Soccer: Players will be All White for Olympic qualifiers

Neil Emblen. Photo / Dean Purcell

An international against the Australian Olympic side is on the cards as the Olympic programme looks to dovetail with the All Whites.

The New Zealand Olympic side will attempt to qualify for the London Games at the Oceania tournament in Fiji in March and, with so many All Whites still eligible for this side, New Zealand Football will use the three Fifa windows in September, October and November as preparation for the 'Olywhites' rather than All Whites.

"We will look to fill them all," NZF chief executive Grant McKavanagh said. "Asia is one possibility but we will look at Australia to see if we can get some good quality games with them. It's the lowest-cost option but we also know it's good quality. We would probably call the team New Zealand A and would like to see at least one of those games in New Zealand."

The Olympics is an under-23 competition but each side can field three "over-age" players.

Tommy Smith, Kosta Barbarouses, Marco Rojas, Winston Reid, Jake Gleeson, Michael Fitzgerald and Chris Wood were all selected for the All Whites squad who played Mexico and Australia last month and all will be eligible for the Olympics. Add in three over-age players - Ryan Nelsen, Simon Elliott and Chris Killen went to Beijing in 2008 - and it will have a significant All Whites flavour.

It's why Ricki Herbert will play a considerable role in preparing the team. He won't coach them but will be appointed as technical director. All Whites adviser Raul Blanco will also be involved.

NZF recently advertised looking for two assistant coaches and are considering 10 applicants. One will eventually be appointed head coach to take over from Herbert. Waitakere United coach Neil Emblen looms as the leading candidate. He was invited by Herbert to join the All Whites coach-ing staff for the friendlies against China, Mexico and Australia so is already familiar with the All Whites set-up.

He also won the ASB Premiership with Waitakere last season.

Others who could come into the mix are New Zealand under-20s coach Chris Milicich and under-17s coaches Aaron McFarland and Ramon Tribulietx. Stu Jacobs took the 2008 Olympic team but has fallen from favour.

Herbert already has a busy portfolio as All Whites and Wellington Phoenix coach but he's keen to be involved. He is the most qualified coach in the country. The Olympics fall in the A-League off-season.

"There will be a head coach eventually appointed out of that group [of 10 applicants], with Ricki as technical adviser," McKavanagh said. "We need to build coaches on the international stage because Ricki won't be around forever.

"There is so much crossover between the two sides [All Whites and Olywhites], we decided it was wise to run the two programmes alongside each other. But we also need a person on the ground because Ricki will be busy with the A-League."

NZF plan to hold a camp in Taupo next month when two north-south games will also be played. They will ask for regions to nominate players to ensure players they don't currently know much about aren't missed. They are also undertaking another worldwide fishing expedition to see if they can catch New Zealand-eligible players they don't presently know about.