Soccer: Change of keeper for final outing

All Whites goalkeeper for the early Confederations Cup matches, Glen Moss. Photo / AP

The All Whites have consistently said the World Cup playoff is the target this year and it's for that reason Mark Paston will be handed the goalkeeping gloves for Sunday morning's (NZT) final match at the Confederations Cup.

The Wellington Phoenix keeper has had to be content with a spot on the bench for New Zealand's opening two matches against Spain and South Africa. Goalkeepers are often edgy characters but the wait for the 32-year-old at this tournament appears to be over.

It's not that Glen Moss is out of form. Seven goals in two matches might suggest that but he has been arguably the All Whites' best player on tour and made a series of exceptional saves to restrict Bafana Bafana to just two goals on Thursday morning.

Moss, though, has the not-so-insignificant matter of a four-match suspension hanging over him for swearing at a referee during New Zealand's 2-0 World Cup qualifying defeat to Fiji last year, meaning he will miss the World Cup playoff against either Bahrain or Saudi Arabia and, should they qualify, the first two games of next year's World Cup.

All Whites coach Ricki Herbert isn't laden with talent like some of the other teams at the Confederations Cup but goalkeeper is one area he is well served and Paston should slot in seamlessly against Iraq.

He is likely to be one of a handful of changes, with Herbert mulling over his defensive line in particular. Centre back Ben Sigmund is another who is likely to start.

"I have heard there might be a change [at goalkeeper] but until I'm told I won't assume anything," Paston says. "It doesn't make much difference to me.

"Glen and I are pretty close so I always prepare like I'm going to play. If you don't play then you have to deal with it at the time. That's my motto. I go to training and expect I'm going to play the next day.

"It's hard [when you don't get picked]. These are the tournaments you want to play in. They don't come about very often but you have to deal with it. As a professional you get setbacks but you have to get on with it."

The All Whites have had plenty of stumbling blocks over the past week.

They went into the tournament with hope of creating history by claiming their first point by a senior men's team at a Fifa tournament but haven't come close after two crushing defeats to Spain and South Africa. Iraq is their last chance for 2009.

In many ways, the defeat to South Africa was the most disappointing because the players felt they were a chance against a home side under enormous pressure to succeed.

"It was," Paston agrees. "We realise last night we didn't play well enough. We looked ragged at the end. We are a better team than that and that's the disappointing thing. You don't get many chances at tournaments like this and you want to play as well as you can.

"We have found it pretty hard. The Spanish are the best in the world. I don't think we played as well as we could but they are a quality team and we didn't spot any weaknesses. Last night was a tough day at the office. It was pretty obvious."

There were many who thought Paston should have been the one in the firing line because of the fact Moss will miss the playoff.

There are others, though, who believe Herbert should pick his No 1 goalkeeper regardless and Paston, now that Moss has left the Phoenix for A-League rivals Melbourne, will have plenty of gametime before the playoff anyway.

"Because there's a huge gap between the two [tournaments] it's not going to make a huge difference but it would be nice to get out there and play against a quality team on a big stage," Paston says. "That sort of thing helps with the preparation. It's almost like money in the bank for later on.

"But I just wanted to play in this tournament. It's a big tournament in its own right and you play some amazing teams.

"We want a good result against Iraq. We have had it pretty tough in the first two games but there's no reason why we can't go out there and get a good result. Iraq are a quality team, they showed that [in their 1-0 defeat] against Spain. Technically they are very good, pretty quick and we will have to deal with that. We will have to be well organised and play better than we did against South Africa."