Kiwi keeper Max Crocombe in New Zealand's extended World Cup squad
Oxford United's keeper Max Crocombe has been called up by New Zealand to join their extended 26-man squad for the under-20 World Cup in Turkey this June.If selected for the final 21-man squad Max, who won the Golden Glove for the All-Whites in their qualifying campaign in Fiji in March, will travel to New Zealand to join up with the rest of the squad at the start of June. They will then fly to Sydney for a warm-up match against Australia on 10th June before setting off for Turkey the next day. New Zealand will have two further warm-up matches against other World Cup teams before starting their group games with a match versus Uzbekistan on 23rd June. They then play Uruguay on 26th June and complete their group fixtures with a match against Croatia on 29th June.
Max, who concluded the 2012/13 season with three consecutive clean sheets, was naturally thrilled to be in the frame for the Finals, telling www.oufc.co.uk "It's obviously a great honour to be in the extended squad and I'm very excited at the prospect of being in the final squad. I know that I will have to be really focussed on my game and enjoy it because once it's over it will just be a great memory. The Fiji qualifying tournament went by so quickly and I'm sure this will be just the same, but if I'm selected it will be a great experience and I'm really looking forward to it."
Oxford United wishes Max the best of luck and will be following his progress closely.