss from memory (may have been injured)
So in nearly 2 years they played 4 (low profile) matches, 6 if you include the Nov 2019 games. it was depressingly bad. Then made worse by Covid, and no more games until the Tokyo Olympics (psuedo AWs) in July 2021.
The pitiful programme definitely played some part in Boyd switching to the Americans. He made his debut for them in June 2019.
Wonder if the Football Ferns are going to get a lean programme for awhile. Next WWC not until 2027, next Olympics 2028. No coach. Looks like Pragnell and alot of the playing group on less than friendly terms. He may just quietly think behind closed doors NZF, are going to save some money and focus more on the AWs for the next 6-12 months
Chilwell has the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 5 below his left knee as he is the 1,235th player to represent England
Was Ben Chilwell ever talked about as a possible NZ call up in his early Leicester days? He's obviously played 20+ times for England now but wondered if he was ever approached in his teens?
I think I remember it being mentioned somewhere that NZF had been in touch but he had his eyes firmly on England.
I do wonder if maybe he's having second thoughts as he's well down the pecking order, much like a certain Judas who played for the Nix and USA back in the day.
Oh, yeah. Must be kicking himself; who would want to test themselves and play 21 times for a top 20 nation with top level players against the likes of Holland, Croatia, Czechia, Spain, Belgium, in meaningful competitions when they could have turned out 24 times in the same period for a bottom half nation against Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, with a few friendlies against middling nations thrown in. Wow, he could have even turned out against Malaysia this month. Boy, did he miss a trick.
Who knows, if we had of had him at the back instead of Pijnaker in Doha, we might have made the WC, something he is unlikely to do for England.
Supporter of the world's best football teams: Waikato..., Kingz FC, NZ Knights, The Nix, The Argyle & of course the All Whites
Portland (9th in the West) travel to big derby rivals Seattle (3rd). The Timbers can with a win still avoid the 8th/9th wildcard game, if Minny (7th) lose & Vancouver (8th) at best draw.
Sutton must be looking over his shoulder nervously at de Vries, might need to have a really good start to the season to keep his spot in the November squad
Sweden Lower Leagues Ettan South Torslanda climb to 10th with a 1-0 win over Oskarshamns AIK (12th). Harry Edge, Parker-Price & Bright all with starts. No Wooldridge
We need to unearth a striker, even a second-tier player would do.
The gap between Wood (at 33, is bound to retire from AW duty sooner than later) to the next best strikers is far wider than that of the gain the AWs made when Wood took over from Killen, Fallon, and Smeltz.
Clumsy way of saying we don't have anyone nearly as good of Killen, etc waiting in the wings.
Hmmm, "good" as in football talent-wise, not moral-wise.....
192 cm, 24 yr old Ho-Jae Lee at K League club Pohang Steelers. 9 goals in the K League from 27 games (only 9 starts). Has been injured since mid August.
Lived in NZ as a youngster, but may not be AWs eligible, and even if he was likely would have to give up his Sth Korean passport. Like Japan, Sth Korea makes dual nationality difficult.
We need to unearth a striker, even a second-tier player would do.
The gap between Wood (at 33, is bound to retire from AW duty sooner than later) to the next best strikers is far wider than that of the gain the AWs made when Wood took over from Killen, Fallon, and Smeltz.
Clumsy way of saying we don't have anyone nearly as good of Killen, etc waiting in the wings.
Hmmm, "good" as in football talent-wise, not moral-wise.....
I think it has to be Waine. We really need him to kick on... he's got all the skills. Just needs a big season either on Loan or back at his parent club.
We need to unearth a striker, even a second-tier player would do.
The gap between Wood (at 33, is bound to retire from AW duty sooner than later) to the next best strikers is far wider than that of the gain the AWs made when Wood took over from Killen, Fallon, and Smeltz.
Clumsy way of saying we don't have anyone nearly as good of Killen, etc waiting in the wings.
Hmmm, "good" as in football talent-wise, not moral-wise.....
I think it has to be Waine. We really need him to kick on... he's got all the skills. Just needs a big season either on Loan or back at his parent club.
I'm not sure Waineo 'has all the skills'. Certainly little evidence at the moment, that he can impose himself enough on games at L1 or Championship level. He tries hard, and you can't fault his work rate, but there is a reason Mansfield are barely playing him.
Seems too easily muscled out of games, and sometimes it feels like he's not even playing. Even seemed to struggle against Vanuatu & Samoa to do much. Still young yes at 23, but getting a bit less optimsitic as times goes on that he's going to be the Wood heir apparent. Hope of course I'm wrong.
First up let’s be fair- Woodsy was with a PL club when he was 17 and is a brick shark house. Currently 4th in the PL golden boot race.
That’s a dude against whom no one looks good.
