All Whites v Mexico | Sun 9 Oct | 11:30am | Four Kings

He made himself a second fiddle choice for the NT after he signed for the MLS... if he at least came back to Mexico... 

But well, he's always been more of a NT performer than a club player so I hope his MLS time hasn't hindered his skills.

The most talented players in this domestic side are Lozano, Pineda, GDS (depending on what is his current level), JDS, Gutierrez, Fabián, Peralta & Pulido. Brizuela if is in his day can be unstoppable, but very inconsistent.

The attack even being the second fiddle guys looks stacked, but that defense is very exploitable, meh at best.

Lozano:

Pulido (one of the best finishers we have right now, but he's too much of a classic poacher):

Marco Fabián had a slow start at the Bundesliga but currently is having a big influence in Frankfurt's attacks:

Part of the past week's Bundesliga XI: http://www.bundesliga.de/de/liga/news/fantasy-mana...

with Thomas expected to pull out you'd hope he'd go for Boyd over the Nix kids. It's bad enough having Fallon in the squad (as much as I admire his leadership and professionalism) he is not going to get us to Russia as a player (maybe a mentor at best). Boyd is very quick and a good finisher. Obviously not a number 9 but if we are playing 4-3-3 and with Woodsy there having another target man makes no sense. Boyd is in season, scoring goals and based on that, if Thomas is injured, Bieber should exchange his movie ticket for a plane ticket. 

Really dissapointed for Adams also. A guy who has won a championship with his VPL side and was our best defender at the OFC. Calm, composed etc. Brotherton is not a future Ryan Nelson. He limped the ball anywhere and looked like he didn't want to receive a pass. The guy is plying against kids while Adams is playing against semi-pro players and winning the league. Incidentally he must be disappointed to not pick up an A League contract- what more an he do? He's won the VPL league and been one of the best defenders in Australia for a couple of seasons now. 

should be there instead of kip colvey

Except Kip Colvey is in the squad as one of two left back options and Luke Adams would be a centre back option. Should be there over Durante and Brotherton.

We are top side in this region, but in their region I think, we are the same level as Canada or Jamaica, both USA and Mexico were better than us, but we need that kind of game against quality opponent, no doubt. Look at the striker think Wood will partner Rojas and Fallon partner Kosta?

IF Hudson play for the hoof ball then we did not need many in midfield, they just need to run and defend...

NEWS I @Ryan__Thomas_ is replaced by @WgtnPhoenixFC's @LouisFenton10 in the #AllWhites 23 man squad https://t.co/E27ueWMf5W pic.twitter.com/zMxg38vFlq

— New Zealand Football (@NZ_Football) October 1, 2016

I wonder if Boyd has asked to not be considered while he tries to break into the first team at his club?

Brock Messanger? He got the goal of the year of the ASB prem last season and was in the u20 world cup last year.

I don't even know what position Fenton plays anymore and hasn't been close to A team for Nix during pre season. Personally i think Fenton is one of Ernies biggest failings. Maybe a good idea to convert him to a RB back in the day but he just looks lost now. Not international standard.

Has Patterson been playing? It just occurred to me there are a lot of guys in the team ( Cameron, Fenton, Patteron(?)) that don't seem to have been playing much recently due to fitness. Then add to that Fallon who is playing as a player/coach the squad is thinner than it appears on paper. 

Patterson has been playing for the ipswich u23 team.

USA squad. 

Good player, Brock Lesnar Messenger - def deserves a shot at RB with Roux injured

We really need someone to ask questions about the selections and non-selections of some of these players. Whether or not AH will give a straight answer or not is another thing but this team is seriously weak in midfield, FB's and the bench. I'm expecting that we'll be smashed in both these games.

Clearly you will not get straight answers. Chris James is the best NZ midfielder currently playing professionally and add  Dan Keats ,Steven Old along with Boxall who are all playing regular football in Scandavian/Nordic leagues and you strengthen the AW. Leave the youngsters to graft out a professional career and then select them when proven harden professionals.. AH is just undervaluing the AW shirt .

Why can't James get a gig in a better league? There is really something odd. After the Mexico playoff you'd think he'd have a few offers to trial but all he could get was fifth division France.

