New Zealand look to repeat 2020 and reach the quarters of the Olympics, but without Chris Wood

Bazeley's U23 Olympic team, known as OlyWhites, has some big football shows to fill as the previous generation, coached by Danny Hay, had reached the quarter-finals of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (held a year later, in June and August 2021). Less than two weeks before the Olympics tournament kicks off in Paris, we turn to our friend Edward Howarth, lead writer for the New Zealand gambling site DashTickets, to help us decypher this New Zealand team and what it's capable of in 2024.
New Zealand will face France, USA and Guinea on the Olympic tournament. Even Guinea was installed as a favourite by the bookmakers against this side. That hasn't stopped New Zealand in the past, so let's take a look at their chances in 2024.
The Olympic tournament is an under-23 event, with three over-age players allowed in the squad. With this year's Paris Games falling outside an official FIFA international window, clubs are not obligated to release their players to play at the Olympics.
"I'd like to be involved. I'd love to be there.", Wood said back in November when the OlyWhites qualified for Paris. "Hopefully it will be alright with my club during pre-season."
"I watched the qualifying matches with the U23s and there are some good boys in there, the team looks strong and I think they can cause some problems on the international stage. I want to be a part of that, to add to the group, hopefully help them out in ways and make them a better side that could cause some damage.", Wood added when asked about his participation.
Despite Paris being a one-hour flight from Nottingham, the parent club refused to let go of their star forward so it wouldn't hurt the preparation for the new season.
Coach Bazeley planned to have Wood, Liberato Cacace, a star left-back for the Italian Serie A club Empoli, and right-back Tim Payne who plays for Wellington Phoenix in the Australian A-League, as his three overage players. Empoli didn't let Cacace go, and Payne got injured.
Marko Stamenić, a young attacking midfilder who has a bright career ahead of him, was also refused participation by his parent club Notthingham Forest. Ironically, he's with Olympiacos on loan and won't see the Olympics.
Instead, the two midfielders Joe Bell (defensive midfielder, 25, Viking, Norway) and Sarpreet Singh (attacking midfield, 25, without a club, last played in Bundesliga II) as well as defender Michael Boxall (centre-back, 35, Minnesota United FC, USA) have been picked as the three over-age players for the tournament.
Alex Paulsen* - AFC Bournemouth, England
Kees Sims - GAIS Göteborg, Sweden
Tyler Bindon* - Reading FC, England
Michael Boxall* - Minnesota United FC, USA
Lukas Kelly-Heald* - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Finn Surman* - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Sam Sutton* - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Matthew Sheridan - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Joe Bell* - Viking FK, Norway
Fin Conchie* - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Matt Garbett* - NAC Breda, The Netherlands
Ben Old* - AS Saint-Etienne, France
Sarpreet Singh* - Unattached
Jesse Randall* - Auckland FC, New Zealand
Oskar van Hattum* - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Ben Waine* - Plymouth Argyle, England
Riley Bidois - Loudoun United, USA
Jay Herdman - Vancouver Whitecaps, Canada
Lachlan Bayliss - Newcastle Jets, Australia
Liam Gillion - Auckland FC, New Zealand
Henry Gray - Ipswich Town FC, England
Isaac Hughes - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Alby Kelly-Heald, Scott Morris, Luis Toomey, Finn Linder, Aaryan Raj, Ronan Wynne, Zac Zoricich and Nathan Lobo have been named as non-travelling reserves.
* Capped for the All Whites, the senior national team of New Zealand
It was indeed a formidable generation the Kiwis had three years ago. Winston Reid, now 35 and retired, was the captain and one of the three players above 23 allowed in the squad. Him and Chris Wood, now 32, who was playing for Burnley at the time (the prolific goalscorer is still in England, now in Nottingham Forest), were the driving forces behind the success.
New Zealand won the opening match 1-0 against South Korea despite the Koreans dominating the proceedings - a classic New Zealand win. It was the only goal Korea would concede in the group stage as they went on to win Group B with a 10-1 goal difference. New Zealand lost the second match 2-3 to Honduras despite leading 2-1 until the 78th minute, and then got a key point with 0-0 against Romania.