Waine’s in a slump. He’s not getting game time. Same as with Woodsy a striker needs supply lines, bosses who like him and a bit of luck. Look at Wood’s last goal. He’s missed a 1 v 1 and failed to put away one from the 6 yard box through traffic prior to that. Gibbs-White hits a great ball for him and I think he’s returning the ball across goal for Anderson, but it goes in. Not the kind of leniency or opportunity Waineo has had.
Waine hopefully find somewhere where he can settle and get his shooting boots on. He was fine for strength in the Championship in his cameos. Being in and out of games will be a mental thing. That said one of the most impressive touches for me after watching NZ shoot the ball repeatedly against 4-5 blockers v Samoa, was Waine’s header to Wood for one of his goals. That’s great awareness.
That said as well, the best way for us to play with Waine isn’t necessarily the same as with Wood up front.
But, yeh, I’m shocked at how little playing time he and Mata are getting. And I can’t think of any young strikers making noise anywhere else. Do the A league clubs have anyone? It’s gone quiet on Supyk. There’s a huge supply line of wingers, but few natural tap-in merchants.
And given that I’m equally surprised we haven’t even had a look at de Jong.
Wood, Kosta…then one of McCowatt, Garbett, Old or even Singh probably our best bet up front from our current crop…
Or perhaps Libby is going to find himself as a utility striker, given the depth with Payne, Roux, Wilkins, de Vries, Elliot, Ingham and Sheridan we suddenly seem to have!
From what I read (Plymouth match reports, Niche Cache), Waineo wasn't really fine for strength in The Championship.
Admittedly he often came on in the 2nd half when the Pilgrims had gone defensive trying to protect a lead or draw. So Waineo a bit of a thankless task coming on as the sole striker, pressing hard, and trying to provide an outlet up front, as the Pigrims sought some holdup play to relieve the pressure. Not really Ben's game, and something he seemed to struggle to do with any great effect. Out muscled by big bodied opposition CBs. Again that's without watching any Plymouth games, just from what I read.
It's yes unfair to compare Waine to Wood. Thankfully sounds like the Woodsman just wants to keep on playing. It wouldn't surprise if at 38 he's still the AWs main striker at the 2030 WC. Nice stage to retire on, after perhaps a few seasons with Auckland in the lower intensity ALM in the leadup.
FYI - Plymouth are 2nd last in The Championship and struggling for goals. 5th worst in the league for goals (19 in 19 games). Hardie only the one goal in 15 games. He was their main man last season.
Waineo's Pilgrim's deal expires end of this season.
From what I read (Plymouth match reports, Niche Cache), Waineo wasn't really fine for strength in The Championship.
Admittedly he often came on in the 2nd half when the Pilgrims had gone defensive trying to protect a lead or draw. So Waineo a bit of a thankless task coming on as the sole striker, pressing hard, and trying to provide an outlet up front, as the Pigrims sought some holdup play to relieve the pressure. Not really Ben's game, and something he seemed to struggle to do with any great effect. Out muscled by big bodied opposition CBs. Again that's without watching any Plymouth games, just from what I read.
It's yes unfair to compare Waine to Wood. Thankfully sounds like the Woodsman just wants to keep on playing. It wouldn't surprise if at 38 he's still the AWs main striker at the 2030 WC. Nice stage to retire on, after perhaps a few seasons with Auckland in the lower intensity ALM in the leadup.
FYI - Plymouth are 2nd last in The Championship and struggling for goals. 5th worst in the league for goals (19 in 19 games). Hardie only the one goal in 15 games. He was their main man last season.
Waineo's Pilgrim's deal expires end of this season.
We'll be on a new manager before the new year and I think Ben and a few others will be cast adrift at season's end if we stay up. Only way I can see Ben staying is if we get relegated which looks highly likely on current form.
Supporter of the world's best football teams: Waikato..., Kingz FC, NZ Knights, The Nix, The Argyle & of course the All Whites
Seems nz football are also thinking we need to find some more players. Add g to the Waine talk, I think he’s got the skills and right now him and McCowart are the natural guys to replace Wood, and Wood is a perfect example of the road block Waine is in now, Wood for NewCastle couldn’t get game time, didn’t score when he did get minutes, change of club and manager and boom…… I think Waine just needs that manager that believes in him and plays to his strengths to get the best out of himIMG_7234.jpeg1.27 MB
From what I read (Plymouth match reports, Niche Cache), Waineo wasn't really fine for strength in The Championship.
Admittedly he often came on in the 2nd half when the Pilgrims had gone defensive trying to protect a lead or draw. So Waineo a bit of a thankless task coming on as the sole striker, pressing hard, and trying to provide an outlet up front, as the Pigrims sought some holdup play to relieve the pressure. Not really Ben's game, and something he seemed to struggle to do with any great effect. Out muscled by big bodied opposition CBs. Again that's without watching any Plymouth games, just from what I read.
