Soccer: No honeymoon for Killen

Chris Killen didn't have long to get used to being a married man, setting off overseas to rejoin the All Whites for their soccer World Cup campaign just days after tying the knot.

Striker Killen missed the All Whites' memorable game against Serbia on Sunday, which they won 1-0, to get married in the UK, but has rejoined the squad in Austria and resumed training.

The wedding went well, but his new wife was not entirely happy about missing their honeymoon.

"It was a great day. Obviously it would have been nice to go straight on a honeymoon afterwards, the missus would have been a bit happy with that.

"She know's it's important for myself and my career, that the World Cup is the focus now, so we've put it on hold until after. As soon as we're done here we'll be off," he said.

Killen, who scored the All Whites' goal in the 2-1 loss to Australia last Monday, was impressed by his team's performance against Serbia.

"We were resolute and we could have done with that against Australia the other night," he said.

Killen, Shane Smeltz and Rory Fallon have been coach Ricki Herbert's first-choice strikers, but impressive performances by Chris Wood and Jeremy Brockie against Serbia has increased competition for World Cup starting spots, Killen said.

"Yeah, it's great, that's what we need," he said.

The All Whites' next World Cup warm-up game is against Slovenia on Saturday morning (NZT).

- NZPA