There are a couple of things about Darren Bazeley’s selection tendencies that people should have picked up on by now. One of them is that Tommy Smith is going to be there no matter what. He loves the bloke. Smithy didn’t play either of the games in the last window, didn’t even appear kitted up for the Malaysia one, but he clearly provides a crucial link between players and staff with that ol’ veteran savvy. He’s also Chris Wood’s best mate. It may get frisky down the line if the All Whites are heading to a World Cup and a squad spot is being used on someone who potentially won’t play... but right now they still need the presence of a guy like that. And anyway they’ve picked a 24-man squad for these two games so no stress.

The stress only comes if he’s suddenly starting ahead of Bindon or Pijnaker... the four starts that Smith has made under Baze have been a 0-0 draw vs China in which he was sent off, a 2-0 loss to Greece, a 0-0 draw with Tunisia, and a 3-0 loss to Mexico. All four of those games went worse than aniticipated/hoped. Interesting that Danny Hay used to use him a lot as a close-out sub, often switching to a back three late in games whilst trying to preserve a result (Smith got 3 starts & 8 subs under Hay, compared to 4 starts & 3 subs under Baze)... and now Auckland FC are using Smithy in the exact same way with Danny Hay as an assistant coach. Smith has played in all three AFC games to date, all victories, with those games totalling eight minutes of footy. Worth mentioning that Bazeley has said that they also want to use this window “to work on some of our off the pitch culture and leadership”. Tommy Smith’s a major part of that.

The other selection tendency that people need to know is that Darren Bazeley doesn’t do mid-strength squads. He’s often hampered by injuries and sometimes there are club situations that require a little bit of goosing with the bigger picture in mind... but with the exception of the Oceania Nations Cup, which took place outside of a FIFA window shortly before the Olympics (and which wasn’t originally in the plans for NZF, until they decided they needed the rankings points), Big Man Baze continually picks the strongest group available to him. Even for windows like this where he doesn’t need all the main characters to get results. Rotation is not a priority for this team. Bazeley picks the best team whenever possible. He’d have easily gotten away with some lenience for these last two squads but nope the thought never entered his mind.

It’s always cool to see different guys get an opportunity in the national team but at the same time they do have to earn it. By avoiding the temptation to leave a few of the European-based hombres behind in November, Bazeley is effectively saying that every game matters, every tour matters, and that it is a privilege and an honour to represent Aotearoa. Standards stay high as long as there are quality players outside the group keeping everyone on their toes with good club performances. It also reflects on the fact that these top players want to be there. They want to play against Tahiti in Vanuatu. They want to face Malaysia and Vanuatu and Samoa on home soil. There’s a great vibe around the playing group and they don’t take this stuff for granted. Plus they realise that if they take a tour off then some other joker might just swoop in and take their position.

The risk of this approach is that this becomes a kind of boys club where the same guys are picked regardless of how (or if) they’re playing in the club scene... but the exclusion of Bill Tuiloma seems to show that isn’t the case. The depth pool is only getting deeper so it’d be curious to see what happens if one of the regulars goes on a form slump and how much benefit they’d be given before getting dropped. One gets the feeling that Bazeley would take a Blackcaps-esque ‘hard to get into the squad, hard to get out of the squad’ approach... which is not such a bad way to go about it, really. Here’s a quote explaining some methodology...

Darren Bazeley: “Bill [Tuiloma]'s a top player and he's got 40-odd caps for New Zealand but he's in a position at the moment where he's not playing consistently for his club over in America and we've had that conversation with him - it's very difficult to select you for the All Whites when you're not playing for your club. The All Whites environment has changed now there's competition for places and that's the challenge for the players. You have to be match fit you have to be ready to play because we've got other options now, other good options. To have a player like Bill who is not consistently selected in the squad just shows where we are at now. The thing with this squad now and these players is they all want to play in every single game, I think most of them could see now that there's competition for places and they don't want to be missing out on a game and not be available because somebody else can take that shirt and you never know then how that person might play that's the way football works.”

