KEY POINTS:
Perth-based All Whites Jeremy Christie, Leo Bertos and Adrian Webster have been handed an end-of-season bonus with their inclusion in the New Zealand A team to play two matches against Tahiti next month.
The trio are among nine All Whites named in the 20-player squad for the games
at Bill McKinlay Park on February 7 and Trusts Stadium two days later.
As the matches fall outside Fifa windows, the squad is largely drawn from New Zealand Football Championship clubs.
Bertos will take his place only if he returns from Greece, where he is to have trials with premier league club Skoda Xanthi. He and Jeremy Christie played for Perth in their 2-0 loss to the New Zealand Knights on Sunday. Webster missed that game through suspension.
Six Auckland City players and two from Team Wellington have been selected, which will mean a change of date for their NZFC fixture.
The matches against Tahiti will give All Whites coach Ricki Herbert a chance to further assess his options before naming his 25-man preparatory World Cup squad from whom the team to play away matches against Costa Rica and Venezuela in March will be named.
"The door isn't closed to our World Cup squad," said Herbert in naming the A team yesterday. "We've always maintained a side of this nature is important to support the senior team. It also allows for the development of some younger players."
Four younger players - Cole Tinkler, Jason Hayne, Sam Mathews and Daniel Ellensohn - will use the matches to press their claims for a spot in the under-23 squad to chase a place at next year's Beijing Olympics.
The Tahitians are using the matches in Auckland as part of their build-up to the South Pacific Games in Samoa in August-September.
New Zealand A
To play Tahiti on February 7 at Bill McKinlay Park and on February 9 at Trusts Stadium:
Goalkeepers: Mark Paston (NZ Knights), Jacob Spoonley (East Coast Bays).
Defenders: James Pritchett (Auckland City), Cole Tinkler (Auckland City), Ben Sigmund (Auckland City), Michael Boxall (Auckland City), Trent Watson (Manawatu), Michael Wilson (Team Wellington).
Midfield: Jason Hayne (Auckland City), Sam Mathews (Waitakere), Andy Barron (Canterbury), Ian Robinson (Manawatu), Ian Sandbrook (Manawatu), Jeremy Christie (Perth Glory), Adrian Webster (Perth Glory).
Strikers: Leo Bertos (Perth Glory), Brent Fisher (Canterbury), Paul Urlovic (Auckland City), Daniel Ellensohn (Waitakere), Costa Barbarouses (Team Wellington).
Co-coaches: Colin Tuaa, Brian Turner.