KEY POINTS:
Ricki Herbert has been handed the mother of all hospital passes in having to yet again put out a below-strength All Whites team against Wales in Wrexham on Sunday.
In a shock late call, New Zealand Football yesterday canned the second match of the tour against Ukraine -
scheduled for June 7 - saying players were not available - because of the 11-day gap between matches.
That decision left the Welsh game as the only survivor of what had originally been planned as a three-match venture.
Why not now go the whole hog and cancel the lot rather than assemble 17 players and haul six staff to Wales (where they will be joined by assistant coach Brian Turner, in Europe on business) for what promises to be a pointless encounter of the worst kind?
It was always going to be difficult to get matches in this Fifa window given European end-of-season player demands and Euro 2008 qualifiers. That has now proved so.
NZF chief executive Graham Seatter, who left with Herbert and home-based players yesterday and will also attend a Fifa congress, tagged the decision to call off the match in Kiev as "regrettable" but unavoidable.
He also admitted the game(s) "haven't come at a good time".
Herbert returned from the two-match Central/South American tour in March berating his players after 4-0 and 5-0 losses to Costa Rica and Venezuela citing their lack of match fitness as a reason for the dismal showings.
That position is certainly no better now with most of the players who will line up against the world-ranked 76th nation without any recent decent football and facing the real possibility of an even worse result.
Herbert has, commendably, pushed for international exposure for the All Whites but, for whatever reason, has yet to put out what he calls a "full-strength" national side.
It is time for the pussy-footing to stop. The game's credibility demands that.
If the best players, and it has to be admitted our pool of those of a truly acceptable international standard probably numbers no more than six, aren't available - for whatever reason - games against countries ranked in the top dozen [Ukraine] should not even be contemplated.
The focus this year is the Oceania World Cup qualifiers late in the year. By then, we are assured, all players will be available and keen to play. Before that Herbert needs to have a look at players like Ryan Nelsen, Simon Elliott and others who have forgotten when they last pulled on an All Whites shirt.
There can be no more excuses.
New Zealand soccer is under the spotlight.
As top dog in the Oceania Confederation, they carry a huge responsibility on to the world stage.
Fifa are supposedly looking for any excuse to cast the OFC adrift forcing the 11 Pacific nations to follow Australia into Asia. Below par showings at any level will only strengthen Fifa's resolve.
New Zealand teams will come under scrutiny in a variety of tournaments in forthcoming months/years. They will be judged on the field.
Off the field, the national body is under similar pressure.
Decisions to call off matches like this will do nothing for their credibility and make it even more difficult when they go "shopping".