Bazeley occasionally talks about his Big Board of players, aka his longlist of possible selections – which he usually claims is around the 50-60 mark. Well, yours truly just whipped up a longlist of kiwi male professional footballers and it came to 49 overseas players and another 41 A-League players. That’s not including youth teamers overseas though it is including Nix/AFC scholarship players (it has to include the latter since Liam Gillion has been picked for this very squad as one of those). Clearly the likes of Dublin Boon and Adama Coulibaly are a long way from senior national team right now... but they are running on the right road and it didn’t take all that long for guys like Finn Surman and Alex Paulsen to become All Whites regulars from that stage. Even if you take the 13 scholars out of the mix then it’s still a bloody long list. Point being that, if anything, Bazeley’s underselling it.

This window sees the All Whites play two more World Cup qualifiers to conclude their initial group phase. They already took a 3-0 win over Tahiti in the first round, while Vanuatu beat Samoa 4-1 in the other result in the group (there were wins for Fiji and New Caledonia in the other group). Next they face Vanuatu on Friday 15 November in Hamilton followed by Samoa on Monday 18 November in Auckland. The Auckland game is at Mt Smart where there have been a few glorious footballing moments lately. It was also the scene of the Tongan rugby league team beating the Kiwis but with all due respect this game probably won’t quite match that game’s atmosphere or competitive balance. Samoa do often pick a couple of NZ-based players though. That could be fun.

Honestly, there’s just no way these games are close. Full-strength All Whites in home conditions. It’s a better squad than faced Tahiti thanks to the returns to fitness/availability of Joe Bell, Sarpreet Singh, Callum McCowatt, and Finn Surman. It was a 3-0 win that day, with the All Whites having trouble breaking down an extremely deep Tahiti backline... but much of that was due to pitch and weather conditions. Get ‘em on a flat surface in Aotearoa with a home crowd behind them (and there is a bit of buzz about the AWs all of a sudden – latching off that NZ Derby energy as well as a lovely second-half performance against Malaysia last time out). The All Whites don’t even need to win both games to progress but they will and they’ll probably win by lots.

So these games become less about results and performances and more about continuing to drive standards, using the time together on the training pitch wisely, continuing to grow and embrace the culture in the squad, and maybe padding a few goal stats too. A reminder that the All Whites have won 10 games in a row against Oceania opposition and are undefeated in the confederation for 26 games spanning 12 years. Bazeley himself has won five from five with 18 goals scored and 0 conceded. The last time they played at home against a Pacific team was a 6-1 win against the Solomon Islands in 2017 in which Chris Wood scored a hat-trick. The starting line-up that day was: Marinovic, Roux, Tzimopoulos, Boxall, Brotherton, Wynne, McGlinchey, Thomas, Patterson, Barbarouses, Wood. The three subs used were: Musa, Bevan, Colvey. Looking back, that’s half of a really good team and half poorly-aged Anthony Hudson shenanigans (the back five being highest on that list... the two teams then drew 2-2 in Honiara four days later with seven NZ starters in common). Times have changed.

GOALKEEPERS

Max Crocombe - Burton Albion, ENG (12 caps/0 goals)

Alex Paulsen – Auckland FC, NZ/AUS (2/0)

Oli Sail – Perth Glory, AUS (9/0)

Same three keepers as with the last couple of tours, nothing much to see here. Happy to say that all three are currently starters at their clubs with Paulsen and Sail having gotten their A-League campaigns underway recently. Not so great for Sail there, who conceded six goals in week one against Macarthur and then lost 2-0 at home to the Wellington Phoenix before at least managing to keep the defending champs Central Coast to a nil-all draw. Clean sheet in the bag for Oliver. But then they lost 5-0 at home vs Melbourne City and Oli nearly combusted having to keep yelling at his clueless defence. One of the goals was directly his fault too, from misplacing a clearance.

Somehow Alex Paulsen already has three clean sheets for Auckland FC. Paulsen kept 12 cleanies in 29 games for the Nix last season and has carried on that form depsite the rollercoaster he’s been on since. With a cleanie both All Whites caps, he has not conceded a competitive goal in senior football since the Chris Ikonomidis goal that knocked the Wellington Phoenix out of the A-League finals against Melbourne Victory six months ago. Obviously that’s ignoring the Olympics where he conceded several... but that’s U23s. We’re only talking senior footy.

