Soccer: Wedding bells ring for Killen

Wedding vows take precedence for striker Chris Killen, who will miss the New Zealand's soccer friendly against Serbia in Austria on Sunday morning (NZT).

Killen has left the squad in St Lambrecht, Austria, travelling to England for his wedding this weekend. The nuptials have been planned for nearly a year, well before the New Zealand team qualified for the World Cup and organised their pre-campaign camp in Europe.

A team spokesman said Middlesbrough front man Killen, who scored the goal in Monday's 2-1 loss to Australia in Melbourne, would return to squad soon after the wedding and be available for the friendly against Slovenia in Maribor, Slovenia on Saturday.

Killen's absence will force coach Herbert to make at least two changes from the Melbourne match, with midfielder Tim Brown in Auckland recovering from shoulder surgery.

Herbert suggested opportunities would be created for several others in the match at Klagenfurt on Sunday as he assesses which players are ready to make the step up for the World Cup.

"We'll make some changes personnel-wise but we won't change tack on what we've thought is the right process to follow," he said.

"There'll be some new players coming in but that will be around their performances rather than anything else."

The All Whites reached the small, picturesque town 1000m above sea level which they will use as a base yesterday after more than 40 hours of travel.

They trained twice on their first full day, the first in warm, afternoon conditions but an evening session was cut short when a thunderstorm threatened.

They were to train twice again tomorrow, preferring not to visit the venue at Klagenfurt pre-match as it would involve an hour's travel each way.

Herbert sensed a mental lift from his players since landing in Europe, well away from the growing interest in the team at home.

"Psychologically we're really in that World Cup mode now. We've got teams like England and Japan preparing (in Austria) so there's a real sense that we're back on the world stage again," he said.

"It's been euphoria, even in Australia it was the same. Speaking to the staff and the players it's good to be here.

"We're on the grass doing everything that we need to do. We go into this game firmly with players' performances at the forefront."

- NZPA