New Zealand U-23s - Quali Whites

Pretty terrible goal keeping from the korean for our goal. 

Pretty terrible goal keeping from the korean for our goal. 

I wish I was there to start up a chant of "North Korea Is Best Korea".

Howieson on for Smeltzy

 

youd probably get killed

 

Cheers! ). Can you disparage someone else and get us a second?

smeltz subbed off

Suck on that miss K-Bitch!

 

That would be me. I rate Smeltz highly but still think my comment has merit.

LOL gilt-edged chance missed by the running-dog imperialist puppet from south Korea. LONG LIFE TO GENERAL KIM JONG UN

K-Bitch.

soft soft goal by koreans

2-1 now to Korea

Korean takes a dive in the box and the ref does well and gives him a yellow.

Great save there by the kiwi keeper

 

Not sure how replacing Musa will stop teams getting round the outside of our wide players.  Neither goal was he to blame.

 

An improved performance on the Japan game, but still lots to work on.  

Wonder if those people who suggest the nix should sign Hogg, watched his performance during those two game.

CM is a real concern for us.  Not sure I saw Mcglinchey or Feneridis make a tackle all night.  Payne coming on seemed to improved things.

 

Agree.  First goal game from 2v1 in a wide position, and the second game from a korean player getting on the inside channel of Hogg.  Musa may not be the best player, but we have plenty of other weaknesses.

Tim Payne looks good in CM. Gets my vote.

Some improvement on Japan game but still a long way off even an adequate standard - I see midfield and inexperienced fullbacks as our big problems: Hogg and Thomas are displaying constantly that step up from amateur ASB Premiership to international football against guys in all sides they'll be playing who've been fulltime pros since teenagers, is a big ask - they're not used to the increased pace and skill level.

Also our midfield seemed to not offer much again in attack or defence. Unusual to see a NZ side where midfielders (Rojas and McGlinchey) are more lightweight physically than and getting muscled off the ball by Asian players. Kosta displayed some nice touches here and there in both games though...

Neil Emblen is looking out of his depth too, as anyone would whose sole head coaching experience is three seasons in ASB Premiership - some doubtful player selections in the squad such as omitting the experienced young pro Cameron Lyndsay and fielding a limited amateur, Feneridis.

On a positive note, Jake Gleeson's injury probably isn't that bad. From Twitter this morning:

Jacob gleeson‏@Jgleeson20

2 1 lost to Korea tonight, bit of a hart breaker. Hurt groin but should bounce back in a couple of days ?#OlyWhites?

Which bodes well for Belarus...

They won.

What happens if Gleeson has to withdraw from the squad through injury ?

Does O`Keeffe automatically become first choice and we bring in Basalaj as back up

or 

Do we bring in Moss or Paston (Presuming they are fit) and drop an overage player, say McGlinchey

and bring in a replacement midfield player, Eagers or Lindsay

I would say GK is a position we should not us an overage spot on. Mainly because we have very good capable young keepers, and this is their chance to shine. 

Traditionally the NZ keeper gets the most attention after a high profile game- mainly cause their goal gets constantly peppered. Think Moss v Brazil, Paston v Italy, or even Basalaj at u17s 

Basalaj was named as a back-up so assume he would just slot in.  They won't cut McGlinchey.

There is a warmup game on Friday isn't there? Can't seem to find it on sky (even delayed). 

As far as I know Sky won't broadcast this one.  

De Jong and Dewhurt said at the end of the last game that the next time they'd see us would be for the first Olympics game.

Arsenal Like Egyptian Milo:

Egypt Olympic fullback Milo (Islam Ramadan) highly-rated and drawing attention of Euro clubs:

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11670/7884335/Gunners-on-Milo-trail

Egyptian left-back Milo admits he would love to seal a move to Arsenal this summer.

Sky Sports revealed earlier this week that Arsenal had joined the likes of Lyon, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon in the chase for the 21-year-old - who currently plays for Haras Al Hodood.

Now the player has confirmed that he is aware of Arsenal's interest and he is hopeful he can impress them during the forthcoming Olympic tournament.

He told FilGoal: "Arsenal officials have been following me since my participation in the Toulon tournament in 2009.

"And the English team got more interested in me after Toulon 2012 and I'm now waiting for their official letter.

"I will meet with the Haras Al Hodood officials before I leave with the Olympic squad on Thursday (to France for two warm-up matches) to understand their stance from this offer.

"I believe the Arsenal scouts will watch me closely at the London Olympics. My participation at London 2012 is what will determine my next step, and I hope to come to a European club."

________________________________________________________________________________________

Striker Mohamed Salah injured his shoulder playing in a friendly for FC Basel last week but should be back in time to play NZ.

Egypt are in camp in Paris, France and play Gabon overnight and Honduras Friday am NZT both behind closed doors.

Senegal caused a huge upset on the weekend by beating top-rated Spain Olympic 2-0 in Spain (and bossing the match against Spain's la Liga and Premier Lge stars) - Egypt comfortably disposed of Senegal in Olympic qualifying to finish third ahead of Senegal fourth...

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Belarus are already in camp in Colchester, England and beat St Albans City of the Southern Lge Premier 3-1 in Colchester on the weekend behind closed doors.

