World Cup Squad Discussion

I'll be rather disappointed if we're not in top 50, although it seems the ranking system is about as arse about face as the Duckworth Lewis system.

Up to 77.

How about Coey Turipa??

Turipa's good but only like around 17 and probally not up there with Spoonley and gleeson

Sorry, but there are at least 20 keepers in NZ better than Turipa.

Name them

Well i can name the three gk that are going to the WC.  Now point discussing the GK places because they are all locked in already.

Chances on rojas and costa going??

+ chris james surely?

The 18 players in the squad against Bahrain that can provisionally packed their bags for World Cup Finals.

1. GK Mark Paston (32) 20/0 Wellington Phoenix
2. DF Aaron Scott (23) 4/0 Waitakere United
3. DF Tony Lochhead (27) 26/0 Wellington Phoenix
4. DF Ben Sigmund (28) 12/1 Wellington Phoenix
5. DF Ivan Vicelich (33) 65/6 Auckland City
6. DF Ryan Nelson (32) 38/6 Blackburn Rovers
7. MF Simon Elliott (35) 59/6 San Joes Earthquakes
8. MF Tim Brown (28) 23/0 Wellington Phoenix
9. FW Shane Smeltz (28) 26/15 Gold Coast United
10.FW Chris Killen (28) 29/10 Celtic
11.MF Leo Bertos (27) 30/0 Wellington Phoenix
12.MF Michael McGlinchey (22) 3/0 Central Coast Mariners
13.FW Chris Wood (17) 5/0 West Bromich Albion
14.FW Rory Fallon (27) 3/2 Plymounth Argyle
15.DF David Mulligan (27) 25/3 Wellington Phoenix
16.DF Andrew Boyens (26) 13/0 Red Bull New York
17.MF Andrew Barron (28) 10/1 Team Wellington
18.GK. James Bannatyne (34) 3/0 Team Wellington

The 19th player promised to be taken:

19. GK. Glen Moss (26) 14/0 Melbourne Victory (player rankings: up 7)

Four spots yet to be named.
Mostly likely players if there are no injuries: (more likely to be 3 MF and 1 DF rather than 1 FW, 2MF and 1 DF)

The Players Stockmarket for the Final Four places:Previous Player rankings based on last All Whites appearance, Current Player rankings based on current club activity as well as last All Whites appearances

Inside running for the 23:

1. DF Steven Old (23) 17/1 Kilmarnock (player rankings: no changes)
2. MF Jeremy Brockie (26) 20/1 North Queensland Fury (player rankings: up 1)
3. MF Chris James (22) 12/0 Tampere United (player rankings: up 3)
4. MF Duncan Oughton (32) 25/2 Columbus Crew (player rankings: up 1)

Outside running for the 23:

5. FW Kris Bright (23) 4/1 Shrewsbury Town (player rankings: down 2)
6. FW Costa Barbarouses (19) 1/0 Wellington Phoenix (player rankings: up 2)
7. FW Jarrod Smith (25) 12/0 Free Agent (player rankings: up 1)
8. MF Jeremy Christie (26) 20/1 Waitakere United (player rankings: down 6)
9. GK Jacob Spoonley (22) 1/0 Auckland City (player rankings: down 9)

After the announcement of Glen Moss being the 19th player in the World Cup Finals Tournament, Jacob Spoonley drops downs 9 places and Glen Moss was automatically up 7 places into 19th squad player spot.

Steven Old retains his 1st spot as top of the standby reserves as well as being the only DF left playing at professional level.

MF Chris James recovered from being injured. Tampere United has loan him out crosstown to Tampereen Pallo-Veikot.

The experienced utility player MF Duncan Oughton being still involved with Columbus crew and been given a handful of first team starts, may creep into the last four spots ahead of MF Jeremy Christie who has not yet found a professional club and returns back to Waitakere United which he last played with in 2005.

FW Kris Bright and FW Costa Barbarouses are in 5th and 6th place respectively. Kris is starting some games with Shrewsbury town as also Costa with Wellington Phoenix. Both are forwards and are on the fringe of selection if any of the 4 forwards are injured come World Cup Finals in June. At the moment, they are outside of the 23 because they are forwards and most World Cup Finals Squads allocate 4 forwards. Right behind them, is FW Jarrod Smith who has been released by Seattle Sounder FC after recovering from a successful surgery on his torn right hamstring and able to play a friendly against Botswana. Being a forward looking for a professional club as a free agent has him a nod above MF Jeremy Christie.

MF Jeremy Christie has slipped down 6 places to cater for the above 3 forwards that may nab a distinct possibility of a 5th forward in the 23, having losing out to MF Oughton and a return from injury MF Chris James at professional club level.

The rest:

10.DF Jeff Campbell (30) 16/5 Waitakere United (player rankings: no changes)
11.DF James Pritchett (27) 6/0 Auckland City (player rankings: no changes)
12.MF Marco Rojas (17) 0/0 Wellington Phoenix (player rankings: new entry up 4)
13.MF Cole Peverley (21) 1/0 Team Wellington (player rankings: down 1)
14.FW Allan Pearce (26) 1/0 Waitakere United (player rankings: down 1)
15.FW Greg Draper (20) 1/0 Team Wellington (player rankings: down 1)
16.FW Daniel Ellensohn (24) 1/0 Free Agent (player rankings: down 1)

Edit: to include updated player details of Cole Peverley and Daniel Ellensohn.AllWhitebelievr2009-11-25 19:43:15

Quality AWB james dean2009-11-25 02:12:12

Three AW keepers, all the NZFC keerers. Thats atleast 12 without even thinking about it. Add the top 3 or 4 from Central, Northern Prem and Mainland League and that's another 9.

