This is an article that has already been written, just so you know. Back in May 2017 when the subsequent U20s side of that year headed off to their own World Cup (featuring a couple returnees from the 2015 crew). Since then there’s been an even better squad popping off to the U20 WC in 2019 and even just a year later that group is already getting into it on a global scale.

Any of those three groups would be funky to look at now to see which players emerged from those particular age pools but the 2015 group has something special about them. Not only because that World Cup was held in Aotearoa, not only because they were the first men’s U20 side from New Zealand to make the knockouts... but even just two years after that World Cup when the first version of this article was written they were already spreading themselves out across the globe and peeking back at them three additional years later has given these careers even more time to honestly express themselves.

It’s crazy just how stacked that team actually was. They’ve definitely been overshadowed by the 2019 class (who were knocked out at the same stage, albeit on a controversial penalty shootout) and that 2019 class will get their own chance to stand in the spotlight soon enough. Sarpreet Singh, Joe Bell, Callum McCowatt, Liberato Cacace, Nando Pijnaker, Michael Woud... they can’t be denied. But it’s too soon to take the rearview mirror treatment to those dudes just yet.

Here’s the recycled recap of how they fared at that 2015 U20 World Cup tournament:

A goalless draw against a strong Ukrainian side got things up and running before they fell back to earth getting pumped 4-0 by the USA. However in their final match a 5-1 victory over Myanmar meant that the young NZers and hosts became the first NZ U20 side to make the knockouts of a youth World Cup.

Good for them, it was fantastic to watch. In the knockouts they found themselves behind in the first half against Portugal thanks to Raphael Guzzo’s goal but a Stuart Holthusen equaliser had kiwis dreaming… before Gelson Martins scored a beauty with just a couple minutes remaining in the regular ninety. A tough way to go out but a proud way to exit as well.

Good fun. Even better fun has been watching these fellas find homes for themselves in the ruthless world of professional football. Some have settled in Aotearoa, some have set their sails to the wind and travelled overseas. Some of them landed and stuck, others have since come back home. Some have bounced around a few different clubs and countries to find a settled abode and others are still bouncing. The oldest of these fellas have only turned 25 in recent months so there’s still time on their side.

But what we have here is a unique set of dudes from which 20 out of 21 have played professionally as some stage and 14 of them are full internationals. Hence their respective journeys over the past five years offer a fascinating look at the life of the career footy player from Aotearoa. Especially when compared to the two-year 2017 version of this article. Let’s crack into this then, shall we?

Oliver Sail

Current Club: Wellington Phoenix

2015 Club: Wellington Phoenix

All Whites Caps: 0

Oli Sail hasn’t actually gone anywhere. Still where he started back in 2015... although he’s been pushing through those ranks at the Welly Nix ever since. Sail has played more than fifty times for the reserve team and has been the first team’s backup keeper the last couple seasons. His A-League debut came in March of 2018 and Sail has gone on to play eight times for the Phoenix between then and now, looking pretty impressive in those rare opportunities too. Compare that to 51 matches in which he’s sat on the bench as an unused sub and with one more year on his Nix contract after this currently postponed season it’ll be interesting to see what he does. Too good to be a backup, but not as good as the national team starter who’s blocking his way into the first eleven. Has yet to debut for the All Whites but has been included in a couple squads.

Jesse Edge

Current Club: DFS (NED)

2015 Club: Vicenza 1902 (ITA)

All Whites Caps: 0

One of the honest to God travellers of kiwi footy right here. Jesse Edge has played all over the place. He was in Italy at the time of that U20s cycle, getting on the bench for the top team at Vicenza a few times but mostly only playing for the youth team. Then he came back for a stint with Auckland City before playing a bit in the Czech Republic (FC Pisek) and then having probably his most entrenched spell at Achilles ‘29 in the Netherlands. After that ran down he spent some time in Slovakia but has since returned to the Netherlands at DFS which is lower down the pyramid than where he used to be but where he might finally get some regular footy after his nomadic existence of the last few years. You can guess by his last name that he’s an Ole Academy lad. Like Oli Sail, Edge did get an All Whites call up by Anthony Hudson but didn’t get capped.

