The All Whites are missing a couple of key players for this month’s friendlies against Sweden and Qatar in Europe.<\/p>\n
Captain Chris Wood, who suffered a thigh injury in March is still recovering from that, while Sarpreet Singh and Ryan Thomas are also not fully fit.<\/p>\n
Interim head coach Darren Bazeley says Wood is on track to be fit for Notingham Forest’s Premier League pre-season.<\/p>\n
He says Singh and Thomas are both in a position where they need to get their bodies back to their best.<\/p>\n
Bazeley has included debutant Phoenix defender Finn Surman in his 23-player squad for the games against Sweden and Qatar in Europe.<\/p>\n
Surman led New Zealand at the recent Under-20 World Cup in Argentina.<\/p>\n
Bill Tuiloma and Ben Waine are both back in the squad after missing the March games against China because of club commitments.<\/p>\n
Francis de Vries returns to the side for the first time in a year after recovering from a long-term injury.<\/p>\n
Goalkeepers Max Crocombe and Nik Tzanev are recalled for the first time since 2018 and 2021 respectively, with both playing in the English Football League this season.<\/p>\n
Bazeley is looking forward to facing two strong teams to test the side leading into the next FIFA World Cup qualifying cycle.<\/p>\n
“After two good results against China at home, these games represent a real test but that is what this team needs right now to build the foundations leading into the qualification campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n
“Sweden are 22 in the world, playing at home in front of a large crowd, so that will be a big but really good challenge for our players.<\/p>\n
“Qatar are another top side ranked significantly higher than us with lots of experience gained as hosts of the last FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n
“I’m pleased with the squad we have assembled and great to be bringing back in some players who haven’t been part of then environment for a while in Francis, Max and Nik.<\/p>\n
“It is always special to call someone up for their debut so I want to congratulate Finn Surman who was brilliant at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, both on and off the pitch, and who I have every confidence will be able to step up to the senior All Whites environment.”<\/p>\n
The full squad is:<\/p>\n
Joe Bell (13 caps) Brondby FC, Denmark<\/p>\n
Michael Boxall (42 caps) Minnesota United, USA<\/p>\n
Liberato Cacace (14 caps) Empoli FC, Italy<\/p>\n
Max Crocombe (2 caps) Grimsby Town, England<\/p>\n
Francis De Vries (6 caps) Eastern Suburbs, New Zealand<\/p>\n
Callan Elliot (2 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand<\/p>\n
Matthew Garbett (14 caps) NAC Breda, Netherlands<\/p>\n
Alex Greive (9 caps) St Mirren, Scotland<\/p>\n
Eli Just (15 caps) AC Horsens, Denmark<\/p>\n
Clayton Lewis (23 caps) Macarthur FC, Australia<\/p>\n
Max Mata (3 caps) Sligo Rovers, Ireland<\/p>\n
Callum McCowatt (11 caps) FC Helsingor, Denmark<\/p>\n
Tim Payne (32 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand<\/p>\n
Nando Pijnaker (11 caps) Sligo Rovers, Ireland<\/p>\n
Marco Rojas (44 caps) Colo Colo, Chile<\/p>\n
Alex Rufer (8 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand<\/p>\n
Oli Sail (8 caps) Perth Glory, Australia<\/p>\n
Tommy Smith (50 caps) Colchester United, England<\/p>\n
Marko Stamenic (13 caps) FC Copenhagen, Denmark<\/p>\n
Finn Surman* (0 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand<\/p>\n
Bill Tuiloma (36 caps) Charlotte FC, USA<\/p>\n
Nik Tzanev (1 cap) AFC Wimbledon, England<\/p>\n
Ben Waine (7 caps) Plymouth Argyle, England<\/p>\n
*Debut All Whites squad<\/p>\n
UPCOMING FIXTURES:<\/p>\n
Friday 16 June 2023 (17 June 2023 NZT)<\/p>\n
Friends Arena, Stockholm<\/p>\n
7pm (5am NZT) – All Whites vs Sweden<\/p>\n
Monday 19 June 2023 (20 June 2023 NZT)<\/p>\n
Generali Arena, Vienna<\/p>\n
6pm (4am NZT) – All Whites vs Qatar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The All Whites are missing a couple of key players for this month’s friendlies against Sweden and Qatar in Europe. Captain Chris Wood, who suffered a thigh injury in March is still recovering from that, while Sarpreet Singh and Ryan Thomas are also not fully fit. Interim head coach Darren Bazeley says Wood is on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5345,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343\/revisions\/5345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}