Soccer: Auckland pair called up for All Whites

Paul Urlovic. Sandra Mu / Getty Images

Veteran striker Paul Urlovic and rookie fullback James Pritchett have been drafted into the All Whites' whistlestop tour of Chile.

The Auckland City duo are 11th hour replacements for Canterbury United players Jeremy Brockie and Andy Barron who were injured in Saturday's New Zealand Football Championship final.

Urlovic and Pritchett were scheduled to join goalkeeper Ross Nicholson -- a hero of Auckland's NZFC penalty shootout win over Canterbury -- on a direct flight to Santiago today ahead of the friendlies against Chile on Wednesday and Friday NZ time.

Brockie hobbled out of the domestic decider with an ankle injury at halftime while Barron faces a month off after suffering a knee injury.

The last of Urlovic's 29 caps came against the Solomon Islands at the 2002 Oceania Nations Cup in Auckland while Pritchett made his All Whites debut in the second match against Malaysia, a 2-1 win at North Harbour Stadium on February 23.

Urlovic largely played second fiddle to South African marksmen Keryn Jordan and Grant Young during Auckland's successful NZFC defence and was an 84th minute substitute for Young on Saturday's final.

However, he still managed eight goals for Auckland and could come into calculations for Wednesday's match at the 25,000-seater Estadio El Teniente in Rancagua, just outside Santiago.

Hibernian striker Chris Killen is unavailable due to a foot injury while first choice striker Vaughan Coveny isn't due into Chile from Melbourne until just before kickoff.

All Whites coach Ricki Herbert admitted the loss of Brockie and Barron is a blow and has added to New Zealand's disrupted buildup to the Chile matches.

Herbert has had to make do with just 13 players for New Zealand's first four training sessions in Santiago with US-based defender Steve Old due to arrive in Chile about the same time as Urlovic, Pritchett and Nicholson tomorrow.

"Andy and Jeremy did exceptionally well against Malaysia and it's just a shame we can't take them up to the next level -- it's a big experience loss for them," Herbert told the New Zealand Soccer website.

"It's made it very hard having only 13 here but the guys that are here have been fantastic -- we're not complaining."

The All Whites players and management already assembled in Santiago attended a premier division match between Chile giants Colo Colo and Universidad Catolica earlier today.

The All Whites have also been invited to train under lights at the national stadium in Santiago tomorrow by Colo Colo who are sharing the same hotel as New Zealand.

- NZPA