As for Max Crocombe... he’s still doing what he does at Burton, making big saves for a team that desperately needs them. The flirtation with trying to become a team that passes out from the back much more disappeared in a hurry, although 56 touches per game for MC is still a leap from 43.6 last season. Same deal with his 66% passing accuracy compared to 43.6% last time (when more than half of his passes were long balls). Maybe it’s more accurate to say they’ve met in the middle. What they hadn’t done was win a game... but Burton Albion finally got a dub at the 14th attempt this past weekend by winning 2-0 against Shrewsbury Town with a Crocombe clean sheet. Safe to say they needed that.

With Nik Tzanev and Michael Woud currently in backup situations and guys like Henry Gray and Alby Kelly-Heald very early in their careers, there isn’t a heap of pressure on the established top three goalies right now. Zac Jones is doing great in Wales but will need to move to a higher level to catch this type of attention. However, Kees Sims has made three more Allsvenskan appearances since the last window. Sims was the number two behind Paulsen at the Olympics so Bazeley knows him well. Eight appearances in the top division of Swedish football with a GAIS team that finished sixth in the Allsvenskan must be getting him pretty close, surely. He’s far less established than the other keepers but none of them are playing in a competition on par with where Sims is at. This might be the best example of that ‘hard to get picked, hard to get dropped’ idea because on this current trajectory Sims is going to overtake Sail very soon and it’ll be educational to see where that line gets drawn.

DEFENDERS

Tyler Bindon – Reading FC, ENG (12/0)

Michael Boxall – Minnesota United, USA (52/0)

Liberato Cacace – Empoli, ITA (29/1)

Tim Payne - Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (41/2)

Nando Pijnaker - Auckland FC, NZ/AUS (22/0)

Storm Roux – Central Coast Mariners, AUS (13/0)

Tommy Smith – Auckland FC, NZ/AUS (56/2)

Finn Surman – Portland Timbers, USA (6/1)

Francis de Vries – Auckland FC, NZ/AUS (6/0)

If you want an indication of the most hotly contested position under Darren Bazeley’s management, how about the fact that in 18 games no centre-back has started more than 10 times for him. Michael Boxall is that guy with 10. There’s also Nando Pijnaker (9), Tyler Bindon (7), Finn Surman (5), Tommy Smith (4), and one start each for Tim Payne and Bill Tuiloma (T.Payne’s was in the only back three formation of Baze’s tenure to date).

Bindon and Surman got a good run at the Nations Cup starting all five games, that then leading into the Olympic Games. They’re the undeniable partnership for the future but as for the present tense, Boxall and Pijnaker are more established and both have been in sweet club form. Pijnaker’s a key part of that Auckland FC defence that has yet to concede after three games while Michael Boxall’s captained Minnesota United into the quarter-finals of MLS. They’ll face LA Galaxy on Monday 25 November right after this tour so Boxy definitely won’t want to pick up any injuries. He’s done the international window travel thing more than most though, he knows how to handle himself.

Chances are we see two different CB pairings for these two games. Tyler Bindon did start both games last window but one was at RCB and the other LCB so not quite identical roles. That was also without Surman - who is back for this squad having banked his first experience of MLS football, even getting some minutes in a playoff defeat for Portland Timbers. It makes the most sense that we’ll see one start each for the main quartet... with Tommy Smith there for defensive closer status if required (it won’t be... but he might get a nudge anyway, see how it goes).

Liberato Cacace starts every game so lock that one in. He’s even been blessed with a couple of starts for Empoli lately which has been a rarity. Set up his team’s goal against Lecce in the most recent match... granted that was in a 1-1 draw against the bottom team so not quite the brag it could have been. Cacace hit the post with a shot of his own, meaning that he is still awaiting his first goal in European footy. Funky to see Francis de Vries called up as his deputy. FDV has looked good for Auckland FC, finally getting back to maximum fitness and professional footy after the ACL injury that spoiled his time in Sweden. Word is that he was training the house down during preseason. This isn’t the most egregious case of three mere games earning a call-up in this squad but it is a small sample size from which to be earning national team selection at this time of excessive options. However, FDV has already got six caps. He isn’t a newbie to the scene – it’s more that he’s being allowed to pick up where he left off. Auckland FC fans may also want to classify this is a small victory for the Black Knights since De Vries has directly taken Sam Sutton’s spot in the squad. Sutton who has already scored a goal for the Nix since this went down.

