OFC Nations Cup Profiles
New Zealand
The All Whites are the reigning kings of Oceania and have taken few risks in their attempts to hang on to the title by naming a near full-strength line up.
Coach Ricki Herbert does not enjoy the luxury of bringing his mostly overseas-based squad together very often and will see this tournament as not only the chance to earn some silverware but also to cast his eye over fresh talent with potential Confederations Cup and World Cup campaigns on the horizon.
To that end, he has included several bolters in youngsters Tim Payne and Cameron Howieson – making steady progress at English clubs Blackburn Rovers and Burnley respectively – and uncapped Auckland City pair Ian Hogg and Adam McGeorge.
While they have been involved with the squad before, the likes of Michael Boxall, Aaron Clapham, Daniel Keat and Kosta Barbarouses will also be keen to establish themselves at international level by performing well in Honiara.
There are still plenty of high profile names to strike fear into the hearts of New Zealand’s opponents but the withdrawal of captain Ryan Nelsen is a big blow, both to the All Whites’ chances and to the people of Honiara, who rarely get the chance to witness such an accomplished player perform first hand.
The Tottenham Hotspur defender is regarded as one of the finest players ever produced in Oceania and is fiercely proud of playing for New Zealand but has had to pull out due to injury.
Herbert has the talent to cover for his skipper’s absence at the back in fellow England-based professionals Winston Reid and Tommy Smith while there is just as much talent going forward with Shane Smeltz, Chris Wood, Chris Killen, Barbarouses and the mercurial Marco Rojas all jostling for places.
In the injury-enforced absence of veteran Simon Elliott and the retired Tim Brown, Michael McGlinchey now has the chance to stake his claim for the midfield playmaker’s role and will be aiming to do so by pulling the strings to a title-winning tune.
Striker Rory Fallon – a hero of the previous World Cup-qualifying campaign – has earned a recall after being left out of the previous squad while new Wellington Phoenix signing Jeremy Brockie is worth keeping an eye on due to his recent penchant for the spectacular.
Herbert is taking a pragmatic approach to proceedings and does not want his players to get too far ahead of themselves.
“First and foremost, we aim to reach the semi-finals of the Nations Cup to book a place in the next stage of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying. Then we will look at winning the next two games to defend our Nations Cup title and qualify for the Confederations Cup,” he says.
“If we do that we’ll have five games in nine days in the Honiara heat so we will need to manage the playing stocks well and be at the top of our game to navigate some testing fixtures.”

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