KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand men's Olympic soccer campaign received a boost today with English club Blackburn Rovers agreeing to release skipper Ryan Nelsen for part of the tournament.
Nelsen, 30, will be available for the Oly-Whites' opening fixtures against hosts China on August 7 and Brazil on August 10.
But the central defender will miss the final pool match against Belgium on August 13 to allow him to prepare for Blackburn's Premier League season opener away to Everton three days later.
Coach Stu Jacobs, who received a phone call this morning from new Blackburn manager Paul Ince, said it was " a terrific outcome".
He said Nelsen was "over the moon" about being able to have a role in New Zealand soccer's first appearance at an Olympics.
"He realises what it means to New Zealand football to take the best team," he said.
"I think all the way through the process, he has been pretty desperate to be part of it."
The New Zealand Olympic Committee will announced the Oly-Whites' 18-man squad tomorrow.
Nelsen will join Glasgow Celtic striker Chris Killen and former Fulham midfielder Simon Elliott as the permitted three over-age players in an otherwise under-23 line-up.
It will be the first time Nelsen and Elliott have represented New Zealand since the All Whites' ill-fated Oceania Nations Cup campaign in Adelaide in 2004.
In Nelsen's case, a recurring hamstring injury and the birth of his first child late last year have kept him on the sidelines.
The Oly-Whites' build-up includes matches against Chile Under-23 in Wellington today and on Friday night.
They then head to Sydney to play the Olyroos on July 12 and A-League club the Central Coast Mariners on July 15.
There will also be matches in Jakarta with two club sides and the Indonesian national team, before the Oly-Whites fly to Beijing and then on to Shenyang, the venue for their clash with China.
Jacobs said Killen and Elliott were due to join the squad in Indonesia, and Nelsen by August 1 in China.
He foresaw few difficulties integrating Nelsen so late in the preparation.
"You're not going to teach Ryan Nelsen too much about how to defend," he said.
"It's just a matter of getting him involved in the group and I can't see that as being a problem."
Jacobs said the Oly-Whites had targeted the match against China as a key to progressing from their pool.
"I guess the way we see it is that for us to have any chance of getting into the second round, we need to get a result against China," he said.
"Having Ryan there is going to give us the best opportunity for getting that result.
Jacobs praised the role Ince played in Nelsen's release, saying Ince and Nelsen hadn't yet met and Blackburn wasn't obliged to make the player available.
He said Ince's decision showed how highly he rated the Olympics and New Zealand's involvement in it.
Jacobs believed that, if former manager Mark Hughes, now with Manchester City, was still at Ewood Park, the answer might well have been no.
- NZPA
