NEW ZEALAND – ALL WHITES ON GUARD AGAINST JORDAN

While the All Whites’ friendly against Jordan is being used as a dress rehearsal for the away leg of a World Cup playoff in October, don’t expect New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert to give away all his secrets.

Herbert will balance the advantage of playing the All Whites’ final warm-up in Middle Eastern conditions, similar to what they’ll face in the away leg in Bahrain on Saudi Arabia on October 10, with the knowledge New Zealand’s potential playoff opponents will be keen to shed some light on a team that may still hold a bit of mystery for them.

“There’s always a consciousness that we are in their neck of the woods and no doubt people will be watching,” Herbert said, “so there will be some things that we keep under our hat until October, but certainly internally people will understand what we’re doing and how we going to do it.”

First priority for Herbert however, will be making sure he’s answered all the questions around combinations and selections while bedding down a system to take to either Bahrain or Saudi Arabia regardless of which players fill the positions.

“Tactically we don’t have a lot of time with just one game before the away leg so it’s important the shape and organisation resembles what we’re going to do in October.

“But there’ll be some set plays and maybe some personnel reshuffles that will keep people guessing.”

Newcomers Michael McGlinchey and Rory Fallon will make their New Zealand debuts after representing Scotland and England respectively at age-group level. Fallon would play in front of an in-form Shane Smeltz in attack while McGlinchey would get his chance to impress in midfield.

Ryan Nelsen, who missed Blackburn’s match against West Ham 10 days ago with a injured medial ligament, came through the squad’s first two trainings unscathed and looks set to lead the side again after missing June’s FIFA Confederations Cup with a calf tear.

Either Ivan Vicelich or Ben Sigmund look most likely to partner Nelsen but given Herbert played Sigmund at right fullback for the Wellington Phoenix on Friday, he may consider playing the former Cantabrian there again despite Aaron Scott and David Mulligan being the frontrunners for that role.

Missing from Thursday morning’s match will be assistant coach Brian Turner who has flown from Amman to Riyadh to watch the second leg of a playoff between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain that determines who meets Oceania champions New Zealand in October and November for a place at next year’s World Cup in South Africa.

Newly-appointed technical advisor and former Socceroos coach Raul Blanco watched the first leg in Manama, which ended 0-0, before joining the squad in Jordan.

New Zealand’s match against Jordan kicks off at 7am (NZT), 15 minutes before the match between their potential playoff opponents gets underway in Riyadh.

New Zealand v Jordan

Live on Sky Sport 3

New Zealand: (from) Mark PASTON, Jimmy BANNATYNE, Andrew BOYENS, Tony LOCHHEAD, David MULLIGAN, Ryan NELSEN (Captain), Aaron SCOTT, Ben SIGMUND, Ivan VICELICH, Andy BARRON, Leo BERTOS, Tim BROWN, Simon ELLIOTT, Michael MCGLINCHEY, Rory FALLON, Shane SMELTZ.

Courtesy of NZF Media.

Photo credit Ron Gaunt