Checking In With The NZ Men’s U20s After Their Trip To Chile
There’s a Men’s U20 World Cup happening in a couple of months, if you didn’t know, and the New Zealander team has been busy in preparation. They just popped over to Chile, who are hosting the tournament, for a couple of games... which turned out to be even better preparation than they expected when, after that tour had already been announced, they were drawn in the same group as Chile. Both games were defeats but there were plenty of promising signs. Not the least being that these games happened at all – the last two Women’s U20 cycles have seen matches against their Australian counterparts at a similar stage of the prep journey so this is becoming a bit of a habit. Good to see.
It’ll be a tricky one having to play the hosts in the main event with what’ll probably be a large and hectic crowd (they only got about 2k to the second game against NZ, with the first behind closed doors, but the buzz is clearly building). Then again, the hosts are often exactly the team you want to get matched with because they’re always given a top seed. By drawing Chile, we’ve avoided having to face: Italy, USA, South Korea, Brazil, or Colombia.
Since Aotearoa is one of the few nations that regularly qualifies for these things, and with the seedings at youth event based on past performances, we were actually in the second seed basket. That means we also dodged France, Ukraine, Argentina, Nigeria, and Mexico. Now, we did get lumped with Japan from the third seed pot. Pretty much the best case scenario for those guys. But Egypt from the fourth pot works out somewhere in the middle so on the whole it’s a decent outcome. New Zealand and the United States are the only two teams to have qualified for each of the previous five Men’s U20 World Cups. USA taps out at six, whereas NZ is about to be attend a seventh U20MWC in a row. The tournament will begin in late September.
New Zealand have also won at least one game and advanced to the knockouts of each of the previous four U20 WCs, making this easily our most successful international team. Neither senior side has progressed past the group stage at a World Cup (yet). The All Whites will be aiming for their first ever win next year, something that the Football Ferns only achieved last event. The Men’s U17s have three instances of getting to the round of sixteen. The Women’s U20s have done it once. The Women’s U17s only once as well but they took it all the way to the semis in 2018 as the only NZ team to ever win a knockout game. Both the U23 Men and Senior Women have one knockout appearance in Olympic action too, though nothing further.
Also, a new whim from FIFA this year is that both U17 World Cups will be held annually from now on, rather than on two-year cycles like before (and which the U20s will still stick with). That means that not only will there be a Men’s U17 World Cup in November, but a Women’s U17 World Cup a month earlier in October too. Plenty of age grade footy to track, plenty of exciting prospects to get to know. But the U20s are always a little funkier because those lads and ladies are already on the fringes, if not right there in the middle, of senior professional football by that age.
The Squad
Chris Greenacre is coaching the U20 Men through this cycle, balancing the gig with his role coaching the Wellington Phoenix Reserves. NZF must have thought that was a swell idea because they’ve also just given the Women’s U20 job to Callum Holmes, who holds the mirror position for the WeeNix Women. Holmes will get underway in September at the Oceania U19s. Greenie’s already been at it for a little while. That could be seen as a conflict of interest given the heavy presence of Wellington Phoenix players in these teams but Auckland United coach Jose Figueira is there as CG’s assistant to offer some balanced opinions. Here is the squad that they picked to travel to Chile...
We’ve already seen it in All Whites squads but this was the first time that an age-grade team has had such a heavy Auckland FC presence. There were five Auckland FC players included. Rumours have it that Troy Putt would have joined AFC had he not gotten the Minnesota Utd 2 offer, while Stipe Ukich allegedly rejected them to pursue a deal in Croatia, so it might easily have been more. In fairness, four of the five were already involved in the qualifying campaign last year prior to signing with AFC.
Additionally, there were seven Nix players picked and that’s without either Alby Kelly-Heald or Nathan Walker, who were both injured but will surely go to the World Cup provided they recover in time. Walker should make it, his was the injury he suffered in the Aussie Cup game a few weeks back. It’s a leg fracture that should only take 1-2 months. AKH will be touch and go after needing shoulder surgery in March.
There was quite a bit of change from the qualifiers to this Chile tour with only 12/23 players retaining their spots. It’s been more than a year since that tourney, allowing plenty of time for different players to move into the frame. Plus a couple more overseas fellas were available at this time of the year. The fresh blood came from: Luke Brooke-Smith, Harry Casci, Noah Dupont, Henry Gray, Lukas Kelly-Heald, James Mitchell, Troy Putt, and Jayden Smith.
