Oceania Football Confederation men’s player of the year and the squad’s most capped player Ivan Vicelich (66 caps) will partner Simon Elliott – who is only three caps behind the Auckland City captain – in the centre of midfield.
The rest of the team has a settled look about it after encouraging performances against Australia, Serbia and Slovenia in recent weeks.
“We’ve always considered Ivan in midfield. He’s played the length of his professional career in that role so he gets the nod tomorrow,” Herbert says.
“I wouldn’t say it was an easy decision to select the team, let alone the central midfield positions but that’s what we’ve gone with and I’m sure Ivan will be comfortable in there.”
Ryan Nelsen captains the side from the heart of defence and will be flanked by relative newcomers Tommy Smith and Winston Reid after both youngsters put in strong showings during the 1-0 win over Serbia and 3-1 defeat to Slovenia.
Mark Paston starts in goal.
Leo Bertos and Tony Lochhead will carry on in the wingback roles they have performed since the World Cup play-off against Bahrain while Shane Smeltz, Rory Fallon and Chris Killen will continue as Herbert’s preferred three-pronged attack.
All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen says a Slovakian side that finished top of its qualifying group ahead of Slovenia and the Czech Republic has his utmost respect.
“We know after playing Serbia and Slovenia, who we think are similar, that Slovakia will be very strong, very disciplined and very organised. We have a lot of respect for what they did through their qualifying campaign and for their team all round. They are a difficult side to play against, much like ourselves.”
FIFA World Cup: Group F
New Zealand v Slovakia
Royal Bafokeng Stadium
Rustenburg
June 15, 2010
1.30pm local (11.30pm NZT)
New Zealand: 1-Mark PASTON (GK), 3-Tony LOCHHEAD, 4-Winston REID, 5-Ivan VICELEICH, 6-Ryan NELSEN (captain), 7 Simon ELLIOTT, 9-Shane SMELTZ, 10-Chris KILLEN, 11-Leo BERTOS, 14-Rory FALLON, 19-Tommy SMITH.
Substitutes: 2-Ben SIGMUND, 8-Tim BROWN, 13-Andy BARRON, 15-Michael MCGLINCHEY, 16-Aaron CLAPHAM, 17-David MULLIGAN, 18-Andrew BOYENS, 20-Chris WOOD, 21-Jeremy CHRISTIE, 22-Jeremy BROCKIE, 23-James BANNATYNE (RGK).
Suspended: 12-Glen MOSS (GK).
Coach: Ricki HERBERT
Slovakia (from): 1-Jan MUCHA (GK), 2-Peter PEKARIK, 3-Martin SKRTEL, 4-Marek CECH, 5-Radoslav ZABAVNIK, 6-Zdenko STRBA, 7-Vladimir WEISS, 8-Jan KOZAK, 9-Stanislav SESTAK, 10-Marek SAPARA, 11-Robert VITTEK, 12-Dusan PERNIS (GK), 13-Filip HOLOSKO, 14-Martin JAKUBKO, 15-Miroslav STOCH, 16-Jan DURICA, 17-Marek HAMSIK, 18-Erik JENDRISEK, 19-Juraj KUCKA, 20-Kamil KOPUNEK, 21-Kornel SALATA, 22-Martin PETRAS, 23-Dusan KUCIAK (GK),
Coach: Vladimir WEIS
Story courtesy NZF Media.
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