The All Whites have secured a friendly with China in Shanghai on November 14 as they build up for their final push at a place at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
New Zealand Football will announce the fixture tomorrow morning, which fits into a Fifa international window. It means coach All Whites coach Ricki Herbert is entitled to call up his strongest squad and, with limited opportunities to get the players together, might do this.
He might also choose, however, to allow the likes of Ryan Nelsen and Winston Reid, who both play in the English Premier League, to miss the match.
Herbert was last week criticised by West Ham boss Sam Allardyce for flying Reid to New Zealand and Tahiti for the two World Cup matches against Tahiti even though he was injured. Reid didn't play.
A game against China would be the second between the two sides in two years - they drew 1-1 in Wuhan in March last year - and both countries hope to play each other more often. Last year's game was the first between the men's sides in more than a decade.
