All Whites head coach Danny Hay says the competition for places is so strong, there were “some disappointed faces” among his players when he told them the starting line-up for Sunday’s match against Australia.
In an interview for NZ Football’s twitter feed, Hay said:
“We’re going to play what we think is our strongest team to play Australia.”
He said there was now enough strength in the squad, no one could automatically expect a place in the starting side.
It was now up to the 11 players who started the game to do their job, and then for those who came onto Eden Park as subs to do their’s.
Hay said Saturday’s ‘meet and greet’ session with fans at Auckland’s Aotea Centre had shown to the players what the All Whites meant to a lot of people.
Hay: ‘I want players to have freedom to express themselves’
As an Auckland boy himself, Hay was excited by the prospect of his team playing in front of a packed Eden Park and he said a big parochial home crowd could help players get more out of themselves.
Hay said his final message to the players would be to have the freedom to go out and express themselves.
Meanwhile, Australian media have been trying to identify which Socceroos have already returned to their clubs from the 31-player squad that was assembled for the two-match centenary series.
Socceroos head coach Graham Arnold said after Thursday’s 1-0 win in Brisbane that he would use the Auckland match to give the “young boys” in his squad their chance.
READ MORE: Socceroos turn to youngsters for Eden Park match >>>>
Since then, reports have indicated that Adrian Mooy, Aziz Behich, Jackson Irvine and Jamie Maclaren, Matty Ryan, Trent Sainsbury, Ajdin Hrustic, Fran Karacic, Awer Mabil and Adam Taggart have all returned to their clubs.
Fixture
New Zealand v Australia
Eden Park, Auckland, 4pm
Watch: Live on Sky Sport 1
Squads
New Zealand
Player/caps/club
Kyle Adams* (0 caps) San Diego Loyal, USA
Joe Bell (10 caps) Brøndby IF, Denmark
Michael Boxall (38 caps) Minnesota United, USA
Liberato Cacace (10 caps) FC Empoli, Italy
Andre De Jong (9 caps) Royal AM, South Africa
Matt Garbett (10 caps) Torino, Italy
Alex Greive (6 caps) St Mirren, Scotland
Cam Howieson (15 caps) Auckland City, New Zealand
Dane Ingham (11 caps) Newcastle Jets, Australia
Elijah Just (11 caps) AC Horsens, Denmark
Callum McCowatt (9 caps) FC Helsingør, Denmark
Ben Old (1 cap) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Alex Paulsen* (0 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Tim Payne (28 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Nando Pijnaker (9 caps) Sligo Rovers, Ireland
Winston Reid (32 caps) Unattached
Storm Roux (10 caps) Central Coast Mariners, Australia
Oli Sail (4 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Marko Stamenic (9 caps) FC Copenhagen, Denmark
Bill Tuiloma (34 caps) Portland Timbers, USA
Ben Waine (5 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Chris Wood (68 caps) Newcastle United, England
Michael Woud (4 caps) Kyoto Sanga, Japan
Deklan Wynne (14 caps) Detroit City FC, USA
*Debut senior call-up
Australia
Player/club/caps/goals
Nathaniel Atkinson (Heart of Midlothian, Scotland) 3 (0)
Keanu Baccus (St Mirren, Scotland) 0 (0)
Martin Boyle (Hibernian, Scotland) 18 (5)
Jason Cummings (Central Coast Mariners, Australia) 0 (0)
Harrison Delbridge (Incheon United, Korea Republic) 0 (0)
Milos Degenek (Columbus Crew, USA) 36 (1)
Thomas Deng (Albirex Niigata, Japan) 1 (0)
Cameron Devlin (Heart of Midlothian, Scotland) 0 (0)
Mitchell Duke (Fagiano Okayama, Japan) 20 (7)
Tyrese Francois (HNK Gorica, Croatia) 0 (0)
Denis Genreau (Toulouse FC, France) 3 (0)
Joel King (Odense Boldklub, Denmark) 2 (0)
Garang Kuol (Central Coast Mariners, Australia) 0 (0)
Mitch Langerak (Nagoya Grampus, Japan) 8 (0)
Mathew Leckie (Melbourne City, Australia) 71 (13)
Riley McGree (Middlesbrough FC, England) 9 (1)
Connor Metcalfe (FC St. Pauli, Germany) 3 (0)
Andrew Redmayne (Sydney FC, Australia) 3 (0)
Ryan Strain (St Mirren, Scotland) 0 (0)
Marco Tilio(Melbourne City, Australia) 3 (0)
Bailey Wright (Sunderland, England) 27 (2)
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