Deklan Wynne

Current Club: Colorado Rapids (USA)

2015 Club: Wanderers SC

All Whites Caps: 15

Lots of All Whites caps for Wynnebags over the years and he’s had to go through a fair bit to get them too. Not long after that U20 World Cup came Olympic qualifying in which Wynne was caught up in the whole eligibility scandal thingamajig. God, what a relief that Andy Martin’s gone back to his home planet. Anyway, amidst the eligibility fallout Wynne gapped it to Canada where he signed with Vancouver Whitecaps and was a regular for their reserves in the USL during All-Whitecaps days when Stefan Marinovic, Myer Bevan and Francis de Vries were all there at once. Cory Brown was drafted too, more on him soon. But while Wynne played 35 times for the Whitecaps ressies he only ever got 19 minutes off the bench in a cup game for the first team. He might have had a chance to crack it in 2018 but that was when Anthony Hudson got the gig at Colorado Rapids and he immediately got in touch to trade for Wynne in exchange for $100k of targeted allocation money (don’t even worry about weird MLS roster regulations, they’re in a world of their own) and threw him straight into his starting team. Wynne is a natural left back but he ended up playing all over the backline for the Rapids as he featured 36 times under Huddo for Colorado, 33 of them starts. But a busted foot a third of the way through the 2019 season put him out of contention the rest of the way and since then Hudson’s been sacked and the team looks quite different now. Still, Wynne remains under contract and was on the bench for both Colorado’s games in 2020 before the corona virus postponement. Has been a regular in All Whites squads when fit, starting both the World Cup qualifiers versus Peru, though hasn’t featured since because of injury... and also the fact that the All Whites have only played six matches in 27 months.

Sam Brotherton

Current Club: North Carolina FC (USA)

2015 Club: Wanderers SC

All Whites Caps: 11

It’s been a weird old career for Sammy B already. Having been a standout at college in the USA after impressing at this U20s World Cup he was then plucked out of the States by Sunderland in England who chucked him into their academy system (alongside Michael Woud). But it was an awkward time to be involved with Sunderland as they were relegated from the Premier League his first year there and then dropped down again the next year (Sunderland ‘Til We Die on Netflix, you know what I’m talking about). Brotherton did get sporadic games for the U23s at Sunderland but never got close to the first team. A loan deal down to the National League North to Blyth Spartans proved disastrous as he suffered a serious injury in his first game, ruling him out for a couple months. Eventually he’d be recalled without playing for the Spartans again. By this point Michael Woud had already left Sunderland and Brotherton figured he’d follow him out the door, in his case going back to the US of A where he signed for North Carolina in the USL, immediately sliding into a role as first choice selection at centreback as NC made the playoffs in his first season (2019) and will be looking to build on that if he gets the chance in 2020. Made his All Whites debut in November 2015 against Oman.

Adam Mitchell

Current Club: Auckland City

2015 Club: Wanderers SC

All Whites Caps: 4

Bit of a wild career so far for Mitch – which seems to be a theme throughout these lads already. After playing for Wanderers SC and WaiBOP in the Premmy he made the glamorous move to Red Star Belgrade in Serbia, earning that one after a month’s trial following the U20 WC. However his only competitive first team footy there came on loan at OFK Belgrade. A desire for more regular games prompted him to leave Red Star and sign with NK Celje in Slovenia before joining Bolton Wanderers in 2017-18 where he was a regular for their U23 team. But as well as he did there, the club itself was heading in the opposite direction with some serious financial issues and Adam Mitchell found himself back in Aotearoa for the end of the 2018-19 season with Team Wellington and then the following season as one of the standout players for Auckland City in their abbreviated championship run. His four All Whites caps came in the four games that Fritz Schmid was in charge for.