They play Japan Olympic at the City Ground, Nottingham early Thursday am NZT

Then complete their preps with another match against an English club on the 22nd (UK time)

OLYMPIC FOOTBALL FRIENDLY DOUBLE-HEADER FEATURING NZ'S OPPONENTS BRAZIL MEN AND G.B. WOMEN SATURDAY AM (NZ TIME):

Live in Britain - suggest fans contact Sky TV to ask if they're screening the Olympic Football friendly double-header featuring NZ's opponents Great Britain Women v Sweden and Brazil Men v Great Britain in Middlesbrough on Saturday morning NZ time (3am and 7am)? What better way to promote their Olympic football coverage.

 CONTACT SKY TV HERE:  

https://skytv.custhelp.com/app/ask

PHONE: 0800 759759 

15:45 20/7/12 BBC One: Match of the Day Live, Great Britain v Sweden - Gabby Logan presents live coverage as Great Britain's women face Sweden. 

yeah theyve been advertising GB vs Brazil on ESPN for the last week, delayed coverage from 9am Saturday morning.

Looking forward to a much better game tonight from the boys... here's hoping for a win.

Overall it was another fairly disappointing display of football by NZ with the team still struggling to keep the ball on the ground for large periods of time.

I thought i'd give a summary of how each player did.

2 O'Keefe - terrible game, bar for one clean take coming out to collect a cross and one save he really did himself no favours. With the first goal he was way to late getting down and for the second although off sighted by Nelsens dive he pulled his arm in when diving, had he kept it extended he might have saved it. The penalty was silly, no need to commit so much and the fourth went between his legs. He looked really dodgy with one on ones. If Gleeson isn't fit, we have to bring in Basalaj to start.

5 Thomas, passing was ok, although went back to often and when he went forward went long which never really worked. Made some good tackles but struggle positionally. Was late pulling forward the offside which ead to the first goal.

6 Hogg, made some good runs and some good tackles, needs to pick a better pass though as he gave away possession too much.

8 Nelsen, covered well, got the flick on for the header for Smeltz's goal and generally kept the ball when we had possession. Rock solid as always.

5 Smith, generally played well and can pick out a pass but tried to many long balls. Covered well, but looked short of game time as some of his decision making was slow or dead wrong. Completely at fault for the 2nd goal, trying to turn the striker and losing possession.

3 Payne, not a DM in any way, charges in too quickly and was turned repeatedly and does not give enough options on the ball when we are in possession. Looked the worse player on the field (excleuding keeper) by a long margin.

6 McG did alot better in the second half when he dropped back in to the DM role, got on to the ball and made sound decisions. Struggled a little positionally defensively though.

5 Kosta, largely non eistant attacking wise although you can't miss his work rate on D. Looked close to making things happen with Woods a couple times, but his touc let him down.

7 Marco, a quality goal, but missed a couple equally good chances. Worked really well with Howieson (more on him later). He must have won over half our free kicks, nice control and direct running at the line.

7 Wood, offers a good target and generally maintains possession really well, just needs more people playing off him to be more effective. Made some nice attacking runs but the ball never quite found him.

6 Smeltz, good goal, but not as involved as he needs to be. Not much else to be said.

Subs

6 Feneriadis, i don't rate the guy, but worked hard, did a couple one two's and looked better than Payne did through the middle.

7 Musa, thought he did really well, and offered a bit going forward by moving forward to plug the whole between mids and the backs, passing was generally good with some attacking through balls played in. Covered well in D and made his tackles. Could potentially be blamed for thr fourth goal, marking too tightly, which meant he couldn't stop the flick on that lead to the through ball. But that's been pretty harsh.

5 Dakota, offered soimething different as he looks to make forward runs, and works hard on D. Unfortunately saw little ball, and what he did get was often directed at his head???

8.5 Howieson, made such a positive impact, generally kept the ball well and set up Rojas with 3 - 4 good chances and set up his goal with a nice pass from the outside of his left foot. Gave away possession a couple of times, but generally speaking his passing was alot more incisive than anyone elses had been all game. Him and Rojas linked up really well!!

Emblem - Needs to get the players to play the ball and not hoof it, treasure it more in the middle of the park and not be afraid to go back to go forward again. Too much long stuff.

Based on this game and the other warm ups i would like to see the following line up

                 Gleeson

Thomas   Nelsen Smith    Hogg

               McGlinchey

Rojas        Howieson   Barbarouses

              Smeltz Wood

Regards,

MetalLegsNZ (TouchMe - old account would not work??)

 

 

Great analysis

Cheers for the match overview touchme. Looks like our midfield hasn't gotten any better which is a real worry. Hoping it was an off day for Payne or just put in a role that doesn't suit him. Good to hear Howieson and Rojas linked well and threatened their D. Those two and Kosta will need to provide for Wood and Smeltz but also hope they can get on the score sheet. Marco's goal should be good for his confidence - I've always thought for a player of his skill he needs to find the net more. Also hopefully our D starts to click better in the Oly games, sounds like Nelsen went well as per but he needs those around him to follow suit like WC 2010. Four goals is a worry. O'Keefe might have had a bad game but I think he's a good GK, could have been nerves much like Gleeson in the islands. Young keepers are more likely to feel the pressure with international caps.

How about James Musa as DM?

 

  Got to be Joking

Still it sounded like a good game, probably the more entertaining of the 3, and typical it was the only one not to be broadcast on Sky

I don't quite get the Musa hating on the forums. He might not be the best player, but it isn't like he is keeping a better player out of the squad. He looked much better in the past couple games with Nelsen besides him.