Finn Surman has been named in the New Zealand U-23 squad for the OFC Olympic Qualifiers. Photo: photosport
New Zealand's initial 23-man squad for the Oceania Football Confederation Men's Olympic Qualifier features 17 players that are based in New Zealand, with four members of the squad coming from Australia and two from the USA.
All Whites U-23 head coach Darren Bazeley has promoted six players who were part of his U-20 team that reached the last 16 at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in May to his U-23 side for the tournament.
With the tournament starting outside of the FIFA international window, Bazeley has not been able to call up a number of players based in European leagues, however, as there are no restrictions on teams adding players to their squad during the competition, additional players may still be named during the campaign when available.
The winner of the tournament to be held in Auckland this month will qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
New Zealand U-23 are in Group A with Fiji and Papua New Guinea and will play all group matches at Mt. Smart Stadium.
"Following the FIFA Women's World Cup, football has never been in a better place in New Zealand so it is great to have this tournament at home and continue that momentum," Bazeley said.
"While it is disappointing to have players like Ben Old, Jay Herdman, Ronan Wynne and Sam Sutton miss out through injury, I'm really pleased with the squad and staff we have been able to assemble and know the team can't wait to come into camp next week.
"The unique thing about this tournament is that we are able to add and amend our squad from game to game so while I want to congratulate the 23 players named, I also want to make clear to players who just missed out on this initial selection that the door is very much still open, including for our players based overseas."
The full squad is:
Lachlan Bayliss - Newcastle Jets, Australia
Riley Bidois - Dandenong City, Australia
Oscar Browne - Western Springs, New Zealand
Willem Ebbinge - Harvard University, USA
Matthew Ellis - Western Springs, New Zealand
William Gillion - Auckland City, New Zealand
Isaac Hughes - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Alby Kelly-Heald - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Lukas Kelly-Heald - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Joe Lee - Auckland City, New Zealand
Nathan Lobo - Auckland City, New Zealand
Dan McKay - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Scott Morris - Christchurch United, New Zealand
George Ott - Avondale FC, Australia
Alex Paulsen - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Aaryan Raj - Eastern Suburbs, New Zealand
Jesse Randall - Charleston Battery, USA
Campbell Strong - Eastern Suburbs, New Zealand
Finn Surman - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Luis Toomey - Eastern Suburbs, New Zealand
Oskar van Hattum - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Ryan Verney - Eastern Suburbs, New Zealand
Zac Zoricich - Central Coast Mariners, Australia