Bill Tuiloma

Current Club: Portland Timbers (USA)

2015 Club: Olympique Marseille (FRA)

All Whites Caps: 26

The most experienced international of all these fellas and one of a few that had already debuted for the All Whites prior to the 2015 U20s. The others being Clayton Lewis, Matt Ridenton, Deklan Wynne, Joel Stevens, and Moses Dyer. The main reason Tui was as advanced in his career as that is he was already hanging out in the Marseille academy by then. In fact it was earlier in that year of 2015 that he came off the bench twice for Marseille in Ligue 1, combining for about seventeen minutes of action. Under the guidance of Marcelo Bielsa, no less. But after that he hit some speed bumps, going out on loan to Strasbourg where nothing fun happened and otherwise getting stuck in the reserves as Marseille’s first team went through managerial change and ownership change and a bunch of transfers both in and out and basically Billy T got lost in the mix... so he went to Portland. With the Timbers he spent his first half-season in 2017 playing with the reserves and establishing himself. Then he moved into a bench utility role for the MLS team in 2018, getting his big breakthrough when injuries thrust him into the starting eleven during the playoffs (Portland lost in the grand final that year). Then 2019 was his best year yet. Injury halted him slightly but he still played 26 games, 22 of them starting at centreback, and it finally seems like found his home. Lovely stuff.

Joel Stevens

Current Club: Southern United

2015 Club: Wellington Phoenix

All Whites Caps: 3

The Dunedin forward probably came onto the radar for most folks during his time in the Wellington Phoenix academy where he was a star for the reserves and managed five games for the top team in the A-League (plus another FFA Cup match). He then popped across town to Team Wellington where he was an absolute star, getting his hands on a Premiership winners medal in the process, before embarking on a trip to Sweden to play for Husqvarna FF in the third tier there. For Husqvarna he scored three times in 21 appearances for that lot (playing alongside Myer Bevan for a little while) but his time there was a mess. The coach played rank long ball footy and then started dropping players like Stevens who were unsuited to that style and the club persisted with that coach even as three assistants left the club. Stevens then chose to leave (and the Husqvarna coach was sacked soon after) but apparently didn’t get great references from his old club which made it tricky. He did get a trial at a Slovakian club but then the coach there was fired before he could sign a contract and finally he decided to just head home, playing out half a season for Team Welly before returning to Southern United where his senior career had started. He was brilliant in half a season for Southern then rallied himself for another crack at Europe, Sweden to be precise, where he’s linked up with IFK Värnamo during their 2020 preseason alongside Francis de Vries. That’s again in the Swedish third tier. Stevens made his full international debut in Anthony Hudson’s first game in charge, coming off the bench three times in Huddo’s first four games but he hasn’t played for the national team since.

Moses Dyer

Current Club: Valour FC (CAN)

2015 Club: Wanderers SC

All Whites Caps: 11

Another one of Anthony Hudson’s faves however the last couple years have seen him stand on his own two feet. First of all he moved beyond the local leagues to sign professionally in Norway. Florø SK was the team and in his first half-season he played seven times including scoring the winner in a crucial away win over Levanger... but it wasn’t enough to keep Florø from being relegated from the second to the third tier. Still, down a division he got even more game time as he scored six times in 19 matches in the 2019 campaign. He probably coulda done without two red cards in the first eight league games but so it goes. Plus he also scored the winner in the All Whites’ most recent victory, a 2-1 triumph over India back in July 2018. He’s since moved from Norway to Canada, signing with CPL side Valour though a pesky global pandemic has kept that season from beginning.

Alex Rufer

Current Club: Wellington Phoenix

2015 Club: Wellington Phoenix

All Whites Caps: 7

For a while there it looked like Rufer might be about to leave the Welly Nix. After coming up through the ranks he’d struggled to lock down any kind of regular role, both in terms of his minutes and also his position, and was off contract as Mark Rudan joined the club. Roof probably coulda used his family name to get him a shot in Europe somewhere but chose to stay and trial for his place again, winning a new contract and fast forward not-quite-two-years and he’s now the vice captain of the club. It’s been an incredible rise, 23 games in five seasons followed by 37 games in two seasons. Rufer has finally found his spot as a physically-imposing defensive midfielder with a penchant for yellow cards. Injury has limited his role under Uffie Talay but he signed a three year contract extension in early 2020 to keep him at the club for the long term. Debuted for the full national team under Anthony Hudson soon after the 2015 U20s and has featured sporadically ever since.

