Soccer: Dugdale decides on more height in defence

By Terry Maddaford

GUADALAJARA - New Zealand soccer coach Ken Dugdale has made two changes - one for other than footballing reasons - for this morning's vital Confederations Cup clash with Germany.

Goalkeeper Michael Utting has been dropped for disciplinary reasons. He will be joined on the substitutes' bench by South Melbourne striker Vaughn Coveny, who has lost his place because of both a fall-off in form and a need for positional changes.

United States-based Ryan Nelsen joins Sean Douglas and Ivan Vicelich in a three-man defence, while in a 3-5-2 formation, Mark Burton will play alongside Kris Bouckenooghe up front.

"There were no tough decisions in naming the side," Dugdale said after training yesterday. "We have gone with this formation because the players were not comfortable with 4-4-2 and because we felt there was a need to get the extra height in the defence against the tall German strikers.

"Once we agreed to go with an extra defender, one of the attackers obviously had to go.

"We will be looking for Kris and Mark to do their share of defensive work as well as their attacking role just as Chris Zoricich and Arran Lines on the flanks will be encouraged to get forward and to get back."

Victory for New Zealand, who are ranked outside the world's top 100, against the fifth-ranked Germans remains a longshot.

The All Whites, encouraged by their result against the United States, a 1-2 loss, are expecting a backlash from a German side smarting at their biggest international defeat, 4-0 by Brazil in their first match.

The Germans are almost paranoid about the match. Defeat would be a disaster and end their tournament hopes.

They feel that if they cannot get early superiority, they might struggle against a better acclimatised New Zealand side capable of lasting the 90 minutes better.

The New Zealanders will play in white and black and the Germans in green. The match kicks off at 11am (NZ time) and will be followed by the United States against Brazil.

New Zealand: Jason Batty, Ryan Nelsen, Sean Douglas, Ivan Vicelich, Chris Zoricich (captain), Gavin Wilkinson, Mark Atkinson, Chris Jackson, Arran Lines, Mark Burton, Kris Bouckenooghe.

Substitutes: Michael Utting, Ross Nocholson, Che Bunce, Scott Smith, Jonathan Perry, Harry Ngata, Mark Elrick, Vaughn Coveny, Paul Urlovic.