Soccer: All Whites stick with tried and tested for transtasman clash

Ricki Herbert. Photo / Brett Phibbs

All Whites coach Ricki Herbert last night kept faith in the players who sealed victory in the World Cup playoffs, naming all 11 who took the field against Bahrain in Wellington for tonight's friendly against Australia.

It is the clearest indication yet that the 3-4-3 formation used against Bahrain will be tried in South Africa.

With his full squad available on the bench, Herbert is likely to give game time to recent arrivals Winston Reid and Tommy Smith.

The squad's bolter, Aaron Clapham, may also feature after the kickoff.

At a press conference in Melbourne yesterday, Herbert and Australia's Dutch-born coach, Pim Verbeek, both said the focus of tonight's match would be on settling in combinations.

The coaches called for more transtasman matches to build a rivalry. But in their preparations for tonight, they identified Slovakia and Germany as the real enemies.

While the All Whites build toward their opening Group-F match against Slovakia, Australia will have an eye on their preparations for their tournament opener against the Germans.

"In the context of both of us going to the World Cup, it's a really fitting opportunity for the nations to come together," Herbert said.

Victory against a side ranked 58 places higher would be a boost, but Herbert said the focus would be on fine tuning combinations.

New Zealand has not played since confirming their cup place with a 1-0 defeat of Bahrain on November 14.

"There'll be mistakes [against Australia] and we can work on those as we lead towards the World Cup," he said. "If we take a few hits along the way, we can deal with that. We want to be right by Slovakia [on June 15]."

Captain Ryan Nelsen agreed the match was part of a grander plan. "It's the first stage of a really important five weeks. The quality of performance is most important for us."

Verbeek, had similar expectations.

"The training sessions we've had are as important as the game. I don't expect them to be at their best now. I expect them to be at their best when they play Germany [June 14]."

Australia have been weakened by the unavailability of strikers Harry Kewell and Josh Kennedy (groin).

Teams:

Australia (likely): Adam Federici, Luke Wilkshire, Lucas Neill (c), Craig Moore, David Carney, Jason Culina, Vince Grella, Brett Emerton, Mark Breschiano, Tim Cahill, Scott McDonald.

New Zealand: Mark Paston, Ivan Vicelich, Ryan Nelsen (c), Ben Sigmund, Tim Brown, Simon Elliott, Leo Bertos, Tony Lochhead, Shane Smeltz, Chris Killen, Rory Fallon.


- NZPA