Six Wellington Phoenix players in All Whites, but no room for Alex Rufer

Monday, 11 March 2024

• Six players from the Wellington Phoenix have been named in the latest All Whites squad.

• Defender Lukas Kelly-Heald has been called up for the first time, but there is no place for Phoenix captain Alex Rufer.

• The All Whites will play two matches in the UAE as part of the Winsunited Cup, starting March 23 (NZ time).

Six players from the high-flying Wellington Phoenix have been included in the All Whites squad to play Egypt and either Croatia or Tunisia in the Winsunited Cup in the UAE later this month.

Versatile defender Lukas Kelly-Heald has been called up for the first time, while there are returns for attacking midfielder Ben Old and forward Kosta Barbarouses, who have both been in fine form this season.

Goalkeeper Alex Paulsen and defenders Tim Payne and Finn Surman retain their places from November’s squad, but there is no room for midfielder Alex Rufer – the Phoenix captain.

The incumbent starting midfield trio of Joe Bell, Matt Garbett and Marko Stamenic have all been retained, with Old, Clayton Lewis, Sarpreet Singh, Elijah Just and Callum McCowatt the others who can play there.

Coach Darren Bazeley said that while he had been encouraged by Rufer’s form for the Phoenix, who sit second on the A-League Men ladder with six regular season games to play, midfield was a crowded area when it came to selection.

'Rufes is doing really well. I've been very impressed with his form this year. I think he's moved forward with his performances – he’s very attack-minded now and he's very forward thinking, as well as breaking play down and doing ball rotation.

“The hard thing for him is the quality of player that he's competing against to be selected – Joe Bell, Marko Stamenic, I suppose Clayton (Lewis) comes into that as well, and Matt Garbett a little bit.

“He is a little bit unlucky to not be selected, but we obviously can't pick everybody and we do have to make some tough decisions.

“That's where we're at now, with the extended squad that we have – we're having to make some pretty tough decisions and we're leaving good players out.”

“I had a good conversation with Rufes and explained the position and he knows the guys he's competing against, but we also know and he knows that whenever he is needed, he'll be ready to perform for us as well.”

Bazeley said he got to know Kelly-Heald well from working with him at under-20 level.

“He's now a professional. He's playing every week in the league and doing well. He's a player that has a really high ceiling – a young player that's quite flexible positionally. He deserves the opportunity.”

Dane Ingham has been recalled as a second specialist right back behind Payne, but ahead of Niko Kirwan and Storm Roux, while Oli Sail returns alongside Max Crocombe and Paulsen in the goalkeeping ranks.

Michael Woud drops out after starting in goal against Greece in November, as do backup left back Dalton Wilkins and end-of-the-bench forwards Joey Champness and Alex Greive.

Bazeley said the March window “was slightly too early” for Marco Rojas, who has returned to action with Brisbane Roar in A-League Men after a long period out of the game: “We know that a fully fit and happy Marco Rojas is a real benefit to us.”

There was no return for uncapped midfielder Matt Dibley-Dias, currently playing for the under-21s at English Premier League club Fulham after recovering from the hamstring injury he suffered while away with the All Whites for the first time last October.

“They're monitoring his loading and his training and his game minutes,” Bazeley said. The hamstring injury that he had … right now, on the strength test, it's not quite as strong as the other one, so they've been quite careful. Once he feels anything, he's stopped.

“I had a really good conversation with Matt. He's really keen to be involved. He said ‘I loved it when I came in, and I can't wait to get back in with the boys’. We all agreed that this window was probably too soon to throw him in again.”

Chris Wood will lead the side and should be fully available after playing 90 minutes for his EPL club Nottingham Forest this past weekend. Egypt, however, are set to be without their star forward Mo Salah, who has been left out of their squad at the request of his EPL club, Liverpool.

Bazeley’s squad contains eight players eligible to play for the Oly Whites under-23 team at the Paris Olympics in July and August – Paulsen, Bindon, Kelly-Heald, Surman, Garbett, Old, Stamenic and Waine.

The All Whites lost 2-0 to Greece in Athens then drew 1-1 with the Republic of Ireland in Dublin in their last two outings in November.

In the United Arab Emirates, they will first play Egypt (kickoff 7am March 23 NZ time), while Croatia and Tunisia meet in the other Winsunited Cup semifinal.

The two losers will then meet (7am March 26 NZ time) with the two winners going head to head a day later (7am March 27 NZ time).

All Whites – Winsunited Cup

Squad

Goalkeepers: Max Crocombe, Alex Paulsen, Oli Sail

Defenders: Tyler Bindon, Michael Boxall, Liberato Cacace, Dane Ingham, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Tim Payne, Nando Pijnaker, Tommy Smith, Finn Surman

Midfielders: Joe Bell, Matt Garbett, Clayton Lewis, Callum McCowatt, Ben Old, Sarpreet Singh, Marko Stamenic

Forwards: Kosta Barbarouses, Elijah Just, Max Mata, Ben Waine, Chris Wood

Fixtures

Saturday, March 23, 7am: v Egypt; Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

If they lose…

Tuesday, March 26, 7am: v loser of Croatia v Tunisia; Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi

If they win …

Wednesday, March 27, 7am: v winner of Croatia v Tunisia; Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium