Last Chance For 56 World Cup Trialists

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32032, 5 July 1969, Page 15

Last Chance For 56 World Cup Trialists

(By Our Soccer Reporter)

The 16 players who will represent New Zealand in the World Cup soccer elimination series against Israel later this year will be chosen on Sunday, immediately after the national tournament for the Rothmans Cup being held in Auckland.

Four matches will be played, 56 players will be on trial, and the trophy at stake will be the least important factor.

It has been reported from Auckland that the 18-man squad announced less than a fortnight ago has been scrapped and that the selectors (Messrs G. Evans and D. Wallace) and the national coach (Mr L. Brocic) will be starting anew this week-end.

The chairman of the N.Z.F.A. (Mr J. C. Cowie) was reported as saying that the new campaign was “in the

best interests of New Zealand soccer.”

Whether such a sharp backward flip—a gymnastic feat the N.Z.F.A. does better than any other sporting body in New Zealand—could be in the best interests of anything, is debatable. What is certain is that the selectors will still have the 18 already named uppermost in their minds when they come to choose the final 16.

Anything else would be clearly unimaginable, for they can hardly have changed their minds to any great extent in the 12 days since they named their squad of 18. That list included five Canterbury players—D. Phillips, G. Davis, K. France, G. Griffiths and A. Gowans. With the tournament to be played, another six Canterbury players have come into the reckoning. Canterbury is represented by 11 in the 14-man southern league squad that will play the Possibles today, in the curtain-raiser to the fixture between the central and northern leagues. The winners and losers will meet tomorrow.

The Canterbury players with the greatest chances of final selection are Phillips, Davis and France, with Griffiths and Gowans perhaps needing an outstanding trial this week-end to force their claims ahead of all others in their positions. Of the other Canterbury players, perhaps only two could win through—B. Wilkinson and F. Madrussan. But they, too, will be strongly challenged by another half-a-dozen or more.

The tournament is being sponsored by Rothmans,

which is contributing $lOOO towards the costs. The final squad will go to New Caledonia for three warm-up games next month, before and after this trip the players will train under the regional coaches working in conjunction with Mr Brocic, and at least two weeks before their departure to Israel the players will assemble in Auckland for full-time training.