My guess (based on nothing)

Denmark and Sweden top leagues would be roughly equivalent to the HAL

Norway would be below

Finland below that

But all above the SSP

he was the 2nd choise behind Jesse Edge

I think likes of Keat (Swedish Div II), James (Finland Div II) and Nikko Boxall (Finland Div I) - need to somehow be playing in higher standard leagues.

Especially experienced pros like Keat and James.   On the N Boxall thread there are 9 minutes of highlights from one of his club games - and to be honest those 9 minutes are hard viewing. Standard looks very ordinary.

Again like a few others I'm just guessing about the standard in these leagues. But maybe for once AH knows best - he's certainly has plenty of time on his hands to watch games from around the world ad nauseum!

Understand the 3 youngsters (Dyer, AHW & Lewis) are also coming from a fairly average league in the SSP - but I guess AH feels they have more upside being younger, and are supposedly imbedded with his 'systems'

Don't the Scandy leagues all break for a few mths over the snowy northern winter? Maybe these guys should be targeting 5-6 game 'marquee' signings with some of the SSP sides over our summer. Put them in the eyesight of AH & home fans?  Obviously their clubs up north would need to sign off on any arrangements.

Musa effectively did the same last season for Team Wellington.

Are they seasoned pros though, are the Scandinavian second divisions professional leagues? Football won't be the number one sport there, Ice hokey will rate higher.

I presume the Scandinavian second divisions leagues are professional?  Maybe they all earn some extra coin as ski instructors in the off season!

GAIS club that Keat, Henderson and Old all play for seems to be a 'bigger' Swedish club who would normally be in the Swedish top flight.

I think any guy who is older than say 28 (as these guys and James all are) and has been a footballer his whole working life can be called a 'seasoned pro' - irrespective really of what pro level he is currently playing at. By seasoned pro, I mean has been around pro football for awhile, been at a few clubs, knows the ins & outs

Interview with Declan Wynne

Interview with Rory Fallon

http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/fallon-we-are-happy-as...

Interviewer obviously told any eligibility questions off limits when talking to Wynne.

Bit much to expect from the NZF website, no?

He was put up to media on the day they returned to NZ, right? But at that point he really had nothing to say. Now he's finally returning after 15 months away (admittedly, it was injury that kept him sidelined in June).

Musa is ineligible. Interestingly Kosta is normally listed as a forward and Rojas a midfielder, god knows why, or why it's changed. Can both play wide in a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1, while Rojas can also play central in a midfield 3 and Kosta can play as a second striker.

The Swedish Second Division is definitely a fully professional league - and football is much more popular than ice hockey in Sweden, Denmark and Norway (only in Norway are cross-country skiing and biathlon - combined skiing and shooting - more popular spectator sports, though football has the most participants).

From what I've seen, the Swedish and Danish top flights are superior to the A-League, Norway a similar level, Finnish top flight not as good as the A-League  - maybe similar level to English League 2. So, the Finnish second tier that Chris James is playing in wouldn't be any great shakes.

Henderson has played his entire pro career in  the Swedish and Norwegian top flights before this season and Keat played last season in the Swedish top flight.

Both warrant a place in the All Whites squad in my opinion.

However, only Henderson has been playing regularly recently, with Keat out injured nearly the entire season (he's only played twice - and not for months. Came back in July for his season debut but got injured again on August 6).

Whats the full deal on that? Any particular reason other than no NZ ties? 

Zimbabwean father (I think). English mother. English & Zimbabwean grandparents. Family came to NZ because mother's sister lived here (I think). Got picked for Olympic squad (played 35 mins) on basis of having been at school here a few years and not much else, same as Burfoot et al...

same as Wynne, it can be arrange or maybe already was! can someone fax NZfootball to confirm this information?

as of the squad announcement last week, per Hudson himself, it's still a work in progress. why they're still bothering is beyond me.

Well, again, per Hudson, we have bothered, and it has not been resolved either way. So maybe hold off on proclaiming it "no problem".

But the problem with Wynne, and I assume Musa as well is that they must have lived in NZ for at least 5 years after the age of 18 to be eligible...Neither have

That's why you apply for a fifa exemption. Obviously something Wynne did as he does not qualify any other way.  Wynne is now back. I guess musa has applied and is still waiting or is eligible and not been picked.