If you’d been sitting back fretting over the past week wondering when the bloody hell they were going to announce the OlyWhites squad, then at least Wednesday morning’s unveiling helped explain the lag. The women’s tournament may be a senior event, and is thus given an international window, but the men’s under-23 status comes with no such luxuries. Chris Wood was on record saying he wanted to there. Liberato Cacace was on record saying he wanted to be there. Neither of them were released by their clubs to take up overage exemptions. Same deal for U23s players Marko Stamenic and Matt Dibley-Dias, who were also held back by their clubs. And while Tim Payne would have been released without a drama... he pulled a hamstring at the Oceania Nations Cup and was therefore unavailable.

The Football Ferns squad was unveiled six days before the OlyWhites got around to naming theirs, hence the wahine were already onto their second day of training in France by the time we finally learned who’d be in the men’s group. Pretty frustrating, possibly not as well organised as it could have been, but ultimately these were matters outside of NZ Football’s hands. No international window means no stipulation for clubs to release their blokes. Some of them were cool with that. Ben Old was included mere hours after his move to Saint-Étienne was announced. Alex Paulsen managed to convince his Premier League club not to be dicks about it. But Nottingham Forest were not so understanding with Woodsy and Stamenic.

Credit where it’s due, Darren Bazeley and his team have done a fine job with the replacements that they’ve found. Not only because Joe Bell, Michael Boxall, and Sarpreet Singh are excellent players who’ll raise the levels in Paris... but also because Bell and Boxall are deep in their club seasons and will miss important games in order to partake in the latest Olypiad. Bell’s Viking FK are coming into some good form, threatening European qualification (maybe even a title challenge), with Bellinho a ninety minute player in their midfield. Boxall’s Minnesota United are going the opposite way with a nasty stumble in results that they’re struggling to emerge from and now their captain is going to miss time. Sarpreet Singh is in a different bag of course. He’s a free agent. This may prevent him from hitting the trial circuit... but the Olympics are probably a better shop window for him anyway. The fact that he seems not to have been in the original plans for the overage trio is extremely surprising to say the least – proceed with emotional caution when Baze preferred to plug a weakness at right back rather than include our best creative instigator.

So... why is Chris Wood not there? No particular reason beyond Nottingham Forest not wanting to release him. He’s an important player for them who tends to pick up a few pesky injuries throughout a season. They don’t want to find themselves in another relegation battle. Hence they chose not to share their toys. Not sure if it was Forest or Olympiacos to blame for Marko Stamenic’s absence though that one is a little more understandable given how he’s only a recent signing and probably needs that time to get settled in Greece. Stamenic took heaps of momentum into his Crvena zvezda season off the back of a strong preseason. Forest and Olympiacos have shared ownership so it’s not like they’d have been arguing about it.

As for the other two, let’s just say that there’s a good chance Cacace and Dibley-Dias are being held back for transfer reasons. Cacace is at an Empoli side that only avoided relegation due to an injury time goal in the last game. They’ve already seen the manager who masterminded that escape be poached away by a rival and their best centre-back has followed him out the door. They tend to need to sell players every year to make the books balance and Cacace has been the subject of half a dozen rumours already. Salernitana. Palermo. Union Berlin. VfL Bochum. Bologna. Sparta Prague. Each and every one of them have been linked with the bloke as he enters the final year of his current contract... at a time when Empoli have also given a new contract to Giuseppe Pezzella, the other left-back in their squad (who often started ahead of Cacace last season when both were fit). Cacace is far from the only Empoli player on the blocks but if he does leave it’d be a crucial bit of incoming finance that the club won’t want to risk by having him injured in Paris (or even just unavailable for negotiations/medicals).

There’s no way that Matt Dibley-Dias is going to be sold by Fulham but there is significant loan out potential here for the captain of their Under-21s squad... who turns 21 in October. He’s getting too old to not have played senior football and if Fulham rate him as highly as they seem to, he’s on a first team contract after all, then that’s got to be a priority pretty soon. The last time he went on international duty he came back needing surgery (potentially scuppering a January loan-out). We’ll see what happens there... the alternative is that they want to keep him close for first team purposes. They did just sell João Palhinha to Bayern Munich so every other midfielder at the club just moved up the queue.

