The All Whites Squad For Curaçao & Bahrain Has Been Named, Let Us Take A Wee Looksee...
Once upon a time there was no way that you could have ever picked a New Zealand football team, male or female, worthy of the international stage built entirely from players based outside Australia and Aotearoa. But these days aren’t the old days. These days are new days. And after a few false starts and unintended stutters Danny Hay is finally gonna get to put his plans into practice as the All Whites take the field against Curaçao and Bahrain in early October... and say would you look at this? We’ve got a squad to digest!
21 players. None of them from the A-League or the NZ domestic stuff. The latter wouldn’t be too likely even if they were available but there’d usually be a few Wellington Phoenix/A-League hombres putting their hands up. Tim Payne is probably NZ’s leading right back at the moment. Here’s the full list of currently contracted A-Leaguers...
Marco Rojas, Kosta Barbarouses, Dane Ingham, Alex Rufer, Tim Payne, Ben Waine, Louis Fenton, Oli Sail, Sam Sutton, Clayton Lewis, Callan Elliot, James McGarry, Ben Old & Alex Paulsen.
Plus guys who were contracted last season but aren’t any longer (for now) such as Storm Roux, Matt Ridenton & Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi. That’s almost a squad’s worth in themselves. Definitely a few guys who’d have been included were it possible to get around the quarantine troubles. And yet... the squad that has been picked looks top bloody notch. Goes to show the depth and scope of kiwi pros these days. But then anyone who reads Flying Kiwis weekly already knows that, right?
You’ve got ten players who were a part of the Olympic squad. You’ve got six uncapped players and 16 with six or fewer caps. Only five who’ve scored a senior international goal and only one with more than two (go on, guess who). Keep in mind that the All Whites have played just twice in more than three years and that’s a little more to do with why the numbers are so low. Guys haven’t played much for their country because there hasn’t been anything to play, not because they weren’t selected.
You’ve also got six players who started for Eastern Suburbs when they won the NZ Premiership grand final in 2019 under Danny Hay’s coaching tutelage... which sounds like Danny Hay is picking all his boys but considering that only overseas pros were available that switches the convo to how impressive how far so many in that squad have already gone. And that’s not including Tim Payne who was the only guy in that team already capped at the time.
What you don’t have is Gianni Stensness. He’s Australian again. He always sorta was but it was fun having him around for the 2019 U20 World Cup and the 2021 Olympics. It’s one of those things where it was convenient for him to represent the nation of his father, which was part of why he came over to the Wellington Phoenix that one year (alongside Taci Kumsuz who never played for the Phoenix first team and seems to have disappeared since he was released), but obviously he’s had whispers in his ear from Socceroos types if he’s changed his mind now. These aren’t even official games so pretty sure he could still have swapped allegiances later on but credit for being transparent with it, s’pose.
It’s a damn shame because he was so good at those Olympics but this is the nature of international footy. Winston Reid did the same to Denmark. Michael Woud turned down the chance to play for Netherlands at age grade level. Tommy Smith played for England U18s. Joey Champness only just changed allegiances before the Olympics. It’s all in the game, yo. Stensness probably has more of a shot of a long international career with the All Whites but you can’t blame a dude who spent all but one year of his entire football development in Australia, who by all other measurements is a true blue Aussie fair dinkum, for being wooed back. Best of luck to the bloke and hopefully he and Joe Bell continue to rip it up for Viking in Norway.
GOALKEEPERS
Stefan Marinovic - Hapoel Nof HaGalil, ISR (25 caps)
Nik Tzanev – AFC Wimbledon, ENG (1 cap)
Michael Woud – Almere City, NED (2 caps)
Goalies first and you can honestly make a case for any of these three as starters against Curaçao and Bahrain. Stefan Marinovic is the incumbent and he’s available having left the Wellington Phoenix to play in Israel where by all accounts he’s doing pretty well. Nof HaGalil had a horrid preseason cup but since the proper league has begun they’ve been very good and Big Stef’s been delivering the shot-stopping goods.
Then there’s Nik Tzanev who is the in-form option. Finally earning the metaphorical number one jersey at AFC Wimbledon late last season, his has been one of the coolest Flying Kiwis stories of the year. Finally showing what he’s capable of after so long sitting on the bench not getting his chance. Tzanev hasn’t been flawless for the Dons but he’s pulling off impressive saves every game and he’s good with the ball at feet which has been really helpful in how they’re playing (a recent trend has been teams trying to chip him from distance because of how far he comes off his line). If Tzanev can also spill a few beans about how AFCW do their set pieces that’ll help too as no team has scored more goals from dead ball situations across the top four divisions in England than Wimbledon has. Tzanev’s just coming off a League Cup game away to Arsenal too. Gotta love a bit of that.
And Michael Woud’s the guy with the highest ceiling of the trio. Plus he was the main man at the Olympics, where Danny Hay stuck with him despite a few shockers against Honduras and Woud paid him back with interest via a quality showing against Romania in the following game. Woud hasn’t been at his best for Almere City so far as the team overall has failed to live up to preseason expectations. But it’s early days. On the basis of the Olympic stuff it feels like maybe Woud has the inside track here but yeah for real there’s no wrong answer.
DEFENDERS
Michael Boxall – Minnesota United, USA (33 caps, 0 goals)
Nikko Boxall – SJK, FIN (3 caps, 0 goals)
Liberato Cacace - Sint-Truiden, BEL (3 caps, 0 goals)
Kelvin Kalua – Eastern Suburbs, NZL (0 caps)
Niko Kirwan – Calcio Padova, ITA (0 caps)
Nando Pijnaker – FC Helsingør, DEN (1 caps, 0 goals)
Tommy Smith – Colchester United, ENG (38 caps, 2 goals)
Bill Tuiloma – Portland Timbers, USA (26 caps, 0 goals)
Dalton Wilkins – Kolding IF, DEN (0 caps)
This is where all the funk lies: in defence. No Winston Reid who is still recovering from his injury suffered at the Olympics. Having been released from West Ham last week, Reid’s a free agent – he probably won’t sign anywhere until January when registration windows open again in most top Euro leagues – but that does mean he’s got some time on his hands so Winnie will link up with the squad anyway in a non-playing capacity. Which, quite frankly, is amazing. This is the biggest slept-on factor of the whole squad: Winnie going Full Mana to help the lads out. Don’t question the man’s attitude, folks.
Right back is the worry here. Niko Kirwan’s in great form for Calcio Padova though that’s in the third tier of Italian football so the standard’s not as high as others in the squad. Kelvin Kalua is the other right back here and jeez what a call up for that bloke. He’s come up the ranks at Eastern Suburbs and is one of the guys who worked with Danny Hay when he was in charge of that squad. At the moment he’s over in Sweden training with Torslanda and the Ole Academy project, though it’s been reported that he’s using that sort of as a home base with an eye on getting some trials around the traps. That’s awesome for him. Kalua’s been really good at Premiership/National League level and while going straight into the national team is skipping a step or two... it’s just one of those convenient things. Most of the better specialist RBs are based in the A-League. Tim Payne. Dane Ingham. Callan Elliot. Storm Roux. It’s a weak position and he happens to be available. The coach already knows what he can do. Really hope he sneaks on for a few minutes and a debut in one of these games.
Two uncapped players as the only specialists, not ideal, but there are other right back options in the squad. Fellas who perhaps aren’t at their best there but who could do a job. Nikko Boxall is one of them. Bill Tuiloma is another. Perhaps even Dalton Wilkins or Libby Cacace who are the two left backs in the team. Will just leave that idea dangling. Cacace is a no-brainer – based on the UEFA coeffiecients he’s playing at the second highest level of anyone in the group after Chris Wood (Ryan Thomas would be second if he were there). Wilkins is another Eastern Suburbs championship alum and is back getting regular footy again after a long term injury, on loan from FC Helsingør at Kolding a level down in Denmark. Wilkins is a solid player. Wouldn’t make a full strength All Whites squad (yet) but he’s worthy of this one.
Seems notable that neither James Musa nor Noah Billingsley are in the group, especially as Billingsley is an option at right back. He’s not played much for Phoenix Rising in the American USL but that’s probably not the issue considering nobody from that league is in this squad. The USL doesn’t break for the international window so guys would miss games right as playoff qualification is being scrapped out. Deklan Wynne, Max Mata, Kyle Adams... they’re in the same boat. Meanwhile the MLS does break hence Michael Boxall and Bill Tuiloma are here (though not Elliot Collier). Minnesota United owe NZF a solid anyway after how they handled the Boxall thing before the Olympics.
Who starts out of the five excellent CBs in the team? Take your pick. It could be that Danny Hay rotates the lot of them over two games. That was how he handled things on his first tour. Michael Boxall and Tommy Smith offer heaps of experience so it feels fair to expect that one (or both) of them starts in each (or both) games for that reason alone. Remember that stat about how inexperienced this group is. In fact Tommy Smith is the second top scorer in the squad, lol. Fingers crossed that’s no longer true in a couple weeks.
As cool as it would be to see the Boxall Bros out there together, they’re both right-sided defenders so more likely either Smithy or Nando Pijnaker partners one or the other and Bill Tuiloma’s in the mix too (as well as being a midfield option in a squad short of MF depth). Pijanker hasn’t played since the Olympics having gone out on loan to Helsingør where he’s yet to debut. The others play all the time although Tuiloma is usually in one game, out the next for Portland. Good options to have. All five of these CBs, along with Winston Reid, would probably be in a full strength All Whites squad.
