A 26-man New Zealand squad has been named to play in September’s OFC U-19 Championship in Tahiti.
The tournament provides New Zealand’s pathway to next year’s FIFA U-20 Men’s World Cup, as the two finalists at the OFC Championships will qualify for the tournament in Indonesia.
Main photo: New Zealand celebrate winning the championship in 2018. Photo: Phototek.
The squad is heavily drawn from players with Wellington Phoenix and Lower Hutt City links (12), and eight players from the Northern League/Lotto NRFL (8).
A surprise inclusion is Invercargill-born Jay Herdman who plays for the Vancouver Whitecaps and has represented Canada at U-20 level. He is the son of former NZ Football and Football South employee John Herdman who is the current Canadian national team coach.
Click here for more about John Herdman >>>>
New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley has named the following squad:
New Zealand squad
Sebastian Barton-Ginger (17, Wellington Phoenix/Lower Hutt City)
Charlie Beale (18, Wellington Phoenix/Lower Hutt City)
Oliver Colloty (19, Melville United)
Fin Conchie (19, Wellington Phoenix/Lower Hutt City)
Regan Diver (19, Northern Rovers)
Kian Donkers (17, Cashmere Technical)
Theo Ettema (18, Wellington Olympic)
Oliver Fay (19, Auckland United)
Henry Gray (17, Waterside Karori)
Jay Herdman (18, Vancouver Whitecaps)
Isaac Hughes (18, Wellington Phoenix/Lower Hutt City)
Jackson Jarvie (19, Eastern Suburbs)
Noah Karunaratne (19, Wellington Phoenix/Lower Hutt City)
Lukas Kelly-Heald (17, Wellington Phoenix/Lower Hutt City)
Joseph Knowles (17, Eastern Suburbs)
Marco Lorenz (18, Wellington Phoenix/Lower Hutt City)
Jackson Manuel (19, Wellington Phoenix/Lower Hutt City)
Oscar Mason (18, Napier City Rovers)
Dan McKay (18, Wellington Phoenix/Lower Hutt City)
Everton O’Leary (17, Birkenhead United)
Aaryan Raj (19, Eastern Suburbs)
Josh Rudland (18, Wellington Phoenix/Lower Hutt City)
Wilson Souphanthavong (18, Miramar Rangers)
Adam Supyk (18, Wellington Phoenix/Lower Hutt City)
Finn Surman (18, Wellington Phoenix)
Chase Taylor (18, Birkenhead United)
New Zealand’s fixtures
New Zealand’s group games will be played at Tahiti’s 5,000-seater Stade Fautaua.
Thursday September 8 (1pm NZT): New Zealand v Cook Islands
Sunday September 11 (1pm NZT): New Zealand v America Samoa
Wednesday September 14 (1pm NZT): New Zealand v Solomon Islands
The groups
Group A: New Zealand, Solomon Islands, American Samoa, Cook Islands
Group B: Tahiti, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga
Group C: New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Samoa (this group will have a bye for each team)
About the OFC U-19 Championship
New Zealand have won the championship at seven of the 22 previous tournaments.
New Zealand are the current title holders, having won in 2018, the last time the championship was held.
Squads for all 11 nations
Click here to see all the squads named at the OFC website >>>>
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