The other question here is whether we’ll see ever MDD represent Aotearoa, since this tournament was long see as the beacon to aim for with the multi-eligible midfielder. Wouldn’t stew on that idea too much though. If he’s on the fringes of a Premier League side then he’s good enough to make All Whites squads (and the other four nations he’s eligible for are: Brazil, Portugal, and England... where there’s a whole lot more competition). If he wants to play international football then it’ll happen with New Zealand. There’s always the 2026 World Cup – which, unlike the Olympics, would actually lock him in for Aotearoa. Keep that idea in mind for when we get to the alternates.

Tell ya what, let’s do the alternates now. Because when the Fernies squad was announced, those four players were listed as “travelling reserves”. For the OlyWhites announcement they were referred to as “alternates”. In between those two squads it was reported that an IOC rule changes means that, as long as more than six hours of warning is given, the alternates can now replace a main squad player for a matchday without it being a permanent swap, allowing the injured main squad player to return for the following game. They should just allow bigger squad sizes like every other major tournament but okay at least this is progress. Multiple women’s coaches have confirmed this change so we’re assuming it applies to the lads as well (and that “alternates” word-choice seems to back that up).

Last time (at the Covid Olympics), they decided late-ish notice that they’d simply allow 22-player squads with the alternates being absorbed into the group... and Matt Garbett was one of those, going on to have a breakthrough tournament. Perhaps that’s something to aspire to for Lachlan Bayliss, Liam Gillion, Henry Gray, and Isaac Hughes. It’s especially cool to see Bayliss here because he’s a dual-national who showed some nice stuff for Newcastle Jets last season at the start and end of the A-League term (he was injured through the middle or else he’d be better known). Bayliss was called up for Olympic qualifying but pulled out due to injury. Maybe that was a legit injury. Maybe it was an eligibility thing. Maybe he decided he’d keep his options open. Dunno. But he’s going to the Olympics with Aotearoa... just like Gianni Stensness before him. Let’s see if we manage to keep this one.

The OlyWhites also announced eight non-travelling reserves just in case: Alby Kelly-Heald, Scott Morris, Luis Toomey, Finn Linder, Aaryan Raj, Ronan Wynne, Zac Zoricich and Nathan Lobo. All of them were involved in qualifying so there are no surprises there. Except maybe for the lack of central midfielders. Across all thirty players it seems like Joe Bell and Fin Conchie are the only defensive-minded mids – lots of guys who can play eight or ten but only two capable sixes.

There are a lot of central defenders though. A couple of them might be seen as utilities but the door is certainly open if Coach Baze wants to go with a back three. That would help ease the worries of not getting either overage fullback that he wanted, because it’d allow him to sneak folks like Oskar van Hattum, Ben Old, or maybe even Matt Garbett out there as wing-backs. It was a back four in Vanuatu for the Nations Cup though, and with ten of the main eighteen having been on that tour and without room for any serious practice games, there may not be enough time to implement a change in shape. In which case Tyler Bindon’s going to have to do those right-back acts again. He’s not a right-back, despite Reading experimenting with it during their struggles, but Bazeley keeps trying it anyway and he might see that as the safer option compared to a very left-footed Sam Sutton or a very inexperienced Matt Sheridan. But anyway let’s do the positional breakdown thing.

GOALKEEPERS

Alex Paulsen – AFC Bournemouth, ENG

Kees Sims – GAIS Göteborg, SWE

[Henry Gray – Ipswich Town, ENG]

Nothing to worry about over here. Alex Paulsen and Kees Sims have been the frontrunners since day one and the only way that apple cart was getting upset was if Henry Gray’s late run overtook one of them. That hasn’t happened but it’s cool to see Gray included as an alternate. Because, for an U23 trio, this collection of talent is outrageous. Paulsen just signed with an English Premier League club after proving himself as the best goalie in the A-League. Sims has been on the pro circuit for a couple of years already and at the start of the year his graft was rewarded with a move to Swedish top division club GAIS where he’s already made a few Allsvenskan appearances as their backup gloveman. Meanwhile Henry Gray signed with Ipswich Town as soon as he turned 18 years old, working away in their academy side before a spectacular loan stint with fifth-tier Chelmsford City, then he got recalled to be Ipswich’s third-choice GK while they polished off promotion to the Prem.