For the Playoffs I gathered that Kris Bright was going to have been called into the squad for cover in instance of injury to Killen, Fallon, Smeltz or Wood.

I think we only need 5 strikers if we stick with 3 uop front. I think Ricki will go 4-4-1 for teh WC so 2 strikers in reserve in enough. I'd rather see cover in midfield and defence. Elliot and Brown are injury prone of late so def need cover there. I'd go for James and Oughton there. Plus Oughtan can play full back if needed. Then we'd need defensive cover and, i know there are a lot of haters out there, but Old is my fist choice cover. He's playing regulary in the SPL. Who else is at anywhere near that level? He can also cover central and wide defensive roles. last spot is the tough one but I'd lean towards Costa more for an experience thing than anything else. If he gets a run then great but just to be in the environment would be great for him. Can play wide in midfield as well which is an area we lack in a bit.

AWB that was outstanding work on the summary.  Just to be picky Cole Peverly is at Team Wellington not HBU and Daniel Ellensohn is on a drinking tour of Europe and not playing presently.  He got injured and was released by Fritzl United at the end of his contract.

Smithy2009-11-25 10:28:52

Another question would be if James has burnt too many bridges.

Or had too many injuries (/pies).

Jarrod Smith? No chance.

Most teams take 5 forwards to tournaments, you need to have them to cover for injuries/suspensions and do-or-die situations when you're chasing games.

That still leaves 15 spots for midfield and defenders, which is more than enough.el grapadura2009-11-25 10:40:57

isnt kris bright getting the boot at shrewsbury?

It sort of depends who you play in the group and what is the dominant formation. If we are doing 4-4-1-1 or 4-5-1 then 4 forwards are likely. I agree that most teams take 5 forwards to cover most formations. In some cases weaker teams are selected for the level player quality rather than positions and some of the players are routed as one position but can play a number of positions. If it looks that we are doing 4-4-2 then 5 forwards is likely. If 3-4-3 is an effective possible strategy, according to our pool draw, then 6 forwards in the WC squad is likely.

But until otherwise, I still thinking as the pre-draw selection that Ricki would stick with 4-4-1-1 or 4-5-1 as it was in the Confederation Cup and I am start from the point of view that we are in a group of death.

None of that, fancy thinking of getting South Africa in our group because OFC, no matter what, always seems to get the worse, if not the second worst pool group in the World Cup Finals. Give me a draw, where an OFC country had it easy?? Even Australia in 2006 had Brazil, Croatia and Japan which was the second/third worse pool group and reached the next round on the skin of their teeth.

Anyway after the WC draw. I will redo the player rankings with consideration to the pool play opponents and what is the likely second round opponents. We may have 5 or 6 forwards in the squad, it depends on our pool opponents. Personally I would love to have 6 forwards.

8-2-0

bringbacksmeltz2009-11-26 01:21:07

i dont mean to offend but I would love NZ to play 0-0-11, 0-0 x3 = 3 points and a clean sheet at the WC :)

Samoa tried this a few years back against us, we c**ted them 13-0 in Apia.

This line up looks the most attractive on all the comments about players on this thread.
On the little I have seen of Jarrod Smith, he has impressed.
Barbaroses, he gets bumped off and falls over all the time. You need more than pace to play at this level.
What are your thoughts on the back line?

Costa > Smith

What is with all the James lovin. He looks like a decent player and might be useful to have in the squad, but c'mon, the only place he's been able to pick up a first team pro contract is Finland - and he's been injured most the time he's been there. He's well back in the pecking order Id say. From what ive seen of him he does some good things, but he's prone to turning the ball over and has some way to go before he's a complete footballer. Marius Lacatus2009-11-27 20:34:11

Finally ...

Agree 100%

It would virtually be with 5 at the back however.

Seem to recall that after Bahrain games, there were stories on two young possibles Ricki was watching overseas.

Thinking of Winston Reid and Tommy Smith?

Our squad with my additions in bold.

Goalkeepers:
James BANNATYNE 
Mark PASTON

Glen MOSS

Defenders:
Andrew BOYENS
Tony LOCHHEAD
David MULLIGAN
Ryan NELSEN
Aaron SCOTT
Ben SIGMUND
Ivan VICELICH

Steven OLD

Midfielders:
Andy BARRON
Leo BERTOS
Tim BROWN
Simon ELLIOTT
Michael MCGLINCHEY

Costa BARBAROUSES - Can play in the midfield and if we are thin on strikers he could play there also.

Chris JAMES - Is he still injured?  I only saw him play once or twice and I thought he was quite good.  All depends on fitness and attitude (heard people mention it isn't up to scratch).

Forwards:
Rory FALLON
Chris KILLEN
Shane SMELTZ
Chris WOOD

Jarrod SMITH - Wouldn't expect him to get any game-time.  He'd be behind everyone.

What do people think of Kris Bouckenooghe?  Everytime I saw him play I was very much unconvinced but maybe some have seen more of him than I.
Duncan Oughton never really impressed me much but many people seem to rate him so I'd probably have him and Kris Bright on standby in the case of injuries.

If Smyth and Reid put their hands up then I'd probably get rid of Aaron Scott and possibly David Mulligan.  I know Ricki said he'd keep the 18 player squad but to stick to that if these guys were available would just be stupid.

His name is long and wierd and nothing rhymes with it.