It's yes unfair to compare Waine to Wood. Thankfully sounds like the Woodsman just wants to keep on playing. It wouldn't surprise if at 38 he's still the AWs main striker at the 2030 WC. Nice stage to retire on, after perhaps a few seasons with Auckland in the lower intensity ALM in the leadup.
FYI - Plymouth are 2nd last in The Championship and struggling for goals. 5th worst in the league for goals (19 in 19 games). Hardie only the one goal in 15 games. He was their main man last season.
Waineo's Pilgrim's deal expires end of this season.
Well, you’re in the Championship and there’s a range. Playing Leceister or other yo-yo teams is basically playing PL strength players.
I remember watching several cameos where Argyle were under the pump and he battled hard up front as a lone striker. As you say a thankless task, but not one which he shirked when I was watching. He looks willowy and athletic, but is certainly tall enough and powerful enough too.Watching Argyle what I recall was everyone was shooting from distance.
To put it another way, if Waine starts to get some service and goals, I don’t think you’ll hear that many mutters about his strength.
He needs to find somewhere where he can get a run of games and where a couple of the creative players gel with him, most importantly.
Bit sad he hasn’t managed that at Mansfield. The question is will that change if he puts his head down and works hard there? Or should he try for the continent somewhere while he’s still a chance in Europe?
Speaking on BBC's Oxford United podcast The Dub, Championship expert and Oxford United fan George Elek said he was "pretty upset, pretty angry even".
He said when the club appointed Buckingham they had been "very keen" to push the narrative of the "return of an Oxford boy to Oxford", before he went on to deliver a promotion.
"Decisions have to be made within that context," he explained.
"The way you treat that manager is probably going to reflect on the fanbase too, and I think that's why it's been so controversial because the fans still feel a real affinity towards Des Buckingham."
He continued: "As soon as it no longer suited the club to play up Des's affinity with the fanbase and the fact that he is an Oxford boy, it was forgotten very quickly."
But if Bindon, Surman, Pijnaker & Boxall are all fit come 2026 WC, does the squad really need a 5th CB? Especially a guy who isn't good enough to start. Plus Surman and Bindon will just be that bit more experienced by then, and less need a mentor.
So I don't think you pick Smith come 2026. Just add him to the coaching staff
But if Bindon, Surman, Pijnaker & Boxall are all fit come 2026 WC, does the squad really need a 5th CB? Especially a guy who isn't good enough to start. Plus Surman and Bindon will just be that bit more experienced by then, and less need a mentor.
So I don't think you pick Smith come 2026. Just add him to the coaching staff
Agree he would be better in the coaching staff at this point. If an extra center back is needed George Stagner (ayr united) would hopefully of kicked on to the next level. As for Kirwan on and off captain and looking at possible promotion to serie B so surely if he keeps that up he must be back in the frame for a recall…. And I can’t stand DeVries so would rather kirwan and Payne covering right back
Seems nz football are also thinking we need to find some more players. Add g to the Waine talk, I think he’s got the skills and right now him and McCowart are the natural guys to replace Wood, and Wood is a perfect example of the road block Waine is in now, Wood for NewCastle couldn’t get game time, didn’t score when he did get minutes, change of club and manager and boom…… I think Waine just needs that manager that believes in him and plays to his strengths to get the best out of himIMG_7234.jpeg1.27 MB
From the NZF site; "Every player representing the country — at either age group or senior level, in football or futsal — must hold a current New Zealand passport. A permanent resident visa is not sufficient, even if you’ve lived in the country for many years.
You must also demonstrate your connection to Aotearoa. This can be through being born here, having a parent or grandparent born here, or having lived here for over five years."
So......do people only need to have lived here for 5 years, apply for (and get) a passport, and then Bob's yer Uncle? Is it that simple?
Seems nz football are also thinking we need to find some more players. Add g to the Waine talk, I think he’s got the skills and right now him and McCowart are the natural guys to replace Wood, and Wood is a perfect example of the road block Waine is in now, Wood for NewCastle couldn’t get game time, didn’t score when he did get minutes, change of club and manager and boom…… I think Waine just needs that manager that believes in him and plays to his strengths to get the best out of himIMG_7234.jpeg1.27 MB
From the NZF site; "Every player representing the country — at either age group or senior level, in football or futsal — must hold a current New Zealand passport. A permanent resident visa is not sufficient, even if you’ve lived in the country for many years.
You must also demonstrate your connection to Aotearoa. This can be through being born here, having a parent or grandparent born here, or having lived here for over five years."
So......do people only need to have lived here for 5 years, apply for (and get) a passport, and then Bob's yer Uncle? Is it that simple?
Yes but they have to be over the age of 21 I think (could be younger). See Durante.
Supporter of the world's best football teams: Waikato..., Kingz FC, NZ Knights, The Nix, The Argyle & of course the All Whites
