Buckle Up Because It’s The U20s Time To Shine Now
The two senior national footy teams of Aotearoa are in limbo at the moment. The Footy Ferns because their coach is a nutcase who is waiting for an external review process before NZ Football can sack him (fingers crossed, since there’s no going back now) and the All Whites because they’re usually in limbo this early in a World Cup cycle – coming off some games with a development squad and with no others on the horizon.
But forget about those jokers for a while. The European club season is just about to start again and they’re mostly all busy doing amazing things on the global level. Instead turn your focus for a second towards the Under-20 teams of New Zealand, with the ladies about to go to the World Cup and the blokes about to try and qualify for one.
The women first because their competition is more important. And also a hell of a lot tougher. The draw did the kiwis no favours with Netherlands, France and Ghana sharing their group. The senior Dutch team won the last Euros, coming two years after they qualified for their first World Cup. France are a legit powerhouse. Ghana are the weakest of the three oppositions but they’re looking at New Zealand and saying: ‘there, that’s the one we target’. It’ll take an enormous effort and more than a little luck to get something off any of them. So… yeah, keep those expectations in check.
Except that squad is fantastic, more than capable of doing something unexpected. 21 players and seven of them are already full internationals. Part of that is down to the Ferns having a policy of including young players, preparing them for these particular occasions, but they’ve still got to be good enough to get selected. Hence why Malia Steinmetz, Liz Anton, Anna Leat, Paige Satchell, Hannah Blake, Sarah Morton and Maggie Jenkins are the leaders of this unit. They’ve earned that prestige.
The thing with most kiwi age-group teams is that you might be able to see the potential but they obviously aren’t there yet in terms of development. So many teams have gone to these tournaments and looked solid, looked organised… but lacked any potency.
The reason this squad is so fascinating is because they might just be able to offer that. Players like Paige Satchell, Jacqui Hand, Grace Jale, Maggie Jenkins – all good enough to break open a defensive line. Hannah Blake will hopefully be putting a few of those chances away. They’ve also got a great prospect at keeper in Anna Leat and captain Malia Steinmetz is a boss in the middle. Solid defenders, with Liz Anton the star there. Yet the key is that rare cutting edge. Let’s hope it makes the difference.
This is a well-balanced squad full of players we’ll hear a lot from over the next decade and beyond. Getting out of the group may well be a step too far but that’s not the point. The point is that despite the drama that the senior team has been stuck with thanks to some general idiocy from the ‘retired’ CEO of NZ Football and his delegates, here’s a team capable of playing entertaining footy on the big stage, a team that shouldn’t be intimidated by some dangerous opposition. That’s worth celebrating at the moment.
Then we’ve got this men’s U20 side and all the scandals that’ve come with it. Basically that nearly half the players who got training camp invites ahead of the squad naming were made unavailable, either because of injury, club commitments or Declan Edge.
Not to pick on Declan here or anything, but he did say five week ago that he was considering withdrawing his Ole Academy players from New Zealand youth sides and now none of them have been included in the U19 side that’s going to Tahiti for the Oceania Championships with a place at the U20 World Cup next year in Poland on the line. Doesn’t feel like a coincidence, that one. Even if the more pressing matter is that Western Suburbs also have a crucial Chatham Cup quarter-final soon and don’t wanna be without half their team.
That means that Callum McCowatt, Elijah Just, Dalton Wilkins, Nando Pijnaker and Xavier Green are all outta there. The same goes for Sarpreet Singh and Liberato Cacace who are sticking with the Wellington Phoenix over on the Gold Coast where they’re in preseason mode at the moment. Dane Ingham and Oliver Duncan, both at the Brisbane Roar, have also remained with their A-League team for preseason duties and Michael Woud hasn’t been released by Willem II having only just signed.
And here’s the thing with all that: no worries. The Ole lads are a little odd given that national duty would supposedly come ahead of amateur club duty but then the Chatham Cup’s a prestigious event on the local calendar and the opportunity to make a run for it with your teammates is huge. Might never come again. Not saying this is necessarily all breezy but these things are complicated. Those dudes are not cheering and celebrating at the prospect of skipping NZ duty. It sucks because McCowatt and Just in particular are enormous talents who’d be key players there but so it goes.
As for the A-League guys, of course they’re not available. That shouldn’t be a surprise at all. They’re professional players who can set themselves up for years to come if they can only break into the first team and prove that they belong. We already know that Singh and Cacace are good enough. Next step is to consolidate that and then, sure, join up with the lads at the U20 World Cup next year if they make it. But right now they’ll be better players where they are. That’s not what’s best for this U19 squad but it’s what’s best for the All Whites going forwards.
It’s a ruthless business, modern football. The U20 World Cup is a showcase for the next generation of players but most of those players, by that age, have already gotten on the pro ladder in one way or another. The kiwi guys who get signed on the back of it are playing from behind, trying to catch up. Even then you often see the big nations unable to select the best eligible players from the best clubs who go swinging their weight around. (See: England). Fact is that club commitments are the priority if you’ve got ‘em. Might not have always been the case in Aotearoa before but if we want to take the sport to the next level here then it has to become that way in the future. This will be the new normal.
So why should we expect the best available players to all kit up for Oceania qualifying? We shouldn’t expect the best All Whites to always be available for Oceania qualifying so why are the kids any different? Those that can will and those that can’t won’t and if they qualify then they should pick the best available players at that time, same as here. No grudges, no silliness.
Which shouldn’t be seen as unfair to the lads that are in Tahiti in any way. They already have a great opportunity to win a place in Poland that they might not have gotten otherwise. Those that haven’t gone are taking that risk. But everyone’s trying to do what they think’s best for them as football players right now. There shouldn’t be any debate about players being disloyal or unpatriotic. This ain’t the All Blacks and youth grade internationals are not the Rugby World Cup Final. Too much of that bollocks already in kiwi sport, gotta feel stink for Steven Adams.
Anyway, the squad that’s been picked is bloody incredible. Absolutely teeming with talent. Max Mata is there after his trial with GC Zurich in Switzerland. Leon van den Hoven is fresh off signing in Holland with RKC Waalwijk. Trevor Zwetsloot is working his way up the grades at Werder Bremen. We’ve got Joe Bell doing his thing at the Uni of Virginia, he’s a wonderful player. Callan Elliot’s been trialling with the Wellington Phoenix after a fine season with Tasman in the Premiership. Willem Ebbinge, Zac Jones and Oliver Whyte are all Nix youthers. Jorge Akers, Charles Spragg and Kingsley Sinclair had some fine moments in the last Premmy too. This may be the most weakened team we’ve ever sent to this equivalent competition and it might also prove to be one of the best when we look back at it in five years or so. Both those things can be true.
Fact is that regardless of who is missing, we’ve still got a team capable of qualifying – especially with FIFA increasing the Oceania allotment to two teams a few years back… all they’ve gotta do is make the final! The NZ team has won 13 games out of 13 games over the last three tourneys (not having to compete in 2014 being hosts and all), scoring 50 goals and conceding 5. Go on and tell me why we’re suddenly not going to qualify because a few premier dudes aren’t going. You’re not gonna win.
There’s no point in dwelling on the negative stuff. There’s already enough of that going on. And it can’t be ignored that New Zealand Football have been to blame for enough of it that they can’t complain if guys are skipping out on their teams, even if they do have legit excuses. The stories about Andres Heraf’s influence on playing styles say enough about that. So forget the lame bits and focus on a very exciting squad of players with heaps to prove after all of this. It’ll be alright in the end. Don’t worry.
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