Jesse Randall #21

Profile

Being able to play in attack and on the wing has helped propel the seven-cap rising star into the World Cup squad. His excellent form with Auckland FC in the A-League, including being their top goalscorer in the latest campaign, also helped his cause. He rates his pace as his best asset. Randall’s career is now taking off after a slow start – he was never approached by an academy in his home city, Wellington, and trials in England were “pretty ruthless”, he told Stuff. A spell with Charleston in the US didn’t lead to much game time and as the doubts grew, his career was only revived by a late call-up from All Whites coach Darren Bazeley to join his Under-23 squad for the Paris Olympics. After the World Cup Randall will be Scotland bound to start a two-year contract with Dundee United. Fun fact: Randall was just seven when he attended the match against Bahrain that saw NZ secure their last World Cup qualification in 2009. “That was a massive moment for me, knowing that’s what I wanted to do is play football.”

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