For Casci, Mitchell, Putt, and Smith... this was their first taste of international football. Casci is the only unknown there. He’s a midfielder in the Western United system (alongside Luka Coveny), with that club’s website offering the following description: “A tireless midfielder, Casci won the Western United Under 23’s Club Champion award in 2024, the same year in which he made his VPL 1 Men senior debut. He has continued that form into this season where he has become a regular in the senior side under Andreas Papanicolaou”. So that’s all good to know. He seems to have played all his footy in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, Mitchell’s a tidy midfielder/defender with the Auckland FC Reserves, Jayden Smith is a tall and sturdy centre-back from Nelson who made an A-League debut for the Welly Nix last season, and Troy Putt is a tricky winger from Birkenhead United who recently moved to America to play for Minnesota United’s Next Pro team.
Luke Brooke-Smith is an exciting addition. The Wellington Phoenix’s youngest-ever player has enough A-League footy under his belt now for people to understand the potential he possesses. What’s crazy about LBS is that he’s still eligible for the U17 World Cup so it’s possible he could play both in the same year. Same as Milly Clegg and Ruby Nathan did on the women’s side in 2022. Granted, with the U17s being in November, he may skip that one to focus on the Phoenix season that will have kicked off by then. Time will tell.
Noah Dupont is an English-raised defender, another one of these CBs with great height that we seem to be finding – Smith and Coveny also fit that billing. He recently signed professional terms with West Bromwich Albion (bit more on that in here)... which coincidentally is the same club that Joe Wallis left Auckland City to join last year. They’ve played a little bit together in the WBA U21 side. Henry Gray’s a known name. He and the Kelly-Heald bros are the three guys from the previous U20s still young enough to have another crack. Gray’s on the books with Ipswich and has impressed on loan with Chelmsford City and Braintree Town in the lower leagues. Expect another progressive loan for him next season, hopefully with a League Two club. Gray and LKH were also in the Olympic U23 squad last year so they’ve been busy boys.
U19 Oceania Champs squad not selected to tour Chile:
Lachlan Candy (Wellington Phoenix), Bruce Izumi (Western Suburbs), Seth Karunaratne (Wellington Phoenix), Alby Kelly-Heald (Wellington Phoenix), Daniel Makowem (Wellington Phoenix), Eamonn McCarron (Wellington Phoenix), Lewis Partridge (Wellington Phoenix), Rico Pradhan (Christchurch United), Nathan Walker (Wellington Phoenix), Ryan Watson (Wellington Phoenix)
Two of those blokes were injured. Of the rest of them, Ryan Watson is the unluckiest as he was a key player during qualifying. He’s an attacking midfielder from the Nix Academy who played the fifth-most minutes at the 2024 OFC U19s, scoring three goals. But there was no place for him here as others rose to take his spot. If you rank that squad in terms of minutes played, Alby Kelly-Heald (injured) is the only other player who misses out from the top twelve. The core of that team remains intact.
Meanwhile, these are the only dudes from the 2023 U17 World Cup in this group:
Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues, Luka Coveny, Luke Supyk, Noah Dupont, Stipe Ukich (and Nathan Walker)
That’s not a lot of progression, although maybe that’s for the best because those U17s did pretty terribly (losing all three games by a 10-1 aggregate). There’s also the fact that these are two year cycles yet there’s three years between ages 17 and 20. Do the math and that means there’s a year’s worth of older fellas coming into contention. But it’s certainly not too late for folks like Dylan Gardiner, Anaru Cassidy, Adam Watson, or Marley Leuluai to haul themselves back in.
Game One (Lost 3-1)
Yeah so the thing about the first game is that it was a behind closed doors affair. Understandable given the tournament implications... but disappointing nonetheless. This would have been Chile’s decision, not ours, and they did something similar when the Football Ferns went there in 2023. Therefore, there’s not much to say about the match, which New Zealand lost 3-1. At least we were blessed with a starting line-up. Arranged into formation, it would have looked something like this...
Joe Wallis (GK)
Adama Coulibaly (RB), James Bulkeley (CB), Noah Dupont (CB), Codey Phoenix (LB)
Finn McKenlay (CM), Fergus Gillion (CM)
Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues (FW), Oliver Middleton (CM), Troy Putt (FW)
Keegan Kelly (CF)
Finn McKenlay wore the captain’s armband. Chile were 1-0 up at half-time and there was an own goal amongst their haul. From the images floating around of the game, it does look like plenty of substitutions were utilised from across the 21-man squad. And if you’re wondering who scored the goal for New Zealand, it was a ripper from outside the box courtesy of the youngest bloke in the squad. Cheers to Luke Brooke-Smith for not only scoring this goal but also for breaking the embargo by sharing the footage (which looks like it could have been filmed by a satellite in orbit) on his Instagram story...
