Soccer: Costly Olympic tie against Sth Africa

By TERRY MADDAFORD

New Zealand Soccer wants to play Olympic qualifying matches against South Africa sooner rather than later, perhaps as early as Easter.

The home and away matches will cost around $250,000, but New Zealand Soccer chief executive Bill MacGowan is confident Fifa will come to the party financially.

South Africa beat Guinea 4-1 away in the final African qualifying match yesterday to finish on 13 points, two behind group B winners Cameroon but good enough to earn a playoff with the Oceania Confederation representatives for the last place in the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Olympic champions Nigeria got through, but only on goal difference from Angola and Zimbabwe, while Morocco won group C by two points from Egypt.

South Africa will provide a real test for New Zealand. They have four players with European clubs, including goalkeeper Emille Baron, who is with Lillestrom in Norway.

MacGowan said under-23 coach Ken Dugdale, who is now in Japan with the Olympic side for tomorrow night's game against Japan, was keen to play at home first.

"We will ask Fifa if we can have the first [home] game and suggest April 20 to 22 as the preferred date. We would like to play the away game soon after, around May 3.

"It will be up to Ken Dugdale where we play [in New Zealand]. His preference might be somewhere like Carisbrook, but that decision has not been made.

"I expect him to name a squad of between 18 and 20 players soon after he returns from Japan.

"We are sending a fax to Fifa seeking clarification of their financial contribution," said MacGowan. "As soon as we know that and have confirmation of the dates, we will have to move quickly to get releases for our overseas-based players.

"We hope to have our players in camp at least five or six days before the first game."

MacGowan will also have discussions with his South African counterpart in an effort to finalise the match dates. If the two countries cannot agree, Fifa will step in.