All Whites star out of Cup play-offs
The All Whites will be without one of their best players when they take on Costa Rica for a shot at the World Cup.
PSV midfielder Ryan Thomas has been ruled out of the intercontinental playoff in Doha on June 15 (NZT) due to an ongoing knee injury.
Thomas has not played any competitive football since October after suffering a serious knee injury while playing for his club in the Netherlands.
He has featured just nine times across all competitions this season.
‘‘There is no doubt a fully fit Ryan Thomas is a huge asset to this team but at this stage, from speaking to Ryan, he isn’t going to be ready for when we face Costa Rica in June unfortunately,’’ coach Danny Hay said.
‘‘We are all really disappointed that Ryan isn’t going to be able to join us, but the reality is that he is coming back from a long-term injury and hasn’t been able to play a full 90 minutes so far this season.
‘‘With just over a month before we are looking to start our pre-intercontinental playoff camp, it unfortunately isn’t possible he will be ready in time.’’
But while the loss of such a key player is a major blow heading into their biggest game in four years, Hay has been able to build up some good depth in central midfield over the past 12 months due to the 27-year-old’s unavailability and he backed the younger players in the squad to step up in Thomas’s absence.
Joe Bell, Marko Stamenic and Matthew Garbett are all plying their trade in Europe now, with Bell and Stamenic on the books of Danish Superliga clubs Brondby and FC Copenhagen and Garbett at Torino in Italy’s Serie A where he recently made the match-day squad for the first time.
Wellington Phoenix’s Clayton Lewis is currently nursing an ankle injury but is due back before June.
Meanwhile, Hay said Sarpreet Singh is likely to come home to complete his rehabilitation in Auckland under the watch of New Zealand Football’s medical staff after struggling with an ongoing groin injury.
The Bayern Munich playmaker, on loan at German second-tier club SSV Jahn Regensburg, has been sidelined since the start of April.
Like Thomas, Singh missed the recent Oceania World Cup qualifying tournament, where the All Whites beat the Solomon Islands 5-0 in the final to advance to the intercontinental playoff.
‘‘It’s a real shame that he hasn’t been able to overcome the injury in Germany,’’ Hay said.
‘‘He’s now had quite a significant time off and he’s been for multiple treatments, he’s been to Austria, he’s seen world-class physios in Munich but unfortunately he’s still getting pain around his groin, so hopefully we can get him back here and our medical staff, which is also world-class, can start to do some work with him.