Clayton Lewis

Current Club: Auckland City

2015 Club: Wanderers SC

All Whites Caps: 15

By the time he made it out of his teens Lewis was already a full international and had played at a couple Club World Cups. A contract overseas surely beckoned and in September 2017 he signed with Scunthorpe United in England... but a lesson of this article is that cracking it in football seems to have a lot to do with pur luck sometimes and this was a bad time to be joining The Iron. Lewis had a couple exciting cameos in cup competition early in his first season but only managed four league appearances (three in Nov-Dec and another in the final game of the season). Then he did an invisible man impression for the first couple months of the next season, the boss Stuart McCall unwilling to trust him by the sounds of it. And although Lewis did get a lovely run of games over the second half of things... by then Scunny were tumbling towards relegation to League Two. They were in the playoffs one season, the drop zone the next. Lewis played 15 times that season and mostly for interim boss Andy Dawson. That drop to League Two might have helped him finally plant his flag but when a preseason injury halted his progress the he basically fell out of sight altogether. He then managed to wriggle out of the rest of his contract to return to Auckland City to focus on that and the Olympic stuff (as one of the younger dudes in 2015 he’s also one of only a few still eligible for the next Olympic tournament – playing a large role in their qualifying efforts). His most recent All Whites cap came off the bench against Chinese Taipei under Fritz Schmid.

Matthew Ridenton

Current Club: Unattached

2015 Club: Wellington Phoenix

All Whites Caps: 5

Already a full international before the U20s in 2015 having come off the bench in a friendly against South Africa (under Neil Emblen, interim manager) and he debuted for the Welly Nix senior side at just 17 years old. He played a little bit of all over the place for them for four years as a utility option and just about when it was starting to look like his career might be stalling he finally made his breakthrough in 2017-18 under Ernie Merrick, playing 26 games that season (24 of them from the start). But then his contract ran out and he left, following Ernie to the Newcastle Jets. Ridenton played 37 times for the Jets but things got funky by the dawn of 2020 when Ernie had left the club and a week later Matty had negotiated a trial at English Championship side Reading. This while he was still under contract with Newcastle and when that Reading thing didn’t end in a transfer he returned to Aussie. Soon enough it was announced that he’d been released from his Jets contract (as you’d expect from a dude already trialling with other clubs)... except then there was confusion as to whether he’d actually been released or not after it emerged the club had jumped the gun on announcing his departure and he was pictured still training with them. Eventually that got cleared up and he’s currently a free agent. 102 A-League appearances though, he’ll have his suitors.

Nik Tzanev

Current Club: Sutton United on loan from AFC Wimbledon (ENG)

2015 Club: Brentford FC (ENG)

All Whites Caps: 1

Back in 2015 goalkeeper Nik Tzanev was hanging out at Brentford in their academy group, though he never did make it into their top team and was released. That led to him trialling with AFC Wimbledon and there he’s slowly been progressing up the ranks. His first two years he mostly played for the age grade teams but he did pop up once each year on the bench for the top side while working hard behind the scenes. Then came this 2019-20 season. A tricky situation with the keeping ranks saw Tzanev chucked in for their season opener against Rotherham (as well as a game away at Fleetwood Town and a League Cup match vs MK Dons). After that their West Ham loanee GK returned to fitness and Tzanev, despite making a fine impression, dropped back to the bench and eventually went out on loan to Sutton United in the National League where he’s kept six clean sheets in 19 matches. He also kept a clean sheet on international debut in a 1-0 win over Chinese Taipei back in June 2018.

Brock Messenger

Current Club: Hamilton Wanderers

2015 Club: Wanderers SC

All Whites Caps: 0

Another one of those nomadic sorts. Brock Messenger did the Wanderers SC thing prior to the 2015 tournament and after it he did what many other local fellas do and started splitting time between the Premiership (Canterbury Utd) and the NPL in Australia (Sunshine Coast). From there the defender incorporated some lower league stuff in America before heading over to Finland where he spent most of his time with Jaro, making 26 appearances for them in 2017. Most recently he’s been witnessed commanding things at the back for Hamilton Wanderers, his fourth Premiership club (he had a stint at Eastern Suburbs too).

Cory Brown

Current Club: Unattached

2015 Club: Xavier University (USA)

All Whites Caps: 0

After a wonderful and accolade-ridden college career at Xavier University (defender of the year in his conference, a conference first team selection, on the watchlist for national college player of the year), Cory Brown was a good bet to get drafted nice and high in the 2018 MLS Draft. Brown had also popped up for a few USL Development League teams in his college offseason (which is pretty common) so he was nicely poised. But the overly analytical US soccer scene didn’t like his lack of height as a centreback and while he did get drafted, it was way down at 62nd overall by the Vancouver Whitecaps... who sent him off to their affiliate USL team Fresno, where he played often enough but wasn’t given a second year by the ‘Caps. Brown then fell off the scene for most of 2019 before re-emerging for a stint with his hometown team Tasman United in the Premiership. Then he left to pursue that career in the States (reportedly) with a potential green card likely to boost his chances a lot if/when that letter comes through in the mail.

Monty Patterson

Current Club: Hønefoss BK

2015 Club: Ipswich Town (ENG)

All Whites Caps: 15

The Python has had a curious time of things. He’s almost sorta gone backwards. Back in the day he was working his way up the academy ladder at Ipswich Town and there’s an alternate universe where he mighta gone on to impressive things there. He scored enough goals for the youth teams there to stay in contention and made his senior debut as an 81st minute substitute in a League Cup match against Crystal Palace in August of 2017 (for a heavily rotated squad, as is often the case in that tournament). Patterson had a chance to equalise in the final stages of that game but couldn’t take advantage of it, the Tractor Boys losing 2-1. He never got another chance for the top team. Patterson had spent a large portion of the previous season on loan at non-league Braintree Town and would spent the latter half of that 2017-18 term back in Aotearoa on loan at the Wellington Phoenix... but that didn’t go so well. He played four times in the A-League, twice as a substitute while his two starts never saw him last beyond half-time. He did score once in two matches for the reserves but the loan expired and he was promptly released by Ipswich as a free agent. The Python’s next move was to the USA and Oklahoma Energy at the USL level. USA had been where his most memorable moment as an international had come, scoring the equaliser in a 1-1 All Whites draw with America in 2016... but returning Stateside didn’t do it either, only playing 53 minutes in three appearances for the Energy over the rest of their 2018 season. Things have been brighter lately though. He spent 2019 at Norwegian club Hønefoss BK, a fourth tier club but one that was in the top flight as recently as 2013 and with them he’s been able to play pretty regularly and score a few goals.

Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi

Current Club: Wellington Phoenix

2015 Club: Wanderers SC

All Whites Caps: 8

‘Twas a relatively straightforward pathway for TAHW. Did the overseas thing briefly in his teens with a stint in the Real Salt Lake academy and some trials around the place but after the Wanderers experience he moved on to Auckland City where he had several years establishing himself as a top tier local prospect and playing in Club World Cups. Then he went and won a Welly Nix contract under Ufuk Talay. It was likely he’d have gotten signed six months earlier when Mark Rudan was still in charge but he was injured at the wrong time. TAHW hasn’t featured a massive amount for the Nix in his first season there and is only on a one year deal but he’s been doing the hard yards in training waiting for that chance. Debuted off the bench for the All Whites against Oman and has featured as recently as the Fritz Schmid tour to India.

Andrew Blake

Current Club: Auckland City

2015 Club: Wellington Phoenix

All Whites Caps: 0

At the time of the U20s in 2015, Blakey was still a proud member of the Welly Nix academy system. He did go as far as to make his Nix debut in an FFA Cup game in August 2015 but never played in the A-League for them, leaving for Hawke’s Bay United to replace Hamish Watson who’d gone back the other way. He then had a solid campaign for Eastern Suburbs the following Premiership season before heading over to Scotland where he trialled with Inverness Caledonian Thistle unsuccessfully before signing with Hibernian. By this time he’d converted himself from a defensive midfielder to a fullback. He was swiftly loaned out to Edinburgh City for game time but after eight matches for them he suffered a pretty bad achilles injury which saw that loan cut short and he was then injured again 25 minutes into his first game back for the development side at Hibs. Ultimately those injuries spoiled his time in Scotland and he never did feature for the Hibs first team in a competitive match but he did reappear at Auckland City this past Premmy season where he was a regular figure at wingback in a championship winning squad, getting things back on track with some consistent football.

Andre De Jong

Current Club: AmaZulu (RSA)

2015 Club: East Coast Bays

All Whites Caps: 4

ADJ got his break the old fashioned way by churning away in the Premiership. A couple excellent seasons with Canterbury United were followed by a couple even better seasons with Eastern Suburbs – including scoring 17 goals all up in their championship winning campaign, and all the while he was popping over to Australia in his winters to play NPL there with Maccabi Hakoah and APIA Leichhardt. Where he was also great. Eventually it was all too much to deny and in came South African club AmaZulu for his services with a three year contract. Funny thing about that is he was brought in to replace a fellow Premiership dominator in Emiliano Tade who had been sold by AmaZulu to Mamelodi Sundowns where he emerged as competition to Jeremy Brockie (before Tade came back to Aotearoa and Brockie went out on loan). ADJ started quite well for his new team too, getting immediate minutes despite being new to the scene... but after nine matches he broke his foot playing for the All Whites and was out hurt until all the lockdowns started. Made his full international debut against Canada in March 2018 and has featured in four out of six games since then including scoring against India.

Stuart Holthusen

Current Club: N/A

2015 Club: University of Akron (USA)

All Whites Caps: 0

The man who scored the goal against Portugal in the round of sixteen. Holty had a really impressive college career in Akron scoring 31 goals in 78 games (52 of those starts) and peaking in his final year in 2017 when he top scored for the programme with 12 goals in 24 matches, starting every single game. That led to him getting drafted in 2018 by the Portland Timbers. Taken in the third round, the 64th overall pick. All up and up and up ‘til that point... then he vanished. There was a rumour that he’d reported to preseason training with the Portland reserve team in the USL but he was never signed and hasn’t been sighted in a competitive game of footy since. According to his LinkedIn he went back to the Uni of Akron to do his Masters in Business Administration. Fair enough.

Noah Billingsley

Current Club: Minnesota United (USA)

2015 Club: Wanderers SC

All Whites Caps: 3

The youngest member of that 2015 squad scored the first goal in the win over Myanmar at that tournament yet in more recent times he’s evolved himself into an attacking fullback. He was excellent for UC Santa Barbara in his time there and the Ole Academy grad was well rewarded for that when Minnesota United picked him up at 18th overall in the 2020 draft. There he finds himself a teammate of international buddy Michael Boxall... who also went to UC Santa Barbara. And there he also set about immediately busting preseason fitness records. Billingsley won’t go straight into the starting team as a rookie but he’ll get his chances, he’s definitely made a good early impression so far. Internationally he made his debut off the bench against Kenya in June 2018 and played twice more under Fritz Schmid on that tour while still at college in the States.

Damian Hirst

Current Club: Birkenhead United

2015 Club: Wanderers SC

All Whites Caps: 0

The only player in this squad who hasn’t had at least a taste of professional footy is the third string keeper. Hasn’t even played Premiership for the last couple seasons either but he did help take Birkenhead United to a Chatham Cup title a couple years ago so don’t worry.

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