Soccer: Preferred side settled as Herbert sets agenda

Ricki Herbert. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Ricki Herbert has revealed his preferred combination for the start of the World Cup finals and an understandable nervousness over his top line-up receiving injuries.

Apart from one change - the re-introduction of Chris Killen - Herbert has retained the team that beat Serbia for tomorrow morning's match against Slovenia in the remote location of Maribor.

Young defenders Winston Reid and Tommy Smith, who have been poised enough in defence and shown their superior ability with the ball, have kept starting spots ahead of Ben Sigmund and Ivan Vicelich.

In the only change from the team that beat Serbia, Killen, back from his wedding, replaces fellow striker Chris Wood, the teenager whose stamina didn't appear to last too well on Sunday.

In the midfield, Jeremy Christie, a more defensive option, has been retained ahead of the livewire and more creative Michael McGlinchey, who was not considered against Serbia because of a hamstring strain.

There has always been the feeling that Herbert prefers to use McGlinchey as an attacking second half option.

By keeping this combination together, Herbert has signalled that this is his best side available.

Herbert made only one substitution last week, replacing Wood with Jeremy Brockie, but the coach said it will be a different story in Maribor where he will make more changes, and early, to protect his leading players.

"We can't afford for people to get injured ... I don't want to risk where the players will be on June 15."

With the World Cup drawing ever so close - the All Whites' opening match is against Slovakia on June 15 - Herbert faces the tricky task of taking precautions against injury while still building combinations.

The late introduction of Reid and Smith, plus the injury to midfielder Tim Brown, has made this a trickier task.

And while Herbert's safety-almost-first policy is clearly the sensible one, given he relies on a thin veneer of quality and experienced players, it will mean sacrificing the chance to work on budding combinations.

Veteran midfielder Simon Elliott told the Herald this week that the All Whites were still failing to play out the 90 minutes, despite the acclaim generated against Australia and Serbia.

"We are reasonably happy with where we are but no one is turning cartwheels over winning our last game. We realise that it was a friendly, that the real test comes on June 15," Elliott said.

"We are keeping good positions when we don't have the ball so when we do win it, the attack tends to solve itself.

"Our strikers are very good and when we are going forward, there are three or four options, which hasn't always been the case in the past when we have tended to drift too deep.

"We were happy with the result against Serbia but I still don't feel we are a 90-minute team. Australia was good, especially in the first half, and we went a bit longer against Serbia, but hopefully we can go even longer against Slovenia.

"I hope by the time we hit the World Cup we are a 90-minute team."

He said the need to build up a good understanding with his new midfield partner Jeremy Christie, Brown's replacement, has played a big part in training.

"It is a wee bit of a challenge, not because of the quality of the player, but because it is someone different," he said.

"The Serbia game was a good test of that combination and we have worked hard at it this week."

The All Whites have one further warm-up match against Chile at Nelspruit but this will be more of a training exercise for the lesser lights rather than a focus on the leading players.

ALL WHITES V SLOVENIA

Maribor, Slovenia, 6.30am tomorrow live SS3

New Zealand: Mark Paston; Winston Reid, Ryan Nelsen (c), Tommy Smith; Leo Bertos, Simon Elliott, Jeremy Christie, Tony Lochhead; Shane Smeltz, Rory Fallon, Chris Killen.

TAB: All Whites are paying $8 for the win tomorrow morning. The draw is always worth considering, at $4.