MIDFIELDERS
Joe Bell – Viking FK, NOR (2 caps, 0 goals)
Matthew Garbett – Torino, ITA (0 caps)
Sarpreet Singh – SSV Jahn Regensburg, GER (6 caps, 1 goal)
Marko Stamenic – HB Køge, DEN (0 caps)
With all due respect to Matt Garbett, the three starters in Danny Hay’s usual 4-3-3 formation are absolute locks here. Marko Stamenic is highly rated by Danny Hay and so he should be, he’s an outstanding prospect whose Olympics were hampered a bit by his late arrival (because he was on preseason tour with FC Copenhagen who are currently slogging it out with FC Midtjylland for the Danish Super Liga title). Stamenic is currently on a short-term loan, ‘til the end of the year, with HB Køge in the second tier where he’s finally getting regular senior footy and based on reports from outta HBK they already love him. He’s the defensive midfielder. Then Joe Bell will play alongside him in a little more of a roaming role. Bellinho is playing outrageously well in Norway these days and will probably captain this team someday. Then Sarpreet Singh gets to be more of an attacking force ahead of them because he’s Sarpreet Singh.
The only bummer is that Ryan Thomas wasn’t available. He’s been struggling with injuries both niggling and long-term since signing with PSV Eindhoven and right now his priority is fighting for his minutes there. He could have played had he truly wanted to. But also these are two relatively meaningless friendlies where there’s more to gain from Marko Stamenic getting those caps. So it goes. Thommo made his first start of the season for PSV last midweek but then wasn’t even in the squad on the weekend. Every time Thommo takes a step forward for that team it feels like there’s a setback. You can understand it.
If Thommo were there though... it’s something to ponder as to where you fit him in. Starting ahead of Stamenic is the obvious one but then what’s if RT played in Sarpreet Singh’s role and Singh slid out onto the left wing where he’s played a lot in Germany? But then this only happens in that dream scenario where there’s a full strength national team. Even the big countries almost never have one of them. Hence why you’ve gotta have depth if you wanna go anywhere as a national team. Tournaments don’t come around that often and there’s always someone missing.
Speaking of depth... there’s not even a glimpse of it here. Not in midfield. Clayton Lewis and Alex Rufer aren’t there, so Matty Garbett’s gotta be classed as a midfielder. Bill Tuiloma is also cover. Then Eli Just and Andre De Jong can play in the attacking midfield role... which is all supposing that Hay does roll out a 4-3-3... he may prefer a back three considering the personnel in the team. It’d be better if he didn’t considering the contrasts we saw at the Olympics but we shall see.
FORWARDS
Joey Champness – Giresunspor, TUR (0 caps)
Andre De Jong – AmaZulu, RSA (4 caps, 1 goal)
Elijah Just – FC Helsingør, DEN (2 caps, 0 goals)
Callum McCowatt – FC Helsingør, DEN (1 caps, 1 goal)
Chris Wood – Burnley, ENG (57 caps, 24 goals)
Which brings us to the forward line where... let’s be honest, this trio is as easy to pick as the midfield. You’ve got the talisman Christopher Wood down the middle wearing the captain’s armband and on one side of him will be Elijah Just and on the other side will be Callum McCowatt. Two fellas in sizzling club form ever since getting back from Tokyo. McCowatt scored on debut in Danny Hay’s first game in charge. There’s no debate here. None at all.
Especially because Andre De Jong has hardly had a game for AmaZulu since the last All Whites camp when he broke his foot. Not even joking, he’s played six league games since November 2019 totalling 178 minutes. Full credit to the dude because he’s hung in there and kept himself at least in the wider squad when at one point it was almost taken for granted that he’d be released but yeah not a lot of reps for the man, which is a shame. He can really use this national team camp. Then Joey Champness, well he’s only been in the NZ system since the Olympics and hasn’t made an impact yet for his new Turkish club. Early days for him on both counts but he’ll be a useful guy off the bench in Bahrain, adding a layer of directness to the team. Nothing that’s competing with McCowatt/Wood/Just as a trio though.
Matty Garbett offers depth in the front three, as does Singh if Tuiloma plays in the middle. However it’s here where we have to acknowledge a few... not gonna call them snubs because it’s only a 21-man squad and there are always blokes who’ll miss out. But Ryan De Vries has been playing well in Ireland and didn’t get a call up. Elliot Collier was in the team in Nov 2019 but hasn’t made this one despite the other two MLS lads being selected. Collier, in all honesty, has not been great for Chicago Fire. He’s mostly a winger off the bench but still one goal in 52 MLS appearances doesn’t command attention. Joel Stevens (and Francis De Vries in the defensive areas) might have been a possibility. Logan Rogerson is another one. Could have swapped one of them in for a defender. It’s an oddly imbalanced squad in that way. Heaps of quality defenders and a superb starting team... but very little depth in midfield and attack.
Final point to be made here: Vaughan Coveny has hung on as New Zealand’s top male international goal scorer for too long. Fair play to the man but 28 goals is not enough for the number one. Four years ago anyone would have said it was only a matter of time until Chris Wood buried that number, but there’ve been so few games that he simply hasn’t had the chance. But it’s coming. It is coming.
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