Olywhites impress against Olyroos
New Zealand and Australia don’t face each other in football too often these days, which made the recent rekindling of the transtasman rivalry all the more enjoyable.
The two nations played a pair of under-23 internationals over the weekend, in Wollongong and Campbelltown, with the Olywhites coming from behind to secure 1-1 draws both times.
Clayton Lewis did the honours in the first match last Friday, while Logan Rogerson came up trumps in the second on Monday, after a blunder by goalkeeper Conor Tracey gifted the hosts an early lead.
The young Kiwis – born 1997 and later – got the better of their Australian counterparts, known as the Olyroos, for long stretches in both matches, though the final results were probably a fair reflection of the chances created.
Coach Des Buckingham was using the fixtures as preparation for the OFC Olympic qualifying tournament in Fiji later this month, where his side will be hoping to secure the sole ticket on offer to Tokyo next July.
Of the 17 players used across the two matches in Sydney, 13 will be involved in Fiji, so they served that purpose, as well as allowing Buckingham to work with European pros Max Mata, James Mcgarry and George Stanger.
Young Wellington Phoenix pros Liberato Cacace, Callan Elliot, Callum Mccowatt and Ben Waine will come in for the qualifiers, having missed the Australian fixtures as part of a deal struck by Buckingham and Phoenix counterpart Ufuk Talay.
The team will reassemble in Auckland from Sunday ahead of the qualifying tournament, which begins on September 21, with the Olywhites taking on Samoa, American Samoa and the Solomon Islands in pool play.
Hosts Fiji qualified for the Rio Olympics four years ago after New Zealand was disqualified for fielding an ineligible player and are likely to be the strongest team in the other pool, which also includes Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu.
It has been just under 12 weeks since Buckingham was handed the under-23 role following the departure of Fritz Schmid and with the Australian fixtures done and dusted he has now ticked off three of the four items on his todo list.
The first was the Pacific Games in July, where he guided a hastily-assembled squad to a gold medal, and the second a training camp in Auckland at the end of August.
Across the three activities, Buckingham has worked with more than 40 different players, a tally that will grow by five next week and doesn’t include several others who will likely come into consideration to make the final 18-man squad (which can include three over-age players) if New Zealand qualifies.