New Zealand U-23s - Quali Whites

AucklandPhoenix

The coaches probably had the foresight to talk to the clubs however well beforehand and make sure if they were available for euro, Olympics, both or neither.

Their team was literally only named 24 hours before ours, so you suspect Henry was juggling the same club v country stuff as Bazeley. As Austin who I think lives in France says, they have a big number of players made unavailable.

We with our much smaller talent had 4. It’s all sort of relative. The more players at the powerful bigger clubs the more unavailabilities you get

I think the team NZ/France/USA think will be relatively the weakest is Guinea - but honestly - their squad may not be pushovers. Mostly euro based (France/Belgium etc). Not sure how much first team experience they have.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_at_the_2024_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_team_squads

That Guinea game may well be the decider for non-France teams.

Also - they have some decent overagers:

Amadou Diawara - Anderlecht
Naby Keïta - Werder Berlin (ex Liverpool)
Abdoulaye Touré - Le Havre

Ben Old out of the Olympics??

Le néo-stéphanois a renoncé à participer aux Jeux Olympiques #ASSE https://t.co/noLNZiVSTr

— Envertetcontretous (@Site_Evect) July 15, 2024

Freshly landed in the Forez, Ben Old had to quickly leave his new partners to join the selection of New Zealand engaged in the football competition of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

AS Saint-Etienne had given his agreement for the player to participate in the competition. Eventually, Ben Old's (21 years old) will stay with Olivier Dall'Oglio's group and will not participate in the Olympic event. 

Will be a loss, but looking at formations I don't know if he fitted in to our best system potentially... assuming 3 cbs are played.

Interesting that he has gone from "yeah I'm ful;ly available and want to go and the club has agreed to let me play at the Olympics. it was part of our discussion" to "oooo I have a little owie on my ankle, I can't play"

Especially when last season for us he played with one leg for a good part of the season. 

theprof

Interesting that he has gone from "yeah I'm ful;ly available and want to go and the club has agreed to let me play at the Olympics. it was part of our discussion" to "oooo I have a little owie on my ankle, I can't play"

Especially when last season for us he played with one leg for a good part of the season. 

Stupid comment, don’t belittle genuine injuries. Him playing on one leg is exactly why he needs to manage any ankle injuries carefully. If that becomes a routine issue then you end up with another Ryan Thomas.

Personally I have no interest in our most exciting player’s international career ending due to recurring injury for a second time.

Friar Tuck

theprof

Interesting that he has gone from "yeah I'm ful;ly available and want to go and the club has agreed to let me play at the Olympics. it was part of our discussion" to "oooo I have a little owie on my ankle, I can't play"

Especially when last season for us he played with one leg for a good part of the season. 

Stupid comment, don’t belittle genuine injuries. Him playing on one leg is exactly why he needs to manage any ankle injuries carefully. If that becomes a routine issue then you end up with another Ryan Thomas.

Personally I have no interest in our most exciting player’s international career ending due to recurring injury for a second time.

Please, career ending! reported as an ankle niggle, hardly career ending. He's either been caring this for a while and Bazely knew about it and shouldnt have selected him or he got a little tap in his first training with the new side and their doctor has 'recommended' he stays with them. If it's genuine then I'm disappointed for him and the team. But the timing is very suss.

Didn’t this guy have the same muscle issues as Singh earlier on his career?

And if he went he definitely would be in the side 

Can he still be replaced in the overall squad. Or is it too late.

Who joins the 18, Lachie Bayliss or Liam Gillion?

coochiee

Who joins the 18, Lachie Bayliss or Liam Gillion?

Bayliss is probably more like for like and has experience at a higher level.

The 8 non-travelling reserves named were: Alby Kelly-Heald, Scott Morris, Luis Toomey, Finn Linder, Aaryan Raj, Ronan Wynne, Zac Zoricich and Nathan Lobo.

Of those I'm guessing Luis Toomey is the most likely to fly over to become one of the 4 travelling reserves.

Bring in Bayliss. It's not worth the risk just for the Olympics. It's more important to establish yourself in Europe.

This must be the worst NZ Olympic squad ever assembled.

My prediction: 3 games, 3 losses, no goals scored.

Reportsare

This must be the worst NZ Olympic squad ever assembled.

My prediction: 3 games, 3 losses, no goals scored.

Knee jerk reaction. The run on 11, will still be okay. Hopeful of a result against Guinea.

Olywhites starting 11 verus Belgium, last pool game at Beijing 2008.
J. Spoonley, S. Old, M. Boxall, I. Hogg, S. Jenkins, A. Scott, S. Elliott, C. Henderson, C. Peverley, C. Killen and D. Ellensohn (got sent off)

Of that lot only Boxall, Elliott & Killen would you say (have) had careers of note. I'll wager the class of 2024 will do better than that.

coochiee

The 8 non-travelling reserves named were: Alby Kelly-Heald, Scott Morris, Luis Toomey, Finn Linder, Aaryan Raj, Ronan Wynne, Zac Zoricich and Nathan Lobo.

Of those I'm guessing Luis Toomey is the most likely to fly over to become one of the 4 travelling reserves.

Yeah looking at that list in retrospect, isn't it weird?

