Wairarapa United will be relying on their experienced players to take the lead at the national under-19 inter-club soccer tournament in Napier next week.
Aaron Spierling, Anton Ross, Anaru Te Rangi and Kota Maeno were regular members of the Wairarapa United senior men's squad which won both the Capital premier division
title and promotion to the central league during their 2008 campaign and they should relish the return to age group competition.
Coach Phil Keinzley is confident that if the above quartet do themselves justice Wairarapa United could be one of the "dark horses" at the nationals.
"They are all quality players and they have to show that quality in game after game," he said. "If they do that we could be in with a show."
The pool draw has not been kind to Wairarapa United. They have to front up to three teams from the powerful Auckland region Papakura, Fencibles and Manurewa Dunedin Technical and North Wellington.
Recent history would suggest Dunedin Technical could be the strongest of those teams as they have actually won the national title for the past two years.
To make the semis Wairarapa United will either have to win their pool or be the best-performed second-placed side over all four pools.
Their full squad is:
Ryan Athow, Daniel Ingham, Leighton Calkin, Yuseke Maeno, Kota Maeno, Gin Kwon, Mitchelle Scaife, Jackie Chan, Anton Ross, Aaron Spierling, Anaru Te Rangi, Nik Keinzley, Thomas Hemi, Adam Taplin, Andrew Traill and Keiran McGruddy.