In the quarter-finals, yet another low-scoring game, a 0-0 against tournament hosts Japan. It was a largely uneventful game in which, in fact, New Zealand had the better chances as well as the best one of the afternoon. Japan progressed by winning the penalty shootout 4-2.
As you probably know, in 2005 Australia resigned from the Oceania football Confederation (OFC) as they were always winning the OFC qualifications easily but always had to compete in intercontiental playoffs. Since joining the AFC, Australia qualified for the World Cup on every single occasion.
This also left the OFC wide open for New Zealand, as was evident from an easy strowl that was the qualifying tournament in Auckland which they won with a goal-difference of 23-1. New Zealand are champions every time. Except for that one occassion in 2015 when they fielded an ineligible player. Oh well. Stink one, as the Kiwis would say.
New Zealand made three appearances at the Olympics - in 2008, 2012 and 2020 - gifting the 2016 appearance to Fiji because of that ineligible player. Fiji ended up posting a 1-23 goal difference in Brazil.
In Paris in 2024, the OlyWhites will first play Guinea in the first round of the tournament, and will in fact be the ones to open Group A in Nice on 24 July. Hosts France will play the United States in Marseille four hours later. Back in May, Guinea defeated Indonesia 1-0 in the playoffs to book the fourth place in Group A.
On 27 July, it is New Zeland who makes the short trip to Marseille to play on one of the most formidable stadiums in the world, Stade Vélodrome, and three days later they will play France here on the final day of the group stage. The two best teams from the group will advance to the quarter-finals where they'll meet two of Argentina, Morocco, Iran and Ukraine.
Jesse Randall, the 21-year-old who plays in New Zealand, has scored 39 goals in 60 appearances in the top tier. While he has never played good defenders in his career, it's safe to say that if he's presented with a goalscoring opportunity, he'll know how to take it.
For comparison, Oskar van Hattum, 22, has moved out of New Zealand and is now playing in the much more difficult A-League, but the skills didn't translate, as he scored only once in 34 appearances for Wellington Phoenix.
Ben Waine, 23, is the best of the bunch as after a successful A-League stint (17 goals in 72 appearances) he's moved to England, where he has two goals in 32 appearances in the Championship, although he only started ten games or so. As you can see in his goals compilation video, Ben is a poacher who likes first-time efforts and can score a header as well as a long shot.
That's not too different to how Chris Wood plays, our friends from DashTickets unanymously think.
Alex Paulsen, the goalkeeper who was there in 2020, is still only 21 and seems to be destined for many years between the sticks for the senior team. He'll be here as he prepares for his first senior cap.
Young centre-backs Tyler Bindon and Finn Surman already have four senior caps between them, but even with the addition of experienced all-round defender Michael Boxall, the defensive line certainly would have looked better with Cacace and Payne on the flanks that it will with Wellington Phoenix teenagers.
The absent Marko Stamenić has 15 All Whites caps and is usually running the senior team midfield together with another 22-year-old, Matthew Garbett, who has 16 caps and two goals. Garbett is here.
He'll be helped by Sarpreet Singh, a long-time star of the New Zealand youth teams in major tournaments, even though he's currently out of club after leaving Hansa Rostock. Ben Old, who just secured a transfer to a newly promoted Ligue 1 side St. Etienne this week, is a left winger who can do it all, score and assist. He was in Tokyo in 2020, and so was Waine.
There is no doubt that the idea will remain the same as in 2020, play a low-scoring game and hope that it is you who scores that single goal. New Zealand can't be involved in open shootouts. The formation will be 5-4-1.
The DashTickets editorial team warns us to expect a clear game plan that is designed to get New Zealand to where it wants to be. Difficult to break down, lots of running, coordination, concentration. At this level of play making yourself difficult to beat can be enough.
Without Chris Wood, who would have been a man among boys, things will be more difficult but it is everyone's hope that Ben Waine can fill his football boots.
Success of the senior national team doesn't magically translate to the U23 team, as anyone who has ever placed a sports bet surely knows. Meaning, France and USA, while full of talent, don't necessarily have to be winning teams - we'll see what they're made of when the tournament starts.
It is in fact Guinea and New Zealand that are the kind of sides that usually do well in these tournaments, as their players are more difficult to scout. Also, New Zealand has a tried and tested game plan that works. Never underestimate the OlyWhites - this format of tournament seems tailor-made for them!