The European club season is pretty much doneskees so with that in the rearview it’s time to squeeze in an international window. One in which the All Whites will play twice, hooray, first against Sweden in Stockholm and then against Qatar in the neutral territory of Vienna. Two solid games to keep up NZ Football’s promise of regular AWs fixtures. Both in the European continent so as to minimise travel for the top players in the group. Can’t complain, can’t complain.

Not to stir up any traumatic memories or anything but these games will take place pretty much exactly one year on from that tragic World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica. That game, as well as the Oceania qualifiers and one of the All Whites warm-up games (the draw vs Oman... the Peru loss was in Spain a few days earlier) took place in Qatar prior to that same country hosting the World Cup itself. We’re playing Qatar in this window... but we’re not going to Qatar.

Instead that game is in Austria and you’d have to imagine that to have had something to do with the hook ups from this Sweden game. See, Sweden are playing NZ four days prior to taking on Austria in Euros qualifying. One day prior is the Aotearoa vs Qatar game. Different stadiums but same city. Qatar are also playing Jamaica in Austria earlier in the window, this time in Wiener Neustadt. Same place as they’re facing Croatia B a week prior. Maybe the Austrian Tourism Industry had some deals on? There had been chat that maybe the AWs would face Jordan but nope this is how it ended up. Whatever works, mate. We’ll take it.

Qatar had more than a decade to prepare for the World Cup with heaps of money to spend and yet still lost all three games. 2-0 to Ecuador, 3-1 to Senegal, 2-0 to Netherlands. Just sayin’... the Football Ferns have had a mere three years with knowledge of their hosting rights and that isn’t even a full World Cup cycle. Despire that, The Niche Cache is happy to guarantee you that the Fernies will do better than Qatar did as hosts. And also that the tournament is gonna be amazing whether the Ferns win games or not, it literally doesn’t make a difference (although from our perspectives it’d sure be bloody nice if they did). Anyway, that’s a digression. Qatar only won one of four games at the Gulf Cup recently too. They might be gettable.

Harder to feel that way about Sweden even if they didn’t qualify for the last World Cup. Zlatan Ibrahimovic may have retired but the national team has long since moved past him. They’ve named a pretty strong side – headlined by Alexander Isak, the bloke who nudged Chris Wood out of Newcastle United. Also got the likes of Dejan Kulusevski, Victor Lindelof, Emil Forsberg, Martin Olsson, Viktor Claesson, and a few other well known names in there. Should be fun.

Darren Bazeley is continuing as interim coach for these games. That’ll make it four matches in charge on this temporary basis... it’s been eight months since Danny Hay left but hey no hurry right? There hasn’t even been a good report/update/leak about the coaching search for a while. Last thing was a brush-off about how all the candidates are still being considered even after John Herdman publically humiliated them which seriously does not reflect well upon the self-respect of NZ Football. Gotta value yourself more than that, pals, or these nasty coaching candidates are just gonna keep walking all over you.

No idea where we’re going with that. Danny Hay and Anthony Hudson both got new jobs recently but nothing’s doing here. Bazeley is fresh off the U20 World Cup where his conservative tactics in the first couple games were rather annoying – he was even more conservative in the next two but it’s doubtful that any formation woulda made a difference to rampant defeats against Argentina and USA. Baze also played a needless back five against China in the first game of the last window to make it six games in a row without a goal for this team... though he lightened up with a 4-3-3 in the second match and bingo the lads won 2-1 courtesy of an own goal and a Matt Garbett strike. There’ll definitely be a temptation to go defensive against Sweden in particular. This squad has the options to go either way.

Since we’re talking about that squad, feast your precious eyes...

We’ll get into these various talking points as we go along because there are a few. Chris Wood is out after needing surgery for the injury he suffered during the last All Whites tour. Ryan Thomas and Sarpreet Singh aren’t here either despite having returned to regular club footy since their injuries. There’s still hope that each will return for the national team this year but for now we’ll have to wait. Could make the argument that NZ’s three best players are therefore all unavailable. Not that any of them have been at their best over the past year, mostly due to the injuries. Top three players beyond that trio: Cacace, Bell, and Stamenic. No arguments will be accepted (although I’m open to shuffling the order of the top six).

Neither of the A-League champion fullbacks made the cut: James McGarry and Storm Roux. However Finn Surman has been summoned for the first time off the back of an impressive U20 World Cup and Francis De Vries is back after recovering from his ACL tear. FDV is the only pick currently playing beneath the professional ranks (you’d imagine he’s aiming for a move before the next European season). However Niko Kirwan hasn’t been recalled, having also made a return from a long-term knee injury suffered around the same time.

Changes From The Squad vs China...

