Soccer: All Whites to play Serbia and Slovenia

Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic is Serbia’s highest profile player. Photo / Getty Images

Ricki Herbert believes the All Whites' World Cup campaign is building perfectly, with confirmation they will play Serbia and Slovenia days before heading to South Africa.

The All Whites have so far secured three games against fellow World Cup finalists, with the first a friendly against Mexico, currently ranked 17th in the world, in Los Angeles on March 3.

Although a date and venue for the match against Serbia have yet to confirmed, both nations have agreed to meet while in Austria during high altitude training at the end of May.

The other international will be played in the Slovenian city of Maribor on June 4. The All Whites will then head to South Africa, where they hope to play once more before their first pool match against Slovakia in Rustenburg on June 16 (NZT). This could be a behind-closed-doors training game, with Herbert content with the level of opposition already secured.

NZF chased European opposition with similar playing styles to Slovakia and, to a lesser extent, Italy.

Slovenia finished second behind Slovakia in their World Cup qualification group and then beat Russia in a two-legged playoff. Herbert hopes to quiz his Slovenian opposite to gain information about Slovakia.

"I think it's great," Herbert said of the fixtures. "The two games, I'm not sure we could have got better.

"When you throw the deck of the cards out, sometimes not many come back. Sometimes it's a case of what you can get. I think we are lucky in the quality we have secured.

"We have probably pitched games pretty high but that's what we are going into at the World Cup. The preparation is going to be tough and demanding but I think we are going to need it."

The All Whites will be based at altitude in Austria for up to two weeks before heading to the Republic. They will play all three World Cup pool matches on the high veldt.

The team's sports scientist Kenny McMillan was in Austria this weekend looking at four potential training bases and will report back to NZF with his findings early this week.

The length of their stay in Austria could depend on whether they secure a match at home in mid-May. NZF are talking to a raft of countries and agents, with World Cup-bound Honduras among them, but are still some way from confirming a match. Both Colombia and Venezuela have been ruled out.

If they can't secure a game, NZF could look to fit in another while the team are in Austria and they are also looking at holding a camp in April for A-League and MLS players.

Serbia are ranked 19th in the world - the All Whites are 82 - and finished ahead of France in World Cup qualification to gain automatic entry. They have a handful of high-profile players, including Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic, Chelsea fullback Branislav Ivanovic and Inter Milan midfielder and Serbia captain Dejan Stankovic.

Slovenia's players are less well known but they were impressive in qualifying. The world's No 31-ranked side lost only two of their 10 matches and conceded just four goals.

All Whites midfielder Tim Brown said the players were excited by the games NZF had pieced together so far.

"The more games we can get against World Cup calibre opposition, the better. It could be better for us that we are playing teams like this rather than the Italys and Brazils of the world because we can expect to get a share of the games. It could build confidence within the group if we can do well."