Soccer: Rule change revives dream for Fallon

The King Abdullah Stadium in Amman, Jordan, is a far cry from a wet and chilly Mairangi Bay Park but early tomorrow morning Rory Fallon has his chance to bridge a gap he had all but given up on.

Those regular sessions with his father Kevin and a handful of other soccer-mad kids in his days on Auckland's North Shore are about to pay a huge dividend.

Fallon will run out with his All Whites teammates to start against Jordan in their last hit-out before the serious business of World Cup qualifying next month.

He has been handed his chance following the late withdrawals of Chris Killen and Chris Wood who would have been favoured to join Shane Smeltz at the sharp end of a 4-4-2 formation.

It is one Fallon intends to give his all.

Adopting the "one game at a time" philosophy, Fallon, 27, is not getting too far ahead of himself but is clearly determined to make the most of the opportunity.

For a long time he seemed destined to stay in the international wilderness after having that door slammed on him following his decision to make himself available and subsequently play for England at schoolboy level.

Now, with a change in Fifa rules, he has been given a late call-up.

"I had written off any World Cup dream," said Fallon from Jordan yesterday. "Now the Fifa rule change is a massive blessing. This is probably our best chance to get to a World Cup. The World Cup is the pinnacle of any player's career. It would be a great honour."

While he has yet to confirm his starting XI for tomorrow's game, coach Ricki Herbert said Fallon will start up front taking a role just ahead of in-form Smeltz in the All Whites attack.

"Rory and Michael McGlinchey will definitely start," said Herbert. "We will settle on the rest of the team after a training session later this morning."

Captain Ryan Nelsen is another certain starter but Herbert must decide his defensive make-up alongside the returning Nelsen, who missed the Confederations Cup and the early weeks of the English Premier League through injury.

THE SQUAD
* Jordan v New Zealand
* King Abdullah Stadium, Amman
* Tomorrow 7am (NZ time). Live SS3
* New Zealand (likely): Mark Paston, Ben Sigmund, Ryan Nelsen (c), Ivan Vicelich, Tong Lochhead, Leo Bertos, Simon Elliott, Tim Brown, Michael McGlinchey, Rory Fallon, Shane Smeltz.