Soccer: All Whites confirm Aussie match

The All Whites will clash with Australia for the first time in five years in Melbourne in May in what promises to be a blockbuster build-up match to the soccer World Cup in South Africa.

The friendly has been confirmed for the Melbourne Cricket Ground on May 24, and the timing means both New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert and Australian counterpart Pim Verbeek will have their top players available.

The last time the two countries met was in June 2005 when, in Herbert's first match in charge, the All Whites went down 1-0 at Craven Cottage, the London home of English Premier League club Fulham.

The lack of transtasman encounters since then led New Zealand Football chairman Frank van Hattum to joke last year that the Australians were "chicken".

Herbert was delighted that the fixture had been secured.

"Who better to play than Australia," he said today.

"New Zealand versus Australia has synergies across all sorts of sports and arouses a lot of passion for both sets of fans."

With the upcoming World Cup being the first to feature both Australia and New Zealand, Herbert said the Melbourne fixture would lift transtasman rivalry to a new level.

"It's perfect timing with both nations heading to the World Cup," he said.

"We've been following what Australia have done over the last few years and it's great to think there'll be 80,000 or 90,000 fans at the MCG to send the teams off."

The World Cup begins on June 11 with New Zealand facing Slovakia, defending champions Italy and Paraguay in their pool matches.

The All Whites' other confirmed build-up matches are against Mexico in Los Angeles on March 3, Serbia in Klagenfurt, Austria, on May 30, and Slovenia in Maribor on June 4.

Herbert is also planning to hold a camp in Auckland in late April for his Australasian-based players.

His full squad, including British-based stars like Ryan Nelsen, Chris Killen and Rory Fallon, will assemble in New Zealand in mid-May at the end of their club commitments.

After the match in Melbourne, the All Whites head to Europe and then on to South Africa.

The Socceroos played a similar farewell match at the MCG four years ago, beating against Greece 1-0 in front 95,103 fans before going to the World Cup in Germany.

Verbeek, whose squad includes the likes of skipper Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Mark Schwarzer, said the match against the All Whites would be a great warm-up for South Africa.

"They play more-or-less a European style of football and there is a nice rivalry between our two teams that goes back many years," he said.

"We are expecting a very competitive match against the All Whites and it will be a great way for us to start our pre-tournament camp."

Australia and New Zealand have met 62 times, the Socceroos winning 38 times and the All Whites 13, with 11 draws.

New Zealand's last victory was in Auckland in June 2002, when Nelsen scored the only goal to seal qualification for the Confederations Cup.

Their last success in Australia was in 1998 via a Mark Burton goal, with the All Whites also qualifying for the Confederations Cup.

NZ v Australia head to head

Played: 62
NZ wins: 13
Australia wins: 38
Draws: 11

In Australia
Played: 28
NZ wins: 6
Australia wins: 20
Draws: 2

In Melbourne
Played: 6
Australia wins: 3
NZ wins: 2
Draws: 1

- NZPA