IN: Max Crocombe, Nik Tzanev, Francis De Vries, Bill Tuiloma, Finn Surman, Ben Waine

OUT: Stefan Marinovic, Kyle Adams, Dane Ingham, Deklan Wynne, Cam Howieson, Kosta Barbarouses

By the way, the clubs listed on the NZF graphic there are wonky as hell. They’ve got Callan Elliot still listed as a Welly Nix player despite his impending departure. That’s fine, technically he remains one until the end of the month. Yet they’ve also jumped the gun on Oli Sail and Clayton Lewis’ departures. Surely they’re all Nix players or they’re none of them Nix players?

On top of that there are a few other misleading ones too. Marko Stamenic has played his last game for FC Copenhagen so we’ve skipped ahead here and classed him as a Red Star Belgrade player. Also Tommy Smith will be released by Colchester at the end of the month, already been announced, while Max Crocombe was offered a new deal by Grimsby Town a month ago but nowhere has it yet been confirmed that he’s actually signed it. A few more fellas are potentially on the move when the transfer window opens but we’re not here for the speculation, we’re talking All Whites football today, folks. Let’s get it.

GOALKEEPERS

Max Crocombe – Grimsby Town, ENG (2 caps/0 goals)

Oli Sail – Perth Glory, AUS (8/0)

Nik Tzanev – AFC Wimbledon, ENG (1/0)

Lots of options at goalkeeper and cool to see a couple of recalls amongst the bunch. Nik Tzanev’s lone cap came in a 1-0 win over Chinese Taipei in June 2018... five years ago in that forgotten Fritz Schmid era. Max Crocombe also played his only two games under Schmiddy, those were the two games prior to Tzanev’s gig. Since then Michael Woud, Stefan Marinovic, Oli Sail, and Jamie Searle have all made starts while Kees Sims and Alex Paulsen each sat on the bench against China from out of the U22s squad. Matt Gould has also been in squads. Another U20s goalie, Henry Gray, just signed with Ipswich Town while Zac Jones has earned European qualification with his club in Wales.

Oli Sail is the incumbent ahead of his move to Perth Glory. Granted, Sail wasn’t really at his best in his last season for the Nix, a bit too inconsistent especially in the early part of the season. He’s number one but maybe not as emphatically as he could’ve been (let’s not forget his mix-up with Tommy Smith leading to the latter’s red card against China either). Stefan Marinovic has been without a club since January so you can’t really pick him. Michael Woud is fourth stringer at his Japanese club and surely desperate for a move. Those other guys mentioned aren’t playing at particularly high levels.

All of which means that Crocombe, who played every minute for Grimsby Town this season (a disgusting 59 games of footy across the whole term) including a brilliant run all the way to the FA Cup quarter-finals as a fourth tier club (EFL League Two), and Nik Tzanev, who stumbled late on due to injury but previously had a 97-game consecutive start streak for AFC Wimbledon with a couple mean clean sheet streaks in there too, might be closer to challenging for minutes here than you’d initially think.

Both are at League Two level which isn’t high enough to be demanding anything purely on form but they may not be at that level for long. Crocombe, as mentioned, was offered new terms by Grimsby Town a month back and the longer it goes without any news the more you have to wonder if something else is in the works. Meanwhile Nik Tzanev is still contracted to the Dons but has been strongly linked with a switch to Championship club Blackburn Rovers.

DEFENDERS

Michael Boxall – Minnesota United, USA (42/0)

Liberato Cacace – Empoli, ITA (14/1)

Francis De Vries – Eastern Suburbs, NZ (6/0)

Callan Elliot – Unatached (2/0)

Tim Payne – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (32/2)

Nando Pijnaker – Sligo Rovers, IRE (13/0)

Tommy Smith – Unattached (50/2)

Finn Surman – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (0/0)

Bill Tuiloma – Charlotte FC, USA (36/4)

As always, the All Whites have picked too many central defenders. There are five of them here plus backup fullbacks who can both cover the central areas. Dunno why the necessity... although it is a good thing to see Surman scooped up into the environment. He captained the U20s really well at their recent World Cup including a few heroic individual performances and looks poised to rise up the queue for the Welly Nix next year amidst some defensive reshuffles. He might sneak on for a debut during these games but mostly they just needed to get a young central defender into the environment. The bulk of their right-sided CBs are on the older side and you don’t want to leave that too late to address, gotta plan ahead so there can be a steady transition. Surman is the best prospect in that position right now. He’s just come off working with the interim coach at the U20WC. Makes sense.

