It has been brought to my attention that there seems to be a few queries in regards to this match on Saturday.
The Phoenix have requested that it be kept extremely low key as they can only be involved with a training game and not a scheduled fixture due to their FAA and A-League requirements. There will be no publicity from a NZ Football or Phoenix media channel to ensure no one contravenes the Phoenix's contract.
The players attending the training match are in consideration for the NZ U20 team to play in the World Cup Qualifiers in April next year. Saturday's team is made up of a selection of NZ based players only. There are 6 from Auckland, 4 from the Waikato region, 6 from Wellington and 1 out of Christchurch. Some players have not been included or not available due to Winter commitments, flight costs and other logistic issues.
The invitation to play the Phoenix on their bye week has allowed us the opportunity to include some players from Wellington who have come to our attention via scouting networks. This training game will assist us to measure the ability and tactical understanding of these players, playing against a good professional team.
The World Cup Qualifers are not until April next year (changed from January by Oceania) so the campaign is in the final stage of scouting, evaluating and scheduling.
To date the campaign has included a major identification Camp in early July with at least 12 overseas based players attending. Trainings are being held twice weekly, working around winter commitments for the players, with a much wider squad in Auckland. The Wellington/Manawatu/Napier players train when they can with Andy Hedge. Due to the extreme shortage of training facilities in the Wellington region it isn't easy to schedule a full training diary for these players.
The change to a April qualifying date will allow the NZ Based players to complete a full NZFC season. Any player eligible for this team in NZ can force their way into the squad. This squad will never be a closed off group as players in this age group can improve significantly, both physically and tactically, over an extended period of time.
The majority of the international/overseas players have attended trainings in Auckland whilst they were on their season break. In this age group there are a large number of NZ eligible players playing off shore ranging from the state leagues in Australia right up to European clubs. We need to ensure we have the very best players available to play for NZ in the Qualifiers and this isn't a quick or easy process.
I hope this makes it a bit clearer about the game and activity for the NZ U20 to date. If it is fine under the FFA regulations to release our squad I will update this post.
CHRIS MILICICH
"Phoenix till they lose"
