Soccer: Hope fading for home game

New Zealand Football are in danger of missing out on a home game for the All Whites in October - a bad look for the national body and a blow for a game looking to maintain momentum.

NZF had trumpeted the fact they wanted to host a game in this country in the double Fifa window in mid-October as a way to keep interest high in football, as well as thank the public for their support of Ricki Herbert's side during the recent World Cup.

Talks with Paraguay reached an advanced stage but NZF are baulking at costs estimated to be in excess of $400,000 to host the South Americans, now ranked 16th in the world on the back of their quarter-final appearance in South Africa.

NZF are questioning whether they can afford to host Paraguay. But can the game here afford not to host Paraguay?

The story of what happened in 1982 and how the game failed to take advantage of unprecedented interest after New Zealand's first appearance at a World Cup has been trotted out regularly.

NZF are confident it won't happen but they also realise it will be a public relations disaster if they can't secure a home game in October.

They initially opened talks with Australia and South Africa but Australia weren't interested in playing in New Zealand - like NZF, they wanted a home game of their own. Negotiations with South Africa stalled as they searched for a new coach to replace Carlos Alberto Parreira.

NZF have talked to about 10 countries but most were ruled out because they weren't available or good enough. They want the All Whites to play a top-50 nation and Paraguay loomed as their best option.

"It's not looking particularly good at the moment," NZF chief executive Michael Glading said.

"We just haven't been able to reach a deal. We have been going backwards and forwards and we put our very best offer forward but it might not be good enough and we have now reached an impasse. If I was a betting man, I would say we won't be able to get them here. We are still working on it but it's not looking good.

"Our priority was to get a game in October and, at this point, we are running short of options. There is a danger we might not get a game and the scary thing is we have turned down a couple of away games. We still have a couple of irons in the fire but we are running out of time."

Glading said they needed to have something secured by the end of the month and he was feeling the pressure to deliver.

NZF are protective of the money banked from the World Cup. They received US$8 million for qualifying for South Africa but the players took a 40 per cent cut and management also received a bonus.

A lot of the rest was committed to their Whole of Football programme for the next four years, as well as a high performance plan.

They also invested a significant sum in the hope of providing ongoing revenue, meaning their available cash stocks aren't as plentiful as it might seem.

They are also mindful that only three years ago, they went begging to the Government for a bank loan to stave off bankruptcy and don't want to be in that position again.

But they need a game.

Paraguay appealed because they played the All Whites at the World Cup and because of their high world ranking. They are also said to be close to agreeing terms to play the Socceroos in Australia in that October double window, meaning NZF could piggyback that arrangement to play Paraguay on the second date in October.

That would reduce some costs but NZF would still have to meet the costs of both teams, hire a ground and pay Paraguay an appearance fee said to be more than US$100,000.

Total costs to NZF to play Paraguay have been estimated to be more than $400,000 and it would require a crowd of more than 20,000 and more inflated ticket prices than normal to break even.

"We are quite happy to not make any money [on this game] but we are not happy to lose money," Glading said.

"It's important to get a game here to keep the public engaged but we won't send the game broke doing it. If we can't get a home game in October, then we will definitely get one in the next window in February."

If something can't be sorted soon, Glading said they would consider playing an away game in October.