Elsewhere Bill Tuiloma returns after missing the China games due to club commitments. Tuiloma’s yet to figure out the switch to Charlotte, a conundrum that obviously goes both ways. They’re losing games. They haven’t leant into Tuiloma’s attacking potential. But the All Whites certainly have so he’ll be a great addition... and maybe his club can learn a few things from these matches.

There is a concern about Nando Pijnaker after having missed the last two Sligo Rovers games with injury. Doesn’t seem to be anything serious though and he was their Player of the Month for April so the form’s been choice. Michael Boxall’s also been in great form for a Minnesota Utd team that can’t score goals. Behind them, Tommy Smith’s mostly just an off-field leader these days. Since getting sent off on his 50th cap, he went back to Colchester and has played four total minutes of football. The U’s made it clear they were moving on from not only him but all their ex-Ipswich veterans so he’s not exactly in match condition at the moment. Will be interesting to see what he does next. Smith’s only 33 but after an injury-plagued season it’s up in the air.

That brings us to the fullbacks... or possibly wing-backs if Bazeley returns to the 5-2-3 formation that looked pretty insipid against China in the first fixture (before switching to a 4-3-3 with a number ten that was immediately way more potent in the second game). There was a similar disparity between back fives and back fours at the U20 World Cup too so let us see if Baze has learned his lesson. Granted, the AWs do have a higher calibre of wing-backs (well, they have Cacace) which does at least play into the required strengths of that formation.

Cacace is the main man on the left. Behind him we’ve got De Vries somewhat surprisingly recalled at the expense of Deklan Wynne. Nothing wrong with Wynne’s performances in the USL whatsoever but it’s not the strongest league compared to others and that has to be factored in. Kyle Adams has also dipped out despite solid USL work, while guys like James Musa and Elliot Collier have been out of the loop for ages despite being mainstays in that division. Good USL form alone is not enough to guarantee selection.

Nor is good A-League form, it seems. Storm Roux and James McGarry were both fantastic for Central Coast Mariners on the way to their championship but neither were picked here. The fact that they went so deep in the season, with the grand final only taking place last Saturday, probably didn’t help their chances... although from what the coach has said it was more about there being better options. Available. For McGarry, okay, he’s up against Cacace so that’s tough. For Roux... it feels like a harsher omission. Then again, if it’s wing-backs he wants then that’s not really Roux’s bag. Much more a Callan Elliot thang. And for a back four Tim Payne would probably be preferred. Still reckon Roux should be there... but to be honest the more glaring omission is Niko Kirwan.

Kirwan was looking like the top choice right back prior to his injury, including starting against Costa Rica. Only thing there is that maybe it’s a bit too soon for him. He’s got back for Padova just before their season ended but only featured off the bench whereas FDV has had a run of starts for Eastern Suburbs. Kirwan is surely due the same level of prior reputation points as FDV has been given, it may just have to wait until next time. Note that Dane Ingham has also been dropped despite being named Newcastle Jets player of the year. Once again: the A-League simply isn’t strong enough to guarantee anything for fringe players at a time when we’ve got so many pros in Europe and beyond.

MIDFIELDERS

Joe Bell – Brøndby, DEN (14/1)

Matt Garbett – NAC Breda, NED (14/2)

Clayton Lewis – Macarthur FC, AUS (23/1)

Alex Rufer – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (8/0)

Marko Stamenic – Red Star Belgrade, SER (13/0)

You know, if Ryan Thomas were available then Matt Garbett probably wouldn’t make a starting eleven. Interesting one to ponder. Garbs has had some wonderful moments with the fern on his jersey but he’s not getting in ahead of Thommo, Bell, or Stamenic. Garbett did actually come off the bench to score the winner against China last time and it’s always important, especially at international level, to have genuine game-altering quality amongst your substitutes. Especially the attackers. You have to be able to affect things with your depth if you want to be able to get results. That didn’t happen against Costa Rica where one of the subs was Kosta Barbarouses who was promptly sent off. Yet it should increasingly become the case as we build forward with this group of players (and anyone else good enough to rise into the mix).

A stat from the latest Flying Kiwis: Garbett had a goal and five assists in his first eight games for NAC Breda but had no goals and no assists in his next ten including the playoffs. Breda were eliminated in the semis and will therefore remain in the second tier Eerste Divisie... but good to see Garbs finally getting regular senior footy. Hopefully the second season is the one where it really clicks.

That didn’t happen for Joe Bell though. His second season at Brøndby began with him as a backup, then he earned his way into starter’s capacity again, but the team’s form never improved and after they sacked their manager and brought in a new fella the new fella seems to have gone in a different direction. He only sees Bell as a six and he doesn’t see him as their best six. Which is a mistake but maybe a preseason together will help that. At least Bellinho will be hungry given his lack of recent footy.