Dunno what the future will hold, nobody can predict that. Paulsen and Gray are probably both looking at loan outs in the immediate term so don’t hold your breath for Premier League debuts quite so soon. But we’ve got three goalies here, all under-23s, who are already under contract with top tier European clubs. More still, they’ve all continued to progress their careers even after getting their big breaks. Alex Paulsen will be the number one for the OlyWhites in Paris and he’ll do a great job but step back and admire the calibre of all three goalies who’ll be with the squad. The fact that the U23s coach is also the All Whites coach ought to have a few of those senior goalies worried for their upcoming selection prospects.

DEFENDERS

Tyler Bindon – Reading, ENG

Michael Boxall* - Minnesota United, USA

Lukas Kelly-Heald – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS

Matthew Sheridan – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS

Finn Surman – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS

Sam Sutton – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS

[Isaac Hughes – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS]

There are a lot of Wellington Phoenix defenders here. Even accounting for Finn Surman’s impending MLS move there are still a lot of Wellington Phoenix defenders. Lots of Wellington Phoenix players fullstop. Across the entire squad there are six Nix players plus another one amongst the alternates, though that hardly tells the full story. Alex Paulsen and Ben Old are now the two most expensive Nix Academy graduates. Henry Gray was a Nix youngster once upon a time, even Kees Sims spent a National League campaign with them (although that was as a loan player from Westerns Suburbs not a full-time thing). Sarpreet Singh and Ben Waine of course, both drew transfer fees for the club. Joe Bell got started with the WeeNix before he moved to the USA for college. Riley Bidois played a couple of first team games for the Phoenix. Heck, Michael Boxall was a Nix player back in the day too, don’t forget. And this is without them being able to call upon Liberato Cacace or Tim Payne as initially planned. All that leaves without Nix connections are: Bindon, Garbett, Bayliss, Herdman, Randall, and Gillion (although Liam Gillion’s brother Fergus is with the Nix if you wanna count that).

There’s a good chance that Matt Sheridan would not have been here had Tim Payne been fit (otherwise he’d have been included in the Nations Cup squad too, right?). In getting Michael Boxall instead of Payne, they’ve grabbed the best available defender but will need to pivot in terms of positions. This is a cool outcome for Boxy though. Remember he was supposed to be an overage player last time only he got injured in between being named and travelling (then Danny Hay and his crew got weird about it and didn’t call up a replacement, still holding out hope of Boxy making the flight despite his then-Minnesota coach openly saying otherwise – as it happens Boxy didn’t return to fitness until after the Olympics). Minnesota United were pretty rude about it back then but now, under a new manager, they have made amends to the nation of Aotearoa and we thank them for it. Boxy previously played at the 2008 Olympics now he’s back sixteen years later – not quite Mark Todd longevity but closer to that Olympian span than most footballers get.

This does look like a selection that ought to be playing with a back three. That’s what they did at the last Olympics and it’s also something we’ve seen from other Bazeley-coached youth teams. Realistically, it makes sense to turn up with a defensive mindset against France, Guinea, and USA and then see what can be mustered with the Wood-less attack (Wood-less but Singh-ful, so maybe that balances out?). This defence is the strength of the squad and playing to your strengths is always recommended. Tyler Bindon and Finn Surman are two outstanding CB prospects who already achieved heaps despite only one season each as first eleven players. Boxy has been NZ’s finest CB since Winston Reid tailed off. Sam Sutton and Lukas Kelly-Heald have future Welly Nix transfer potential, in fact Sutton would already be there but for injuries. Sheridan has only made one senior start so he’s further back in his career but he’s quick and he’s scrappy and he’s got himself this gig ahead of blokes like Zac Zoricich and Ronan Wynne who started ahead of him in qualifying/friendlies and there’s gotta be something to that. We’ll see what happens.

