Soccer: Dugdale buoyant despite defeat

By TERRY MADDAFORD

National soccer coach Ken Dugdale was neither surprised nor too upset at the New Zealand under-23 soccer team's scrappy 2-3 loss to the Football Kingz on Monday night in the opening game of a campaign aimed at winning a place in next year's Olympics.

"It was the first time together and we are still without our overseas players," Dugdale said. "It was good to get started and we can only go on from here. A lot of the players have not had much football in recent weeks."

There is some bite in these training games, however, as Dugdale and team coaches Ron Armstrong and Ricki Herbert must cut the squad from 23 to 20 early next week.

Ryan Nelsen, who seems a likely choice as captain, Gareth Rowe, Gerard Davis, Raf de Gregorio, Paul Urlovic, Kris Bouckenooghe and Joe Murray are due to return from their overseas bases by Sunday.

All seem certain to be included in the tournament team, which means three locally based players, including one of the three goalkeepers, will miss out on the squad for the Oceania qualifying series which kicks off at Mt Smart No 2 on December 11.

The team's opening game is against Vanuatu at Bill McKinlay Park on December 12. The teams in the other group are Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and the Solomon Islands.

New Zealand squad: Chris Marsh (Dunedin Tech), Robbie Barraclough (Nelson), Hayden Englefield (Manawatu Utd), Ryan Nelsen (Stanford Univ), Gareth Rowe (Singapore), Sakday Phommahaxy (Metro), Josh Stick (Central), Greg Uhlmann (Central), Blair Scoullar (Mt Wellington), Gerard Davis (Stanford), Joe Murray (Morecombe), Graham Pearce (Western Suburbs), Jeff Campbell (Mt Wellington), Jeremy Brown (Napier), Hamish Carmody (Waitakere City), Matthew Urlovic (Central), Raf de Gregorio (Dordrecht 90), Noah Hickey (Central), Brad Scott (Mt Wellington), Paul Urlovic (Melbourne), Kris Bouckenooghe (SV Roeslare), Campbell Banks (Miramar), Aaron Burgess (Dunedin Tech).

New Zealand's group games.-

Dec 12: v Vanuatu, Bill McKinlay Park 5.45pm.

Dec 16: v PNG, Bill McKinlay Park 5.45pm.

Dec 18: semifinals, Bill McKinlay Park 2pm, 4.45pm.

Dec 20: final and play-off for third, North Harbour Stadium 5.45pm, 8pm.