Soccer: Bosses want coach at World Cup draw

Fans begin to celebrate before the final whistle. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The afterglow of the All Whites' victory over Bahrain is still strong, but New Zealand's soccer leaders will waste no time in planning their next moves on the road to South Africa.

After a night of celebration, the team were cheered on yesterday as they joined the Wellington Santa parade. Hundreds of wellwishers lined the streets to see the new stars.

NZ Football chairman Frank van Hattum has already held preliminary talks with Wellington Phoenix boss Terry Serepisos to try to have All Whites coach Ricki Herbert join him in South Africa for the December 4 draw.

Herbert has been juggling both roles and faces a busy time with the Phoenix pre-Christmas as they continue their run at the Hyundai A-League play-offs.

"It is important that Ricki is at the draw," said Mr van Hattum, "as there is a lot to be done once the names come out of the hat and you know where you are going to be playing.

"You have to make arrangements for accommodation and training facilities," he said.

"Once we know which teams are in our group, we can start looking at other teams as likely opposition in warm-up matches."

There is a Fifa window for international friendlies in February but it is only a short one and is unlikely to be of much use to New Zealand, as moving European-based players would be difficult and at odds with their club commitments.

"While we would obviously like to have the All Whites play again back here," said Mr van Hattum, "it might prove to be too big a hurdle to try to get the players back for such a short time, just as it could be too hard to get the Phoenix and other New Zealand-based players to Europe and back."

The NZ Football board is to meet on December 17 for what will now be a happy pre-Christmas affair.

"The board members will consider a number of papers before that," said Mr van Hattum. "We are running the game as a business. We already have a plan.

"This [the bonus of World Cup qualification] does not change a lot as we continue to work towards growing the game."

New Zealand Football chief executive Michael Glading said last week that a win would generate between US$8 million ($10.7 million) and US$10 million, but he would not say how the pot would be split.

Asked what he thought Saturday's victory would do for New Zealand football, Ricki Herbert said the windfall should be used prudently.

Speaking after the victory on Saturday night, Herbert said he hoped the money would be used to promote the game better than it had been in 1982, when the All Whites last made it to the World Cup finals.

"They'd better spend the money bloody right," said Herbert who, like his players, stands to benefit.

"We've waited 27 years to resurrect something that's incredibly important to all of us, incredibly important to players, to the public, to the kids."

The All Whites' victory means demand is likely to be high for a limited-edition coin which has been minted to mark the 2010 World Cup.

The legal-tender coin, which is silver, has been released by New Zealand Post with official backing from football's global authority, Fifa.

Fifteen hundred of the coins will be available in New Zealand with official NZ Post packaging, including a leatherette presentation case and authentication booklet.

They will be available for $99.50 on November 30.

ALL WHITE AND BLUE

Ricki Herbert's interview captured the spirit - and the colourful circumstances - surrounding the team's victory in Wellington. After declaring himself speechless, the All Whites manager's language turned rather blue.

Harry Ngata: How does this feel?

Ricki Herbert: I'm absolutely speechless, H [Harry]. This group behind me, they've given it absolutely everything. Four years of total commitment.

I said if I could see you on the f***ing pitch, when you win this game; I didn't see it in Singapore being on the pitch, but ah ...

Mate, that's an incredible group, we're back, mate, we're there, mate, South Afri-CA!

HN: What was going through your mind when they were awarded the penalty?

RH: Oh, we'd done a little bit of homework and Pasty's [Mark Paston] pulled it out of the top drawer. We'd got the right way for him, and he's done the big one for us. We thought we'd go through without conceding a goal, we thought one would do it. Mate, we're there, we're there.

HN: And Rory's got one for his dad?

RH: Oh mate. F***. I [saw] Kevin before the game, mate. He's so emotional. I'll be out with him on the drink tonight.

WHERE TO NEXT

* World Cup draw December 4
* NZ Football meet December 17
* Next friendly February 2010
* World Cup beginsJune 11, 2010