Soccer: Old in doubt for Olympic crunch match

New Zealand captain Steven Old is in doubt for tomorrow night's sudden-death Oceania Olympic qualifying soccer match against Vanuatu in Auckland.

Vanuatu need only draw the match at North Harbour Stadium to top group B and end the New Zealand under-23 team's Olympic dream prematurely.

The home side's hopes would dip if central defender Old can't recover from a hip injury he suffered last Friday against American Samoa.

It sidelined him for Sunday's match against Tonga and coach Ricki Herbert could not say if the 17-year-old would be fit to take the field for the must-win encounter.

"Not at this stage, we'll wait until close to kick-off before making a decision," Herbert told NZPA.

"He has made good progress and he did train and stretch out at 90 per cent in this morning's work so we'll just monitor it."

One of the most talented young players New Zealand has produced, the Palmerston North defender recently spent six months training at Italian club Parma's youth programme.

"Steven's a quality player, hence his responsibility within the side at his age," Herbert said.

"But other players get an opportunity if he's not going to be there."

New Zealand and Vanuatu have both won three games but Vanuatu have the advantage due to superior goal differential.

Herbert said the fact his side needed to win would not alter their approach.

"We set out at the start of the campaign to win our first three games, we've done that and we thought Vanuatu would do the same so it's no surprise," he said.

"This is just another game that we need to win, we don't perceive that we need to do things any differently.

"If we're serious about moving forward to the next challenge, then you'd want to be able to win the match."

He had watched Vanuatu's three games closely but believed the weak nature of their pool opposition meant it was hard to gauge their ability.

" Will they do things differently tactically and will be they under a little more pressure from us. One would suggest that they will be," he said.

"We've looked at who we think are some key players for them and at the way we think they'll play."

The New Zealanders trained in heavy conditions today but clearing weather and a sandy surface at North Harbour Stadium meant ground conditions should firm enough by kick-off tomorrow (7.30pm).

The last time the two countries met, the full All Whites team beat Vanuatu 3-0 in the semifinals of the Oceania Nations Cup tournament at Auckland 18 months ago.

Across the Tasman, group A favourites Australia also face a crucial one-off match tomorrow night, against Fiji. Both sides have won all three of their matches.

However, Australia's goal difference is better than the Fijians, meaning they only need draw their match at Sydney to top the pool.

If they do, Australia will host the group B winners on Monday in the first match of the two-leg Oceania final. The second leg will be in either New Zealand or Vanuatu the following Friday.

- NZPA