Wellington Phoenix five held back from start of Olympic qualifiers

Australia Cup, round of 16: Melbourne City v Wellington Phoenix Where: Jack Edwards Reserve, Melbourne When: Sunday, 4pm (NZT) Coverage: Live on YouTube

Wellington Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano has delayed the release of five New Zealand under-23 players for the start of the OFC men’s Olympic qualifier tournament, stating they are “needed” at their club because of injuries.

Alex Paulsen, Finn Surman, Isaac Hughes, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Oskar van Hattum have been held back from international duty so they can travel to play in the Phoenix’s Australia Cup round of 16 clash with Melbourne City on Sunday.

New Zealand begin Olympic qualifiers with a match against Papua New Guinea in Auckland on the same day the Phoenix are in action at Melbourne’s Jack Edwards Reserve.

Although the club is under no obligation to release players for the under-23 tournament, Bazeley expressed his frustration at the Phoenix after being forced to make last-minute additions to his squad.

He was quoted by New Zealand Football as saying it was “disappointing not to be able to call on five strong players who have been held back by Wellington Phoenix” when the late changes were announced on Wednesday.

But Italiano said the Phoenix had originally requested their match against City be played on a Saturday to avoid a clash with the Olympic qualifiers, and stressed the five players will only miss the PNG fixture.

Italiano said the five New Zealand under-23 players would travel straight to Auckland the day after playing Melbourne City and be available to Bazeley for the remainder of the Olympic qualifying tournament, including a potential final.

Should the Phoenix beat City for the third year in a row, the quarterfinal would not take place until at least four days after the Olympic qualifying tournament wrapped up.

Phoenix reserve player Matthew Sheridan was among the five players called up to the under-23s as cover.

Paulsen, Surman, Kelly-Heald and van Hattum all started in the Phoenix’s dramatic extra-time win over Peninsula Power in the round of 32 and should retain their spots in the starting lineup.

The Phoenix are still two signings away from a full squad and they have been ravaged by injuries in the pre-season with Ben Old, Mohamed Al-Taay and Sam Sutton ruled out of the match, leaving them light on personnel.

David Ball is also in doubt due to illness and has just returned from an injury of his own.

“They are needed. They’re a big part of the squad,” explained Italiano.

“There’s a bit of a shift towards playing a lot of these younger players and giving them opportunities and the Australia Cup is a really good opportunity [to do that].

“Up until a couple of days ago I had six players out, so I had a starting 10. But now we’ve got a couple coming back and that’s why unfortunately why those boys were unavailable for the 23s.

“We wanted to play on the Saturday so they could make it over for the first game, but unfortunately they gave us the Sunday and it pushed everything back a day.

“But it’s great for them to get the experience of a game like this because Melbourne City are a top opponent, they have some good players.”

The Phoenix have had the wood over City in Australia Cup, eliminating them twice in the past two years.

But the beaten A-League Men finalists from last season have a strong squad on paper full of Socceroos and should present a much sterner test than NPL Queensland club Peninsula Power.

Although they have sold Marco Tilio to Scottish champions Celtic in the off-season, City have gained Australia’s first-choice left-back Aziz Behich, veteran goalkeeper Jamie Young and former Phoenix midfielder Steven Ugarkovic.

While the Australia Cup takes place in pre-season for the A-League Men clubs, it provides the Phoenix with a chance to claim their first piece of silverware and Italiano said he was taking the tournament seriously.

“I treat the cup like I treat the league. The intention is to win every game.”