The New Zealand men's football team is missing some big names following the squad announcement for the upcoming Paris Olympics.
Head coach Darren Bazeley named his 18-man squad for Paris today, with three of those players allowed to be over the age of 23.
Bazeley looked likely to pick Chris Wood, Liberato Cacace and Marko Stamenic as his three overage players, however, all three were made unavailable for selection by their clubs in Europe.
Instead, Bazeley has chosen Sarpreet Singh, Michael Boxall and Joe Bell as the three overage players, all having All Whites experience.
Bazeley said he faced some challenges naming the squad, as some clubs haven’t allowed their players to be available for selection.
“With the competition happening outside of a FIFA window there have been some challenges with clubs releasing players, who are all really keen to be part of the tournament, but that is an issue that numerous countries have faced,” said Bazeley.
“In many ways it shows the level that our players are operating at that top clubs want to hold on to people like Chris Wood, but luckily we have been building real depth so have talented options to come in instead.
Bazeley said he was aiming to continue the momentum gained off the back of the OFC Nations Cup win, as over half of the players selected featured for the All Whites in that recent tournament.
The squad for Paris features many players that have been capped for the All Whites, with 11 of the 15 under-23 players having featured for the senior side.
Ben Old has been named in the squad, with it being announced today that the young Kiwi would be making a move to French club AS Saint Etienne.
Six current Wellington Phoenix players have been selected in the 18-man squad, alongside Auckland FC player Jesse Randall.
They will play hosts France, Guinea and the USA in Group A at the tournament, opening their campaign against Guinea on July 25 in Nice.
The NZ squad for the Paris Olympics is:
Alex Paulsen* - AFC Bournemouth, England
Kees Sims - GAIS Göteborg, Sweden
Tyler Bindon* – Reading FC, England
Michael Boxall* - Minnesota United, USA
Lukas Kelly-Heald* - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Matthew Sheridan - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Finn Surman* - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Sam Sutton* - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Joe Bell* – Viking FK, Norway
Fin Conchie* - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Matt Garbett* - NAC Breda, Netherlands
Ben Old* - AS Saint-Etienne, France
Sarpreet Singh* - Unattached
Riley Bidois - Loudoun United, USA
Jay Herdman - Vancouver Whitecaps, Canada
Jesse Randall* – Auckland FC, New Zealand
Oskar van Hattum* - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Ben Waine* - Plymouth Argyle, England
*Capped for the All Whites
Alternate Players:
Lachlan Bayliss, Liam Gillion, Henry Gray and Isaac Hughes.
Alby Kelly-Heald, Scott Morris, Luis Toomey, Finn Linder, Aaryan Raj, Ronan Wynne, Zac Zoricich and Nathan Lobo have been named as non-travelling reserves.
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