Also, Storm Roux remains after returning from the wilderness last time with a couple of caps (one sub, one start). Tim Payne is the guy at right-back but finding any kind of depth behind him as been a struggle for several years so Roux’s reappearance is a timely thing. Payne landed a direct blow against Roux when the Wellington Phoenix won 3-0 away to Central Coast Mariners though Roux only played off the bench for a bit at the end. Nice to finally have another international window that falls during the A-League season, meaning a third of the squad isn’t out of season and actually has some degree of match fitness about them. Seems a bit of a shame to spend that on qualifiers but never mind.

MIDFIELDERS

Joe Bell – Viking FK, NOR (20/1)

Matthew Garbett – NAC Breda, NED (26/4)

Alex Rufer - Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (17/0)

Sarpreet Singh – UD Leiria, POR (14/1)

Marko Stamenic – Olympiacos, GRE (25/1)

Here’s where the priorities take hold because Joe Bell and Sarpreet Singh have returned. Bell missed the last window due to a reciprocal back-scratch for Viking FK having allowed him to play at the Olympics... while Singh was injured. Bell’s continued to deliver excellent performances in Norway as his team push closer and closer to European qualification while Singh has been limited in his first few appearances for UD Leiria, only getting 33 minutes so far, but he’s regularly shown that he can raise the bar for All Whites stuff so don’t worry about that. Two first eleven players back in the mix.

Alex Rufer used to not even make squads prior to 2024 and now he’s a regular – the only two games he didn’t start this year are the only two games that the All Whites have lost: 1-0 to Egypt and 3-0 to Mexico. There is a way to get Rufer into a midfield that already has Stamenic and Bell because Bazeley did that against USA, when Bell and Rufer were used as dual sixes with Stamenic as a marauding eight ahead of them. You could still put Sarpreet Singh in that side if he plays on the wing. Probably with Just or McCowatt on the other side. Or Matt Garbett if you’d prefer. Chris Wood up top. How does that sound?

It sounds like Darren Bazeley has options is what it sounds like... and therefore will probably be happy to rotate things through these two matches same as we were talking about with the central defenders. Garbett and Stamenic could both really use this window. Garbs has struggled to get on the pitch for NAC Breda lately, going five games without featuring at all until recently. He did get a start in NAC’s most recent match, a 3-0 loss to PSV, though that was as a false nine striker. Very interesting. As for Stamenic, he’s a loan player at a very competitive club whose U19s won the UEFA Youth League last season so there’s an expectation that some of those guys get first team minutes, and Stamenic’s loan was brought about by the ownership rather than the coaching staff. All of which is saying that Stamenic doesn’t seem to have the most comfortable fit with Olympiacos where he’s only gotten 70 minutes across the past nine games (dating back to the start of October). Everyone goes through these phases in their careers. His turn will come, same with Garbett (and Singh). In the meantime, the All Whites are always a happy escape.

No Cam Howieson amongst the lads... he’s been prominent for AFC but room had to be made for Bell and it seems that Alex Rufer has surged beyond Howieson in the pecking order. Which, after all those recent starts, not to mention his inspiration last 18 months for the Wellington Phoenix, should come as no surprise. That one is the Welly Nix retort to the FDV > Sutton situation.

FORWARDS

Kosta Barbarouses – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (64/7)

Liam Gillion – Auckland FC, NZ/AUS (0/0)

Elijah Just – SKN St Pölten, AUT (30/4)

Callum McCowatt – Silkeborg IF, DEN (19/2)

Logan Rogerson - Auckland FC, NZ/AUS (13/2)

Ben Waine – Mansfield Town, ENG (20/7)

Chris Wood – Nottingham Forest, ENG (78/36)

Chris Wood won the Premier League Player of the Month award for October 2024. He’s in the form of his life and he scored in both game of the previous international window. Last time he played against an Oceania team in Aotearoa he scored a hat-trick. This is the bloke that the crowd will be turning up to see most of all... and it’s been a wee while.