Game Two (Lost 2-1)
Fortunately, the second game was open to the public and what’s more they even broadcast it live on Chilevision with the YouTube stream available to the wide world. Cheers to those champs. Unfortunately, we lost again... but it was a pretty close game in which the kiwis definitely shaded good stretches and seemed to play with plenty of confidence. It’s just that Chile had a little more cut-and-thrust in attack as well as being able to launch into some nasty counters. They scored early in both halves. A James Bulkeley header from a Tory Putt corner kick did cut the deficit after 52 mins... but there was to be no more. In fact, it took a few clever efforts from Henry Gray in goal to prevent a third concession. No dramas. They’ll be better for the experience.
The first thing to say is that Chris Greenacre didn’t appear to be there at all. Perhaps he couldn’t be spared amidst the duties of his day job... Jose Figuiera assumed the bossman role instead. And this was the team that was used in G2...
Henry Gray | Xuan Loke (Noah Dupont HT), Luka Coveny, James Bulkeley, Codey Phoenix (Adama Coulibaly 64’) | Finn McKenlay (Fergus Gillion 64’), Oliver Middleton (James Mitchell 72’) | Stipe Ukich (Harry Casci 64’), Troy Putt (Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues 72’), Luke Brooke-Smith | Luke Supyk (Keegan Kelly 51’)
Five players started both games, those being: Bulkeley, Phoenix, McKenlay, Middleton, and Putt. There were seven substitutes used, meaning that only three fellas didn’t take part. One of those was Lukas Kelly-Heald who didn’t start either game but was pictured getting time in game one. Keeper Joe Wallis started game one. The other bloke was Jayden Smith who you’d assume got some minutes off the bench in the closed-door match unless he picked up a knock along the way.
Chile’s two goals both came from crosses from NZ’s left edge created by pace in behind. Tricky times for Codey Phoenix there (who captains the AFC Reserves). Phoenix was one of those guys who started both matches but you’d imagine Lukas Kelly-Heald, with his professional experience, would squeeze in ahead of him for the World Cup. Xuan Loke can also play on the left... while it was Adama Coulibaly who subbed in for Phoenix in G2. Coulibaly seems to exclusively play as a central defender for the AFC Ressies but he was a fullback at the OFC U19s and was used on both edges of the backline against Chile. Curiously, Noah Dupont (better known as a CB) also spelled for some right-back duty here.
Troy Putt was the most exciting of the forwards. He’s come on in a hurry since being an impact sub for Birkenhead throughout their run to the 2024 National League grand final… suddenly he’s playing MLS Next Pro with Minnesota United and starting NZ U20s games. Not only that but he’s serving up some flash and pizazz like we don’t usually see from young NZers. Or, rather, we didn’t usually see it in the past. This squad also has Luke Brooke-Smith, Stipe Ukich, and Gabe Sloane-Rodrigues so times are changing. The latter three all struggled to make an impact as Chile dominated the wide spaces but Putt, who played a lot of the game through the middle, was an exception.
A bit of Henry Gray appreciation...
And with that you’re pretty much all caught up. From here, the AFC and WPX lads head back into domestic action for the next few months. Henry Gray will likely get another preseason with the Ipswich Town first team before any decisions are made about the next steps in his career. Hopefully the same is true of Noah Dupont and Joe Wallis at West Brom although that might be a bit much to ask. Stipe Ukich spent his first six months with NK Istra playing regularly for their youth team but his contract is for three years with the senior side so fingers crossed he’s elevated upwards next season.
Luka Coveny has a first-team contract with Western United. Didn’t make an A-League debut last term but he’s gotta be knocking on the door, along with his mate Harry Casci. Keegan Kelly’s getting ready for his second year with the University of Denver where he scored four goals with three assists in 21 appearances in 2024. Troy Putt’s settled into Minnesota United 2 enough to be starting games (they used him as an attacking right-back in their most recent fixture). James Bulkeley is at the same level but he missed much of the season to date with injury. Clearly that’s now healed.
You want to know something else? Tyler Bindon’s eligible for this team too. He only turned 20 in January so he sneaks in under the deadline... not that he’s likely to be available. It depends. If he’s hanging around on the edges of the Nottingham Forest first team then they might decide to spare him for a few weeks. If he’s sent out on loan to continue his development elsewhere then he’d be better suited staying there. Dude’s got a senior World Cup to play next year so he’s not exactly missing out on anything.
The Niche Cache is out here in the trenches for kiwi sports, so if you appreciate the yarns and can spare a little currency to help us out then Patreon, Substack, or Buy Me A Coffee are the places to go
Also helps to whack an ad, share the articles around, and let all your mates know about us too