Two goalkeepers, five defenders (three FBs, two CBs), one midfielder and no forwards

coochiee

Reportsare

This must be the worst NZ Olympic squad ever assembled.

My prediction: 3 games, 3 losses, no goals scored.

Knee jerk reaction. The run on 11, will still be okay. Hopeful of a result against Guinea.

Olywhites starting 11 verus Belgium, last pool game at Beijing 2008.
J. Spoonley, S. Old, M. Boxall, I. Hogg, S. Jenkins, A. Scott, S. Elliott, C. Henderson, C. Peverley, C. Killen and D. Ellensohn (got sent off)

Of that lot only Boxall, Elliott & Killen would you say (have) had careers of note. I'll wager the class of 2024 will do better than that.

Ryan did play the first two games though, and Brockie scored in the first game v China

I think we should have picked Kosta or Rojas instead of Boxall. We are so weak now in the final third

At least we had two Premier League overage players back then and here we are 16 years on with pros all over the world still making up the squad with Northern League players. Naby Keita will have a field day for Guinea. At least the 2008 crop got a historic draw against the host nation - that is not happening in 2024.

Khalil Media

coochiee

Reportsare

This must be the worst NZ Olympic squad ever assembled.

My prediction: 3 games, 3 losses, no goals scored.

Knee jerk reaction. The run on 11, will still be okay. Hopeful of a result against Guinea.

Olywhites starting 11 verus Belgium, last pool game at Beijing 2008.
J. Spoonley, S. Old, M. Boxall, I. Hogg, S. Jenkins, A. Scott, S. Elliott, C. Henderson, C. Peverley, C. Killen and D. Ellensohn (got sent off)

Of that lot only Boxall, Elliott & Killen would you say (have) had careers of note. I'll wager the class of 2024 will do better than that.

Ryan did play the first two games though, and Brockie scored in the first game v China

It's not historic to get a 1-1 draw against China (even in China). Their football setup is a continual mess. Current FIFA ranking 88th.

Even Guinea are higher at 77th.

But yeah I'm happy to have a wager on the Guinea game. $100 bet. Loser pays to charity of winner's choice. NZ lose I pay the $100. We get a draw or win you pay the $100. There won't be any Northern League players starting in France. 

Anyway Toomey & Gillion (likely just travelling reserves in France) will be A League players by October. Same Randall who's already an AW, and played pro in the US.

With player availability it is what it is. It's just bad timing that Stamenic & Old have signed for new clubs, in big important moves for them. Ain't no fault of NZF.

Love to see someone putting a hundred on it.

Especially like how he took the win and the draw

No idea who he was referring to but please take it up 

AucklandPhoenix

Love to see someone putting a hundred on it.

Especially like how he took the win and the draw

No idea who he was referring to but please take it up 

Well the other guy has predicted 3 losses and zero goals, so why not take the draw. It would go to that charity the Nix supports anyway.

I am happy to take that bet.

coochiee

It's not historic to get a 1-1 draw against China (even in China). Their football setup is a continual mess. Current FIFA ranking 88th.

Even Guinea are higher at 77th.

But yeah I'm happy to have a wager on the Guinea game. $100 bet. Loser pays to charity of winner's choice. NZ lose I pay the $100. We get a draw or win you pay the $100. There won't be any Northern League players starting in France. 

Anyway Toomey & Gillion (likely just travelling reserves in France) will be A League players by October. Same Randall who's already an AW, and played pro in the US.

With player availability it is what it is. It's just bad timing that Stamenic & Old have signed for new clubs, in big important moves for them. Ain't no fault of NZF.

Cool, good on ya. Will touch base again during or after the tourney.

Does anyone know when we play Uzbekistan in that friendly?
Soccerway has it down as midnight tonight.

🧤🧤 pic.twitter.com/3nHMCyuPsO

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) July 17, 2024

First session in Nice 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/9TfBWMOrqU

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) July 17, 2024

Doesn't look like it will be streamed on FIFA+ like the women's game was.

Wusty Wab

Doesn't look like it will be streamed on FIFA+ like the women's game was.

Can only presume it's behind closed doors. No real problem with that, if it makes it harder for Guinea to scout us. The match/result will immediately be forgotten about anyway. Who remembers that we had a win against the Olyroos pre Tokyo. It's all about the 3 tourney games from next week.

Looks like a 3-1 loss for the Olywhites against Uzbekistan. They took an early lead, we equalised in the 85th minute through Jesse Randall, but two very late goals sealed the deal for the opposition.

Uzbekistan apparently in control of the match, with NZ struggling to get out of their own half. Uzbekistan’s second goal looked to be a bit of a Kees Sims error, a hard shot slipping through his gloves

NZ's goal from Jesse Randall, a beautiful curler from range

Uzbekistan grouped with Spain, Egypt and the Dominican Republic.

Details and photos in this Twitter thread: https://x.com/parlonsfoot/status/1813983082556354902?s=46&t=rs-STJ7HRcyWrsEgiDyLmg

You beat me too it.

Predictable result. This was uzbekistans 3rd warm up friendly. With 1-1 and 2-1 loss to Mali. Mali also beat japan u23 3-1 and had a 0-0 with Guinea in qualifiers. Nz didn't even acknowledge this practice game.