Soccer: U23 squad to face real test against Saudi team

Coach Neil Emblen has named a strong under-23 squad for next Monday's one-off game with the Saudi Arabia national side in Melbourne.

The players were in camp in Auckland last week and Emblen has spread the net wide in naming his home-based team for the match at Lakeside Stadium. Three days later, the team will play as New Zealand A in a second game against the Frank Rijkaard-coached Saudis at the same ground.

Aaron Clapham, David Mulligan, Cole Peverley and Ivan Vicelich from Ricki Herbert's extended All Whites squad will be added to the under-23 squad for the second match, which will still be an important part of the team's preparation for the Oceania Olympic qualifying tournament in Taupo from March 16 to 25.

The winner of that tournament, originally scheduled for Fiji, will represent Oceania at the London Olympics.

Five of the eight ASB Premiership teams are represented in the under-23 squad, made up almost entirely of New Zealand-based players.

The matches against Saudi Arabia will be real tests as they will be preparing to play Australia in a 2014 World Cup qualifier on February 29 - the same day the All Whites play Jamaica at Mt Smart Stadium.

The presence of Vicelich, Clapham, Mulligan and Peverley for the second game will add vital experience in a squad which is without star under-23 players Chris Wood, Tommy Smith, Marco Rojas, Kosta Barbarouses and Jake Gleeson.

"Those guys will be back in the Fifa window when the All Whites play Jamaica, but having any of them for the qualifiers is an outside chance at best due to club commitments," said Emblen who will have former All Whites captain Chris Zoricich as his assistant in Melbourne and Taupo.

"We need to learn how to play without [the overseas-based players] and games like this will certainly expose our local players to a level of football they haven't experienced before."

NZ UNDER-23

Goalkeepers: Scott Basalaj, Rhyss Keane.

Defenders: Michael Eager, Michael Kramer, James Musa, Tim Myers, Tristan Prattley.

Midfielders: Alex Feneridis, Jason Hicks, Cameron Lindsay, Adam McGeorge, Daniel Saric, Adam Thomas.

Strikers: Louis Fenton, Ethan Galbraith, Sean Lovemore, Dakota Luca