Canterbury United

who's keeper? Turipa should be there!

stu kelly would add a lot, but i get the feeling people are still quite wary about him given his history

i assume terris, collett and barton will be on board too?

what about yamamoto?  is he staying in auckland?

I hear Youth squad members have been informed. 

i always rated terris.  not many get past him

barton looked ok, but i was surprised to see him on the bench for the chatham cup final until i saw the quality of his replacement on the left 

the team seems to be shaping up ok, but probably needs a couple of imports

i'm a wellingtonian btw, but have family in chch and regularly pop down to english park,it's a great place to watch footy and much easier to get to than dave farrington or newtown park

ASB Park as it is now known (much to the chagrin of the English family who's antecedent it was named after) is a good venue, particularly in summer where it doesn't matter so much they built the stand looking straight into the Souherly. Great to see it full recently for the cup finals, the Dragons are hoping to build on that for the upcoming season. No imports coming apart from the 2 Ngaruawahia lads unfortunately but the feeling is the local lads are up for it. Barton's starting spot in the final was taken by Nick Wortleboer I think.

I also heard Barton have be having a break from footy over the summer, maybe trying to shake off an on going injury.

Good to hear, look forward to the Canterbury vs ACFC games. You've got a good chance this year of cracking the O League.

He's just spreading the love.

Good to hear Tommy Lancaster was one of the stars overnight in the game celebrating the 150th Anniv. of the English FA, Tommy's side Polytechnic FC won 2 - 1 over Civil Service.  

I think Canterbury United look a better bet than TW for second because they have a well tested squad, but it could be a close run thing. I think Hawke's Bay are certainly in with a shout too, and would even put WaiBop's chances above Waitakere this season unless I see some bigger signings at Fred Taylor Park. This all means it's shaping up to be an interesting season now the two-team Auckland domination looks at an end. I think ACFC will win the minor premiership with points to spare however.

If only NZF had not muddied the water with the Under 20 squad and allowed either Nelson or South Auckland to field a team. That would have really made it exciting and more unpredictable. 

ACFC

NZ-Under20's

Canterbury

WaiBop

TW

HB Utd

Samba South

Waitakery

I don't think NZU20s (who are of really the NZU17s) will finish inside the top two. However, they had some decent results before the world cup beating Waitak and then drawing with Auckland, so they won't be easy beats. But it will depend on how many of the U17s stay in this team, obviously they won't have Alex Rufer.

Former Canterbury United and Nelson Suburbs player Tommy Lancaster, Caversham player Nick Brandford and Wellington player Geoff Brown will be on the "FIFA Football Mundial" magazine show at some stage which is debuting on Sommet Sports this week (repeated Sunday at 1 pm). Not sure which episode it will be on.

It will show Lancaster & Brandford playing and Brown coaching at Buckingham Palace for Polytechnic FC v  Civil Service FC in the game to mark the foundation of the Football Association in 1863. Polytech won 2-1. World Cup Final ref Howard Webb officiated. Michael Owen was in attendance.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/9192471/Old-boy-to-play-at-Buckingham-Palace

Lancaster...said there had been "quite a bit of media attention".

World football governing body Fifa's Mundial television network was "coming down to do a bit of filming at our next training".

"No doubt we will be pretty nervous on the day with a few cameras there."

From today's Press:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/9268841/New-Dragons-duo-have-professional-fire

Surprising this story took so long to appear in the Press as it's been news up north for some time - see this story from late September in the Waikato Times. We've poached Marquez, WaiBop have former Canterbury striker Slefendorfas:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/sport/9226047/Marquez-shuns-WaiBop-for-Canterbury

Prolific striker Federico Marquez has ditched WaiBop United before the Premiership season has begun.

The Uruguayan, who netted 23 league goals for Ngaruawahia United this year to help spark their promotion to the Northern League Premier Division, has joined WaiBop's ASB Premiership rivals Canterbury United.

However, WaiBop coach Peter Smith said while he was disappointed by Marquez's pre-season defection, he wasn't going to lose much sleep over it.

''He's obviously a decent player, so disappointed to lose him,'' Smith said.

''But at the same time we've got other players who are as good, if not better. When we looked at putting our starting XI on the field, there probably wasn't a place for Federico.

''We'll just move on. It's not a biggie - there are other players we'd have been more disappointed about had we lost them.''

Marquez is a skilful left-footed frontman with an eye for goal who obviously attracted the attention of Canterbury coach Keith Braithwaite, who last week signed Marquez's Ngaruawahia team-mate Steve Morrison.

WaiBop are likely to start George Slefendorfas and Milos Nikolic up front when they start their season on November 10 in Rotorua in what now looms as a possible grudge match against Canterbury.

On target: Federico Marquez scores his and Ngaruawahia United's second goal in their 5-0 win over North Shore United at the weekend

Was wondering if North Shore United have props in their team

Haha that guy couldn't contain the speed of Marquez at all as you can imagine. Think he's the son of a former All White, nice technique, but yeahhhh, lacking the physical attributes....

Marquez and Morrison look decent signings. Glad we've got Darren White but with Clapham back CU must be favourites for second spot this season. The O League beckons.

McClure. Defensive rock. Mobile as one.

did anyone watch the trials today? any chance of a run down?

When does CU team get named?

Any news on people in & out this year? apart from the obvious new signings

The Dragon were meant to play Team Wellington in Blenheim this weekend but TW have pulled the plug. I hear that management trying to arrange another game but will still be in Blenheim so hopefully hear news on players etc.

Trained at tullett park last night, seemed about 23/24 players with Keith and coaches talking to some individuals after session finished. Maybe saying thanks but no thanks? 

any interesting names?

10/11 from cash tech, 7/8 from bays, 3 from coastal and 6/7 newbies/out of towners. No Nick Wortelboer, Andy Barton or Josh Smith for the season

Smash Wellbourn playing this year?

i was hoping all the tech guys would step up and play, that team would provide a good base for the canterbury side, so it's good to hear that 10/11 tech players were there

Back after Christmas if all goes well. 

Now playing Nelson who were due to play Marborough, with Marlborough withdrawing so Canterbury United could get a game under their belt.