MIDFIELDERS

Joe Bell* – Viking FK, NOR

Fin Conchie – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS

Matt Garbett – NAC Breda, NED

Ben Old – AS Saint-Étienne, FRA

Sarpreet Singh* – Unattached

[Lachlan Bayliss – Newcastle Jets, AUS]

The defence is pretty strong... the midfield not so much. At least not like we hoped it would be. With Marko Stamenic and Matt Dibley-Dias, this would have been an U23 unit that could own the middle third of the pitch. Baze has done well to bring Joe Bell in to replace them – we’d have been buggered without all three of them – but there’s not a lot of balance in here. Guys like Garbett and Old are best in a midfield three where they’ve got more room to roam, especially going forwards. In a duo alongside Bell that gets real frisky real quick. In a quartet with Sarpreet Singh at the top it might be alright (it helps that Old naturally drifts left and Garbett naturally drifts right)... though that’s not something we’ve seen for awhile. As All Whites coach, Bazeley has overwhelmingly preferred a 4-2-3-1 shape. Either Fin Conchie starts ahead of one of the more fancied blokes or Matt Garbett is going to have to summon some serious positional discipline in a new role. Supposing that formation is retained.

We saw with the Football Ferns squad just how important versatility becomes with a small squad of players. The same, thankfully, is true of this group too. Garbett and Old can also play on the wings, albeit not quite as effectively as what they do in a three-man midfield. Sarpreet Singh is different because he’s going to be good whether he’s in the middle or out wide. Lachie Bayliss is also an attacking midfielder who can operate on either flank or through the middle. Heck, we shouldn’t ignore Sam Sutton’s pedigree as a midfielder coming up the ranks either. Good options, especially going forwards. But finding the balance in this midfield is going to be tricky without Stamenic or Dibley-Dias. Chris Wood’s absence is the most consequential for this team but missing both of these two isn’t far behind. So it goes, we work with what we’ve got.

FORWARDS

Riley Bidois – Loudon United, USA

Jay Herdman – Vancouver Whitecaps, CAN/USA

Jesse Randall – Auckland FC, NZ/AUS

Oskar van Hattum – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS

Ben Waine – Plymouth Argyle, ENG

[Liam Gillion – Auckland FC, NZ/AUS]

On top of everything else, there are seven players from last year’s U20 World Cup squad who’ve been selected for this tournament (including alternates) so even by U23 standards this is a young group. That doesn’t include Tyler Bindon who was still aligned with the USA at the time or else he’d have been at the U20s too – TB will get to show the Yanks just what they missed out on when NZ plays USA in the group stage. It does include Jay Herdman though, who was one of the standouts at that U20 WC. He’s since made an MLS debut with Vancouver Whitecaps and continues to thrill for their development team – he might be even further ahead were it not for an injury that cost him the back-half of 2023. Great to see him picked.

But can this group score goals? The All Whites and Football Ferns are notoriously bad at that fundamental task. We do tend to do better at age levels yet there’s a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Ben Waine now that Chris Wood’s been withheld. Waine might thrive with that pressure. He’s got a tendency to score wherever he goes so at the very least he won’t be daunted by it. He’ll also enjoy getting the chance show his new club manager Wayne Rooney what he’s capable of, having mostly been seen as a substitute during his first 18 months with Plymouth Argyle – he’s only got one more year on his current Argyle contract so this is a make or break season for him. His output could also be make or break for this OlyWhites side.

Jay Herdman and Sarpreet Singh do bring with them some goal-scoring class, while Matt Garbett has a habit of popping up with important ones here and there. Those three are also very good link players which is huge in a side that lacks guys who can go 1v1 against their defenders. What we do have here is some decent pace though. Bidois and Randall are rapid, each enjoying a dash in behind the defensive line. Oskar van Hattum isn’t as speedy as those two but he’s strong and industrious. Ben Old has pace. Matt Garbett has pace. They’re not going to throw down step-overs but they can carry the ball into dangerous areas. Even Ben Waine, he’s a good mobile centre-forward. Counter attacks should be a priority. Perhaps set pieces too, with guys like Surman, Boxall, and Bindon all more than capable of winning headers. We pray that they do. May the footy gods be with us.

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