All Whites and under-23 men’s coach Darren Bazeley is still in negotiations with the Wellington Phoenix over the availability of several key players for the Oceania men’s Olympic qualifiers.
Seven Phoenix players – four professionals and three from the club’s youth academy – were included in a 23-strong squad named on Wednesday for the seven-team tournament in Auckland, which begins on Sunday, August 27, with New Zealand playing Fiji.
Whether those players – most notably goalkeeper Alex Paulsen and centre backs Lukas Kelly-Heald and Finn Surman – line up when the under-23s begin their campaign to be the lone team from Oceania to qualify for Paris remains to be seen.
The major complication is the fact that the Phoenix have an Australia Cup round of 16 tie against Melbourne City to be played across the Tasman on either August 26, 27, 29 or 30.
Paulsen is in line to be the A-League Men club’s No 1 goalkeeper this coming season, and was a starter in their round of 32 win over amateur Queensland club Peninsula Power, along with Kelly-Heald, Surman and forward Oskar van Hattum, the other pro named in Bazeley’s squad.
The Phoenix only have 17 players signed for the 2023-24 season at present, a group which includes forward David Ball, who is recovering from a broken toe; midfielder Fin Conchie, who is serving a suspension for homophobic abuse that has ruled him out of the Olympic qualifiers; and defender Sam Sutton, who has a knee injury which has denied him the chance to play for the under-23s, a team he potentially would have captained.
“At this stage, we are still in negotiations,” Bazeley said on Wednesday, noting that the rules for the qualifying tournament allowed teams to make changes to their squad whenever they wanted and that there was a group of New Zealand-based players on standby to come in if needed.
“Right now [the Phoenix] don’t know who’s going to be needed for that squad [to travel to Melbourne], but once they decide who their squad is, we’ll have some discussions around where it’s best for players to play.
“For some of them, it might be better playing for the [Phoenix] first team. Some of them might be better off being left here and playing for us.”
“The Phoenix are aware how important the Olympic qualifiers are to us,” Bazeley added.
“As a professional club they don’t have to release players. Hopefully they’ll think of what’s best for the player in terms of how many minutes they’re going to play and if they’re not going to start players [in the Australia Cup] they won’t take them.”
Goalkeeper Alby Kelly-Heald, centre back Isaac Hughes and midfielder Dan McKay are the three Phoenix academy players included in the under-23 squad who could potentially be needed with the first team.
Other academy prospects could be in line for call-ups if some of their more senior club-mates are unavailable for the qualifiers, with Phoenix reserves coach Chris Greenacre one of Bazeley’s assistants, alongside national under-17 coach Marty Bullock and under-17 goalkeeper coach Danny Knight.
The complications around the availability of Phoenix players come with several top players in the under-23 age-group already ruled out due to club commitments and injuries. Bazeley said there were also talks ongoing as to when exactly some Australia-based players would be released.
The men’s football tournament at the Paris Olympics will be predominantly for players born 2001 onwards, though the teams that qualify will be allowed to call on three over-age players.
Midifelders Matt Garbett and Marko Stamenic and forward Ben Waine are the three leading players in that cohort, having established themselves as regular All Whites, but their respective club commitments in the Netherlands, Serbia and England have kept them from being involved in the qualifiers
Bazeley said he was still in communication with Garbett and Waine and that while an appearance from either player in the qualifiers was unlikely, the fact that those conversations were ongoing was a testament to how much they wanted to help New Zealand secure a place in Paris.
Phoenix midfielder Ben Old is the fourth player in the current under-23 age group to have made his senior international debut, but he is currently working his way back from a long-term groin injury.
Jay Herdman, one of New Zealand’s top performers at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Argentina in May and June, is out with a longer-term knee injury, while Ronan Wynne, the younger brother of All White Deklan Wynne, is out with an Achilles injury.
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Bazeley said that while it was “not ideal” having to juggle player availability and that he would “like to have [his] strongest squad for every game” there would be “no excuses”.
The New Zealand under-23s are in a three-team group alongside Fiji and Papua New Guinea, who they play in their second match on August 30.
The top two teams in group A will then advance to semifinals against the top two from group B, featuring Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu, on September 6, with the final to follow on September 9.
Bazeley said the under-23s would come into camp next Wednesday ahead of their opening match and he expected to have clarity on the availability of the Phoenix players by then.
New Zealand under-23s – Olympic qualifiers
Initial squad
Goalkeepers: Alby Kelly-Heald, Scott Morris, Alex Paulsen
Defenders: Isaac Hughes, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Nathan Lobo, Aaryan Raj, Finn Surman, Zac Zoricich
Midfielders: Lachlan Bayliss, Willem Ebbinge, Matthew Ellis, Dan McKay, Campbell Strong, Luis Toomey, Ryan Verney
Forwards: Riley Bidois, Oscar Browne, Liam Gillion, Joe Lee, George Ott, Jesse Randall, Oskar van Hattum
Fixtures
Sunday, August 27, 3pm: v Fiji; Go Media Stadium Mt Smart
Wednesday, August 30, 3pm: v Papua New Guinea; Go Media Stadium Mt Smart
Wednesday, September 6, 3pm/7pm: Semifinal (if qualified); Go Media Stadium Mt Smart
Saturday, September 9, 7pm: Final (if qualified); North Harbour Stadium
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