Meanwhile Marko Stamenic went six months without a game (admittedly including the World Cup and winter breaks) but stayed ready for when FC København needed him and delivered a few superb cameos to help them win a league and cup double. He’s now off to perpetual Serbian champs Crvena Zvezda (aka Red Star Belgrade) where there’s a good chance he’s playing Champions League again in a few months. Then we’ve got Alex Rufer and Clayton Lewis as solid backups. Wee bit out of practice due to the Welly Nix’s early finals exit but no dramas. Not entirely sure they needed both of them although Baze has already dropped Cam Howieson. Keep in mind that if they play a number ten then Marco Rojas, Callum McCowatt, and Elijah Just are also in contention for that spot.

FORWARDS

Alex Greive - St Mirren, SCO (9/2)

Elijah Just – AC Horsens, DEN (15/1)

Max Mata – Sligo Rovers, IRE (3/0)

Callum McCowatt – FC Helsingør, DEN (11/1)

Marco Rojas – Colo-Colo, CHI (44/5)

Ben Waine – Plymouth Argyle, ENG (7/1)

It never looks right without Chris Wood, does it? Woodsy has scored a record 33 goals for the AWs whereas this entire squad caps out at 23, with Marco Rojas’ five the highest individual mark. Last time they picked him when he was half-injured then he got fully injured while he was out here. The Woodsman always wants to play, they gave him every chance to do so, and maybe the injuries weren’t directly related. But in hindsight... that one didn’t work out too well.

Both Alex Greive and Ben Waine, two of the major candidates to take Wood’s spot here, ended their club seasons injured. They should be fine by now but it’s something to acknowledge. Max Mata recently missed time with a muscle strain too but he’s alright now. We don’t really know what the shape will be however both China games featured one central striker and two wide forwards so based on that there are plenty of options. Mata’s the only one here who can’t play out wide. He’s also the one in the best club form, still tied for the golden boot midway through the League of Ireland Premier Division season and we cannot overlook his superb hold-up play. He’s got the closest profile to Chris Wood... plus Waine and Greive can still get in either off the bench or out wide.

Callum McCowatt has been in wonderful goal-scoring form albeit mostly as an attacking midfielder (similar to Matt Garbett’s preferred position). Kinda hoping there might be a transfer in the works for him after FC Helsingør once again failed to push for promotion. Eli Just is in a similarly awkward position after Horsens got relegated. He didn’t play as much as he should have for a struggling team who fell to pieces after the winter break. What’d be really weird is if Dalton Wilkins (another left back candidate) and Kolding follow through and get promoted to the first division in Denmark – then the three ex-FCH teammates would all be back in the same tier but for three different clubs.

Waine missed the last tour while he embedded himself into life in Plymouth. Never really got a run of games there although he popped up now and then and did score a couple goals across the various competitions. Marco Rojas has been similarly marginalised though for him there isn’t that positive future outlook. A new formation has made it much harder for him to get minutes at Colo-Colo and if reports are to be believed then he’s already played his final game for the club with an early release imminent. Would imagine the A-League beckons in that case. Also Alex Greive suffered a couple injuries during the last six months which meant he was in and out for St Mirren. Couldn’t keep up the goal-scoring after a good start to the season but his workrate was never questioned.

Point being that Mata and McCowatt are the two in-form attackers... not that it always matters when you get into that international environment. Ol’ Kosta Barbarouses has been dropped to make way for Waine. Hey, if good A-League form isn’t enough then wobbly A-League form sure won’t be. Some other attacking players who may have popped up in discussions would be Logan Rogerson, Ollie Whyte, Ben Old (if he’s fit), Andre De Jong, and maybe someone like Jay Herdman from the U20s. But Herdman’s not overturning anyone from this existing group. That’s all outside-looking-in stuff.

Nah, the chap we need back most (other than Woodsy) is Sarpreet Singh. He could play as a ten or he could play from out wide. He’s got that incisive passing that not too many others here possess. But this was a dud season for him. Initially, once they finally got his registration sorted, it looked like he’d simply pick up where he left off on loan at Jahn Regensburg... but that team was so bad and they waited so long to sack their manager that they ended up getting relegated. Singh’s impact quickly faded and he finished the season on the sideline as they prioritised next season’s squad instead.

Singh’s loan luck has been disastrous and he may not want to risk an injury right now at a pivotal point in his career when he’s angling for a permanent transfer, ideally to the Bundesliga, possibly to Werder Bremen who were on the brink of signing him a year ago until he failed the medical. A lot can happen in a year but Wynton Rufer does still hold a lot of sway at that club. Fingers crossed. Both for a decent club solution and also for a return to the All Whites... possibly as soon as the next fixtures which should be in September.

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