Soccer: Herbert hints at change of formation

Chris Wood of the All Whites celebrates after scoring a goal during the international friendly match between the New Zealand All Whites and Jamaica. Photo / Getty Images.

He's sticking with it for now but All Whites coach Ricki Herbert has signalled he might be about to switch from his favoured 3-4-3 formation to a more conventional 4-4-2 for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers in the Solomon Islands.

He will roll out a 3-4-3 against El Salvador tomorrow, handing a debut to Auckland City's Ian Hogg on the left flank in place of Tony Lochhead who is on his honeymoon, but is eyeing a switch to a back four for Sunday's game against Honduras and the qualifiers that start in the Solomon Islands on June 1.

Herbert first plumped for a back three for the first leg of the high-stakes playoff against Bahrain in Manama in 2009 and has largely stuck with it it since because of a dearth of options at right-back. He is still short of a right fullback and would need to employ someone like Ben Sigmund or Michael Boxall to fill in there.

He's tried David Mulligan, Jeremy Christie, James Pritchett, Aaron Scott, Sigmund and Andy Boyens over the past four years without much success and there were thoughts striker Jeremy Brockie could be converted into a right-back after his decent showing at left-back in the 3-0 defeat to Australia last year.

"We looked at playing Ben Sigmund at right-back [against El Salvador]," Herbert said today. "It's just really time. Ben picked up an injury in the [Phoenix's] final [A-League] game against Perth and has had very limited training.

"I just felt a fullback position, the workload might be a little greater [than centre-back]. He's probably more settled playing in a back three at this stage. But we might look to play with with a back four against Honduras."

It could also precipitate a change up front. Herbert has normally employed a front three since that Bahrain game but said they were looking at doing things differently.

"We may play with twin strikers in the Nations Cup and you might see that in the second game against Honduras," he said.

It would constitute a significant change from the past three years. A 3-4-3, while effective, was based more around making sure the best 11 players were on the park than any belief in the system. After all, the Phoenix don't play that way.

Now there is more depth emerging and the next few weeks should highlight that even further.

Uncapped players Hogg (22), Tim Payne (18), Cameron Howieson (17) and Adam McGeorge (23) join Chris Wood, Marco Rojas, Kosta Barbarouses, Brockie, Dan Keat, Tommy Smith, Winston Reid, Boxall and Jake Gleeson who are all under 25.

Part of that is circumstances - he is without Ryan Nelsen, Simon Elliott and Craig Henderson because of injury and Winston Reid (West Ham), Chris Killen (Chongqing), Lochhead (honeymoon) and Rory Fallon (pursuing coaching badges) until the qualifiers - but he also needs to plan for the future. Keat (LA Galaxy) should be available to play Honduras.

"There are some pretty bright prospects for the future and we might throw them in the deep end a little tomorrow night and expose them," Herbert said. "I think it will be good for them in the long run.

"Tomorrow night is going to be a tough ask for us but I like that. We had those challenges in 2005 and 2006 and we ended up providing a pretty good team and I feel we can do the same in the next couple of years as well with this group."

El Salvador are ranked 49th in the world to New Zealand's 130 and third in Concacaf behind Mexico and the US and have won seven of their last eight including a 2-1 defeat of Venezuela.

Likely New Zealand side to play El Salvador (3-4-3): Paston; Boxall, Sigmund, Smith; Bertos, Vicelich, McGlinchey, Hogg; Rojas, Smeltz, Barbarouses. Reserves: Moss, Gleeson, Brockie, Clapham, Howieson, Payne, McGeorge, Wood.