Soccer: Herbert still chasing Lochhead

All Whites coach Ricki Herbert still sees Tauranga's Tony Lochhead as playing a big role in New Zealand's qualifiers for the next soccer World Cup.

But the 24-year-old United States-based defender first needs to get his Major League club onto Herbert's wavelength to avoid a repeat of the international tug-of-war that snagged him earlier this year.

Herbert is still incensed Lochhead's American club New England Revolution refused to release him for New Zealand's soccer tour of Europe in May, where he missed the All Whites' internationals against Hungary, Georgia, Estonia and Brazil.

"I publicly stated then that I was disappointed Tony had been put in that position by his US club and I stand by that.

"It's been incredibly difficult getting Tony involved, through no fault of his own. He was denied a chance to front against Brazil, the best team in the world at the time."

Herbert has been in Tauranga passing on his expertise to coaches sitting their advanced junior coaching certificate.

He tried to broker a deal with Revolution that would have seen Lochhead play the Estonia and Brazil matches, missing just one club game.

He hoped Boston-based New England would release Lochhead after Herbert let him bypass New Zealand's 2-0 series win over Malaysia in February. But Boston told Herbert they had too many injuries to release the defender.

"Because the games weren't in Fifa's (international) window (giving him the right to pick any player he wanted) they didn't have to release Tony.

"I still find it hard to accept the difficulty we had including him."

Lochhead was released for August's matches against English premier league clubs Charlton Athletic and Blackburn Rovers and Spanish UEFA Cup holders FC Sevilla.

Lochhead, who played under Herbert in the 2004 Olympic campaign, was a vital cog in the All Whites for next year's World Cup qualifiers _ the only time Herbert is likely to get his best team on the pitch.

"Tony's a great guy and has a huge future with the national team while I'm involved. He's integral to any World Cup campaign and, whenever he pulls on the New Zealand shirt he's never failed to do a top job for us.

"If I was collating a squad today to play in the qualifiers he'd make my top 25, no question."

Herbert's next task is naming a squad for two home matches against Tahiti in February, although even those matches might have a makeshift look about them as only one will be played in a designated Fifa window.

English premier league players Ryan Nelsen and Simon Elliott have not, through injury or unavailability, pulled on the national shirt in any of the All Whites' 11 games this year.

"The last time we went to Europe I had 17 players unavailable.

"While the year's been great in terms of getting back some visibility and transparency for the All Whites, sooner or later we'll have to get our the best players on the park."

Another former Tauranga player, Kris Bouckenooghe, also impressed Herbert on the side's tour of Chile in April and the internationals in Europe, which included a start against Brazil.

"Kris is a guy I initially didn't look at, mainly because he'd been part of the setup for a long time and I pretty much knew what he was capable of doing.

"But, after reviewing where we were at, he got his chance and did extremely well for us playing out of position at fullback on either side of the park.

"He'll be a guy we're likely to see more of."

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES