Max gives an update from New Zealand
Oxford's promising young goalkeeper Max Crocombe is currently with the New Zealand under 20 squad as they prepare for four World Cup qualifying matches in Fiji .Max, who made his first team debut this season for the U's flew out to New Zealand to meet his new team mates a week ago before moving on to Fiji on Monday. We asked him how it has gone so far?
"I got to Auckland last Thursday and met all the lads" he told us. "They all know each other from before so I'm the only newbie but everyone gets on really well. We had a training game on the Friday against a side who play in the top league in New Zealand and that went well, there are some very good players in the squad."
The squad have now moved on to their training base in Fiji for their four game mini tournament
"It's so humid, even with the daily thunderstorms around 4pm!" Max said "We've been instructed not to stay in the sun too long, so sun bathing is off the list of activities and we are working pretty hard".
New Zealand started their campaign with a 5-0 win over Papua new Guinea at 4am English time this morning, although Max didn't feature in the game itself. "There are two keepers in the squad and we are splitting it so we're hopefully playing two games each" Max told us. "We now play Vanuatu on the 23rd here, New Caledonia on the 25th and Fiji on the 27th".
We will bring you another progress report from Max next week.