That hatty against the Solomons was in September 2017 and since then the All Whites have only played five games in New Zealand. There was the 0-0 with Peru in the intercontinentals where Wood was battling injury and Anthony Hudson only used him off the bench. There was a 2-0 loss to Australia in Danny Hay’s last game, Winston Reid’s farewell, where Wood started but went off injured in the first half. There were the two games against China where Wood travelled despite having only just come back from injury for Nottingham Forest... then he suffered a separate injury in training which ended his Prem season prematurely. No part from The Woodsman in either of those games. Then there was the 4-0 win against Malaysia last month where Wood scored off the bench.

The formula for bringing the best out in Chris Wood has been fine-tuned by Nuno Espirito Santo over the last few months. No need for Bazeley to reinvent the wheel. Speedy wingers, counter-attacks, crosses into the area, hold-ups, set pieces. The All Whites have the guys to play like that. Probably won’t see much counter-attacking in these particular games but this is more of a longer-term idea.

Speaking of speedy wingers, sad to say that Ben Old is out for several months with a knee injury sustained soon after returning to Saint-Étienne after the last All Whites tour. Old’s been a fixture on the left side for Bazeley so without him they’ve reached further into the bag to find a guy who offers a similar profile as a dribbler with pace on the left. That guy is Liam Gillion.

Gillion’s the bolter in the squad having been selected after only three games of professional footy. Three games in which he has zero goals, zero assists, and three big chances missed. If you’ve watched him these past few weeks then you know this call-up was inevitable but it’s also true that it has happened pretty prematurely. That’s because of Ben Old’s injury. Gillion is the closest thing to a like-replacement for Oldy, simple as that. It wasn’t about finding the next best player, it was about finding the next best player in that position. And, to be fair to LG, his time with Auckland City may not have been professional but it was a good platform for preparing him for the pros. Like, come on now, this fella played at a Club World Cup against an Al-Ittihad side that had Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante in it. That goes beyond A-League stuff.

Beyond that it’s the stock-standards. Callum McCowatt is fit again so he comes straight into the selection. Elijah Just continues to score lovely goals with his left foot – five in seven for club and country lately. Just was the other guy, alongside Wood, to score in both games last window. Logan Rogerson’s been starting games for AFC and unlike Gillion he has already scored for them. Kosta Barbarouses is Kosta Barbarouses, already with two goals this ALM term. Ben Waine recently got on the scoreboard in an FA Cup tie for Mansfield Town.

This is probably the area where there’s the most direct competition from outside the picks. Alex Greive dropped off in Ireland this year but Max Mata has continued to be in and out of squads. Hasn’t played much for AFC yet so that’s hindered him. Andre de Jong got the snub again. Admittedly, he’s had a quiet few weeks in South Africa... but his overall season has been spectacular and he’s surely on the radar as someone who can play as a nine, ten, or winger. Marco Rojas will be in the frame again by the next time an All Whites squad is selected. Guys like Jesse Randall, Oskar van Hattum, and mayne even Nathan Walker or Luis Toomey could give it a whirl between now and then. Overseas, Jay Herdman just won the Canadian Premier League, Ollie Whyte had a good season in Finland, and we’ll see what the January transfer window serves up.

Auckland FC’s emergence was always going to cause a shake-up to the All Whites picture. Now the dust is settling on that and we’ve seen what that looks like, with Francis de Vries resurrecting his international career (Logan Rogerson too, to a lesser extent) and Liam Gillion initiating his. There are six AFC players in this squad compared to three from the Welly Nix. Granted, that’s more a reflection of one team having just signed an entire inaugural squad of players from elsewhere whereas the other’s strategy is more about developing their own players internally. Also, 12 of this squad have played first team for the Phoenix and that doesn’t include Joe Bell who was a star in the academy before leaving for America... though that’s an unfair comparison too because Auckland FC haven’t had a chance to do those things yet. Let it simmer.

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