Soccer: Rufer likely to warm bench

By Terry Maddaford

The Football Kingz player-coach, Wynton Rufer, has relegated himself to the substitutes' bench for tomorrow's second-round national soccer league clash with Sydney United.

Rufer, not yet fully recovered from an Achilles tendon operation, has named himself among the 16 players who will fly to Sydney this morning but it seems likely he will hand the defensive role he took in the loss to Carlton to All White defender Che Bunce.

The squad will train in Sydney this afternoon, with Rufer expected then to name his starting line-up for the Ericsson Cup game at Sydney United Stadium (kickoff 6pm NZ time).

With the restriction of having just three players on the bench, two of the travelling party will miss out. In taking two goalkeepers, Michael Utting and Jason Batty, it seems one or other will be among those to miss out.

Batty was not part of the squad for the first game and neither was Harry Ngata, who was ruled out by injury for the Carlton game but could come into squad tomorrow.

The Kingz' management have moved quickly to clarify the position on substitutes.

They have written to all Australian league clubs seeking their support in having the number of substitutes for each game increased to at least four, including a goalkeeper, but with only three allowed to play.

Kingz spokesman John Batty said the club had been caught unawares by the ruling but had already had a positive response to the letter.

"Parramatta and Canberra came back to us quickly and both are in favour of increasing the number of substitutes," Batty said. "All we are asking is to give the clubs the option of having an extra player for their home or away games - at their expense.

"It is not our intention to rock the boat. I have spoken to league manager Stefan Kamasz who said he would look at it if the clubs agreed."

The Kingz yesterday confirmed that their third-round game against South Melbourne will be played at North Harbour Stadium at 3pm on Sunday, October 17, to avoid clashes with big rugby and league games in the city next weekend.

Kingz: Michael Utting, Jason Batty, Jonathan Perry, Wynton Rufer, Fred de Jong, Robbie Middleby, Levent Osman, David Moya, Che Bunce, Marcus Stergiopoulos, Chris Jackson, Dino Menillo, Harry Ngata, Ivan Vicelich, Aaron Silva, Riki Van Steeden.