Soccer: Familiar faces in line-up for Chile

Raf De Gregorio (left) comes in for the matches against Chile. Picture / Dean Purcell

All Whites soccer coach Ricki Herbert has drafted five familiar faces into his 19-man squad to play Chile and could yet rush Fulham teenager Chris James into the whistlestop tour.

Fullbacks David Mulligan and Tony Lochhead, central defender Che Bunce and midfielders Raf De Gregorio and Kris Bouckenooghe come in for the friendly internationals in Chile on April 25 and 27 after missing February's series win over Malaysia.

Herbert has left one place open with James and Hibernian striker Chris Killen among the frontrunners to fill the vacancy.

Killen is under an injury cloud after being sidelined from the Scottish premier league with a foot complaint and New Zealand Soccer are hopeful of gaining an international clearance for James shortly.

The New Zealand-born 18-year-old has played 31 age-group internationals for England but recently pledged his allegiance to the All Whites.

"We've sent the last piece of correspondence to Fifa so we're just waiting for conformation. We're hopeful of a favourable outcome but it might not happen - there are no guarantees at this stage," Herbert said of James.

"I've also been in contact with Chris Killen's manager at Hibernian and we're monitoring the injury, so hopefully we'll get one of two. But we've also got contingencies in place if neither is available."

Mulligan, Lochhead and Bunce last played for New Zealand during June's 1-0 loss to Australia in London, Herbert's first international in charge.

De Gregorio is recalled after missing the two Malaysia matches through injury. The Wellington midfielder's last international was New Zealand's 2-0 win over Fiji at the 2004 Oceania Nations Cup in Adelaide.

Bouckenooghe's last All Whites cap came as a substitute during New Zealand's 3-0 loss to Iran in the OFC-AFC Challenge Trophy match in Tehran in October 2003.

Playing in Belgium for KSV Roeselare, Bouckenooghe was forced to miss the Malaysian series after his wife had a car accident just before his scheduled departure for New Zealand.

Herbert has retained 14 of the 21 players who were part of New Zealand's 1-0 and 2-1 wins over Malaysia in Christchurch and Albany respectively, including Sydney FC-bound striker Jeremy Brockie and new Perth Glory signing Leo Bertos.

However, he knows the two matches in three days against Chile in Rancagua and Calera, near Santiago, will be a significant step up for his rebuilding All Whites.

"We're under no illusions how tough it's going to be playing in South America against a team that aren't intimidated playing against Brazil or Argentina or Paraguay," Herbert said.

Danny Hay retains the captaincy while New Zealand's goalscorers against Malaysia - Old in Christchurch and Campbell Banks and Andrew Barron in Albany - also return.

Not considered were the injured trio of Adrian Webster (Darlington), Brent Fisher (Bodens/Sweden) and Jarrod Smith (University of West Virginia) while Knights defender Cole Tinkler and NZFC players Jeff Fleming, Andrew Boyens, James Pritchett and Cole Tinkler were overlooked.

Webster recently had surgery on an ankle injury.


NZ squad
Glen Moss (NZ Knights), David Mulligan (Doncaster Rovers), Tony Lochhead (New England Revolution/USA), Tim Brown (Richmond Kickers), Danny Hay (Perth Glory), Che Bunce (Waikato FC), Leo Bertos (Worksop Town), Jeremy Christie (Perth Glory), Vaughan Coveny (South Melbourne), Shane Smeltz (AFC Wimbledon), Noah Hickey (NZ Knights), Jeremy Brockie (Canterbury United), Raf De Gregorio (Team Wellington) Campbell Banks (YoungHeart Manawatu), Steven Old (St Johns University), Andrew Barron (Canterbury United), Kris Bouckenooghe (KSV Roeselare), Ross Nicholson (Auckland City), one to be added.


- NZPA