Tyler Bindon

That's a very tidy development.

Still gotta work on how they're gonna do things defensively, but I think that one that as, while that was the weakness at the World Cup, when you're looking at a team that's gonna be built around, or defense that's gonna be built around Tyler Bindon and Finn Surman, 21, 22 years old right now, like that, it's a lot easier to see how that's gonna just sorta sort itself out naturally as those guys get more experienced and, and improve as players.

They're already our best two center backs, and they still have, you know, much more untapped potential yet to come.

So it's not, it's, less worried about that than I was a little while ago as, you know, heading into the World Cup about whether we would be the type of team that's capable of scoring goals.

How do you see New Zealand structurally at the back, and where are those vulnerabilities or opportunities if you want to put a positive spin on it?

Yeah, well, weirdly, um, a, a young center back pairing of Bindon and Surman I feel like is, is the go-forward, uh, opportunity for them.

But they've looked vulnerable, uh, as you say, and in the air, which is, uh, not like New Zealand teams of old.

They miss Surman for sure.

Um, and maybe that's the way it works best for the All Whites going forward once Libby is back fit, because Michael Boxall is 37.

He's not gonna be around for much longer right at international level.

So then you could have potentially a back three of Tyler Bindon on the right, Finn Surman in the middle, and then L- Libby Kakaracha playing on the left-

Mm

The players I mentioned, Stamenic and Waine and Just, Addin Bennold, and a soon-to-return Libby Cacace, and plenty of other players who are knocking on the door of this team.

Tyler Bindon, a young center-back, Alex Paulsen in goal.

And you find yourself with a team of players who now want to play football, don't wanna park a bus, don't wanna soak up pressure from the opposition, no matter how highly ranked they are, and then try and hit them on the break.

They believe they belong on the same football pitch as any nation in the world, and last night was just the latest evidence.

On we go to the defence and we begin with central defenders and we'll populate the list here.

We have three definite candidates, the first one Tyler Bindon and then Finn Sermon and Michael Boxall, all three of those definite candidates and all three of them selected.

No candidates at the likely level, but two at the possible level, and both of these are selected too.

The first one is Nando Pinneker.

Otherwise, we just have one candidate at the possible but unlikely level.

It is George Stanger, a Scottish born player with no caps for the national team.

so and not selected for the squad uh here uh so let's go back to the top and introduce the ones that were selected tyler bindon firstly he's been with new zealand since 2023 with three caps uh sorry 23 caps and three goals uh even though he's just 21 years old and he plays for nottingham forest in england since 2025 or is at least on their roster because he's actually on loan to Sheffield United in England since 2025 and was also loaned to Reading.

That was his second stint with Reading because Reading was his first senior club there from 2023 to 2025.

Logan Rogerson coming into that far post was there or thereabouts as well.

Going back to that first goal, Tyler Bindon, if you were watching that game and you didn't have the noise on, you would have thought that that was Chris Wood, the way he finished it.

Because Tyler Bindon, if Woodsman's going to call it a day in a couple of years, maybe we just move Tyler Bindon up front, if he can finish like that in the six-yard box.

Did you see a couple of his diagonals? It was like Virgil van Dijk out of defence at times.

He was that gorgeous one that was delivered on a penny in the second half too.

So I think that's good news in terms of where the All Whites are at that end of the park and wanting to find some more people who can put the ball in the back of the net.

Young defender Tyler Bindon scored his third international goal four minutes into the game.

Ben Wayne backed up his goal from the draw against Palestine last week when he netted just before the half-hour mark.

And Owen Parker-Price had been on the field for less than five minutes when he scored his first goal for the All Whites late in the game.

So the All Whites were playing in China overnight in Chongqing.

They got goals there for Tyler Bindon and Ben Wayne.

Ben Wayne at 29 minutes.

Now, he's been the experimenter up front, but he's gone great.

Now, that's got to be, you know, a real advantage for you particularly.

I've talked to Tyler Bindon about this with his parents being, you know, top end professionals in their chosen sports as well.

And it is about that mindset, right? Because so many kids can have the talent, but if you don't have somebody that's been there, done that experience, what it's like to be a professional, it can be quite hard to grasp.

Oh, yeah,