From a familiar song sheet
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■ out of nothing – whether for someone else or himself – is unmatched among the current crop of New Zealand men’s players and without him they will be slightly bigger underdogs than before.
In his last appearance for the All Whites, in a 3-1 loss to Jordan at the end of January, Singh was in the early stages of realising the extent of his injury and wasn’t at his best.
But in the one before that, he was the key creative force in a 2-1 win over Curac¸ ao, even if he didn’t contribute an assist or a goal.
It was an all-too-brief glimpse of what he had to offer, and hopefully it won’t be too long before we get to see him in a white (or black) shirt again. The same goes for Thomas.
In the meantime, those who did make the squad will be busy making their way to Marbella on Spain’s south coast, where they will set up camp next week, ahead of a friendly with Peru on Queen’s Birthday.
Costa Rica are heading into camp now too, with their domestic league, which provides the bulk of their squad, being put on pause for a month after this weekend.
A big month lies ahead.
All Whites squad for warmup match and World Cup playoff:
Goalkeepers: Matthew Gould, Stefan Marinovic, Oli Sail
Defenders: Michael Boxall, Liberato Cacace, Francis de Vries, Dane Ingham, Niko Kirwan, Tim Payne, Nando Pijnaker, Winston Reid, Tommy Smith, Bill Tuiloma
Midfielders: Joe Bell, Matt Garbett, Elijah Just, Clayton Lewis, Marco Rojas, Marko Stamenic
Forwards: Kosta Barbarouses, Joey Champness, Alex Greive, Callum McCowatt, Logan Rogerson, Ben Waine, Chris Wood
Fixtures (NZ time):
Monday, June 6, 3.30am: v Peru; RCDE Stadium, Barcelona, Spain
Wednesday, June 14, 6am: v Costa Rica; Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Doha, Qatar