Soccer: Hopes rising for Japan test

The All Whites' next World Cup campaign looks set to start with an away game against Japan in March.

Coach Ricki Herbert has talked about next year being the start of their road to Brazil in 2014 and a fixture against Japan would be a worthy way to begin.

Oceania's World Cup qualification path was due to be announced last month, and was expected to be the same as last time with the Oceania winner playing against the fifth-best Asian country.

That has been delayed until the New Year because of Fifa's investigation into allegations of bribery around the 2018 and 2022 World Cup votes.

Herbert wants to play Asian and Middle Eastern opposition regularly to prepare his side should they, as expected, win Oceania qualifying.

Japan are presently ranked 30th in the world and made the last 16 in the World Cup before being bundled out by Paraguay on penalties.

They beat Cameroon (1-0) and Denmark (3-1) but went down to eventual finalists the Netherlands (1-0) in the group stages.

Japan has played in the last four World Cups and also won the last three editions of the Asian Cup. Their dominance in Asia is coming under threat from Australia, who switched to the confederation from Oceania in 2006. Australia are the top-ranked nation in Asia at 21.

New Zealand Football has said it wants to play between four and seven friendly matches annually. They are due to play four Confederations Cup qualifiers in 2011 (two home, two away) and are chasing three friendly matches, including one "marquee" home fixture.

NZF hope to announce confirmation of a match in the next fortnight.

"We are in talks with two Asian countries about the March window," NZF chief executive Michael Glading confirmed. "Japan is our first preference.

"We have a very good relationship and have been in talks for some time. We even looked at bringing them down for the home games in October.

"We already have one eye on the 2014 World Cup. Unfortunately the decision on qualification has been delayed but if we assume we are going through Asia then we will be looking to play as many games against Asian sides between now and 2013."

Japan would be a good opponent not only because of its status as one of Asia's best sides. NZF would make a small profit because they can now command a decent match fee and logistically it would be easier for New Zealand players to assemble there because most could get direct flights.

The March 26-30 time frame is a double window but the All Whites are looking to play only one game. The travel involved and timing of the second match is arduous for the players. Many, including skipper Ryan Nelsen, are already under pressure from their club sides to limit time away.

Both nations have given assurances they would assemble their strongest sides. NZF has a policy of picking its best squad for games against countries ranked higher than them - the All Whites are presently at 51 - but will look to give others a chance in games against nations ranked about the same or below them.

New Zealand has played Japan twice - winning 1-0 in a friendly in Kuala Lumpur in 1981 but losing 3-0 at the 2003 Confederations Cup in France.