The All Whites have named a larger than usual squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup Oceania qualifiers in Qatar to cover player movement during the tournament that will be played outside of an official international window.
Wellington Phoenix payer Ben Waine has been called into the All Whites for the first time. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The 30-man squad for the eight team tournament which kicks off on 17 March includes the first senior international call-ups for the Wellington Phoenix's Ben Old and Ben Waine.
Old and Waine are among five Phoenix players included in the squad. The Phoenix players will not be available for the whole competition as they continue their A-League season in Australia.
Newcastle United's Chris Wood will also miss the All Whites' opening game, before he joins the team from the Premier League.
Several players were unavailable for selection by coach Danny Hay.
Defender Michael Boxall is recovering from injury and is on standby, midfielder Sarpreet Singh and forward Elliot Collier are injured, goalkeeper Michael Woud has club commitments with his new Japanese club and New Zealand Football have listed midfielder Ryan Thomas as "not currently available".
"We knew this would be a challenging squad to put together but I'm confident in the team we've been able to assemble," Hay said.
"I want to thank all the clubs for the flexibility they have shown when making their players available.
"Over the past year we have shown people what we are capable of as a team. Now is when we have to put everything we have been talking about into practice as we fight to return to the FIFA World Cup."
Due to the squad size, a number of players will also leave during the tournament.
The All Whites kick-off their campaign against Papua New Guinea (19 March at 3am).
This is followed by further group games against Fiji (Tuesday 22 March at 6am) and New Caledonia (25 March at 6am) with the top two sides progressing to the semi-finals against the top two Group A teams.
The final will be held on Thursday 31 March with the winner progressing to the Intercontinental Play-Off against the fourth-placed Concacaf side for a place at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The full 30-person squad is:
Matthew Gould (0 caps) Altrincham FC, England
Stefan Marinovic (27 caps) Hapoel Nof HaGalil, Israel*
Oli Sail (0 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand+
Jamie Searle (0 caps) Swansea City, Wales*
Nikko Boxall (3 caps) San Diego Loyal, USA
Liberato Cacace (6 caps) FC Empoli, Italy (LOAN)*
Francis de Vries (2 caps) IFK Värnamo, Sweden
Dane Ingham (8 caps) Newcastle Jets, Australia+
Niko Kirwan (3 caps) Calcio Padova, Italy
Tim Payne (21 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand*
Nando Pijnaker (4 caps) Sligo Rovers, Ireland (LOAN)*
Winston Reid (27 caps) Unattached
Tommy Smith (42 caps) Colchester United, England
Bill Tuiloma (28 caps) Portland Timbers, USA*
Dalton Wilkins (1 cap) Kolding IF, Denmark+
Joe Bell (5 caps) Bröndby IF, Denmark*
Matthew Garbett (3 caps) Torino, Italy
Cam Howieson (13 caps) Auckland City FC, New Zealand
Clayton Lewis (16 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand+
Ben Old (0 caps, debut senior call-up) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand+
Marko Stamenic (4 caps) HB Køge, Denmark (LOAN)*
Kosta Barbarouses (47 caps) Sydney FC, Australia+
Joe Champness (3 caps) Giresunspor, Turkey
Andre de Jong (6 caps) AmaZulu FC, South Africa
Alex Greive (1 cap) St Mirren, Scotland*
Elijah Just (6 caps) FC Helsingør, Denmark*
Callum McCowatt (5 caps) FC Helsingør, Denmark*
Logan Rogerson (4 caps) FC Haka, Finland
Ben Waine (0 caps, debut senior call-up) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand+
Chris Wood (61 caps) Newcastle United, England*
* Joining from 19 March onwards
+ Leaving from 22 March onwards
