The Middlesbrough player was due to slot straight back into the New Zealand starting eleven for the match against the world number 25 side after missing the upset win over 15th-ranked Serbia to get married in the United Kingdom.
But he did not see out New Zealand’s final training run and West Bromwich Albion teenager Chris Wood instead retains his starting spot in an unchanged line-up.
Coach Ricki Herbert is not willing to risk injury ahead of his team’s FIFA World Cup opener against Slovakia in less than a fortnight’s time.
“I think we’ve performed at a level that has shown what we can potentially do,” he says.
“We’ve had two very competitive games on tour and now it’s about protection. The last thing I want is injuries so we’ll be very careful with this group. I’m not interested in the result.”
Despite not making any changes, Herbert is yet to pencil in any names for a starting berth against Slovakia on June 15.
“We’ve gone with a bit of stability for this match,” he says.
“At the back I think it was important to play Winston Reid and Tommy Smith. But there’s massive competition there from Ivan Vicelich and Ben Sigmund, and those two will get time either in this match or against Chile.”
It also means Jeremy Christie holds down the midfield spot left open by the injury to vice-captain Tim Brown against Australia on May 24.
“Simon Elliott and Jeremy haven’t played together apart from that last game so it’s important again to give them more time.”
Herbert indicated this friendly would see him draw deeper into his substitutes. Up to six replacements are permitted in the fixture, meaning valuable game time for some players to impress.
The match kicks off at 6.45am on Saturday, New Zealand time, and is live on Sky Sport 3.
New Zealand v Slovenia
Maribor, Slovenia
June 4, 2010
Kick off 8.45pm (6.45am June 5 NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 3
New Zealand: 1-Mark PASTON (GK), 3-Tony LOCHHEAD, 4-Winston REID, 6-Ryan NELSEN (captain), 7 Simon ELLIOTT, 9-Shane SMELTZ, 11-Leo BERTOS, 14-Rory FALLON, 19-Tommy SMITH, 20-Chris WOOD, 21-Jeremy CHRISTIE.
Substitutes: 2-Ben SIGMUND, 5-Ivan VICELEICH, 8-Cole PEVERLEY, 10-Chris KILLEN, 12-Glen MOSS (RGK), 13-Andy BARRON, 15-Michael MCGLINCHEY, 16-Aaron CLAPHAM, 17-David MULLIGAN, 18-Andrew BOYENS, 22-Jeremy BROCKIE, 23-James BANNATYNE (RGK),
Slovenia (from): Samir HANDANOVIC, Jasmin HANDANOVIC, Aleksander SELIGA, Bojan JOKIC, Marko SULER, Bostjan CESAR, Branko ILIC, Matej MAVRIC-ROZIC, Elvedin DZINIC, Miso BRECKO, Suad FILEKOVIC, Andraz KIRM, Andrej KOMAC, Rene KRHIN, Dalibor STEVANOVIC, Robert KOREN, Aleksander RADOSAVLJEVIC, Valter BIRSA, Milivoje NOVAKOVIC, Zlatko DEDIC, Zlatan LJUBIJANKIC, Nejc PECNIK, Tim MATAVZ.
Story courtesy NZF Media
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