Coach Ricki Herbert is trialling a new youthful looking 4-1-4-1 formation with LA Galaxy’s Dan Keat set to make his first start in an All Whites shirt operating as a defensive shield for the back four.
“We haven’t seen Dan start a match before so it’s a big opportunity for him to stake a claim,” Herbert says.
Chris Wood will provide the attack with a pivot allowing Kosta Barbarouses and Marco Rojas to provide width and support, along with Michael McGlinchey and Tim Payne who will play centrally but will push forward where possible.
“It’s a young and exciting forward line who will be encouraged to attack,” Herbert says.
There is a solid look to the back four with Ben Sigmund slotting in at right back, Winston Reid and Tommy Smith will pair up centrally and Tony Lochhead at left back. Mark Paston has been given the nod to start in goal.
“On paper we look solid at the back and it gives us an opportunity to put at Ben in at right back and see how that looks defensively,” Herbert says.
With no fewer than nine All Whites walking the suspension tightrope for the FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers in March and potentially beyond the selections will give Herbert the opportunity to see the depth of his squad in the international environment.
“There’s no (Ryan) Nelsen, (Chris) Killen, (Shane) Smeltz and (Ivan) Vicelich starting in this match who you would argue are all front line players, so it’s a test of our depth for sure,” Herbert says.
China is currently ranked 88 in the FIFA Rankings with New Zealand five places below them in 92nd. Their last international match was a pair of loses in the September window losing 0-1 and 0-8 to Sweden and Brazil respectively.
New Zealand is unbeaten in their last four matches across the September and October windows. The China match is the last international for 2012 with the crucial FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers set for March next year.
The match kicks off at Shanghai Hongkou Football Stadium at 7:35pm (China time).
International Friendly Match
China v New Zealand
Wednesday 14 November, 2012
Shanghai Hongkou Football Stadium, China
Kickoff: 7:35pm (12:35am, Thursday 15 November NZT)
Live on Sky Sports 2 from 12:15am, Thursday 15 November
New Zealand (from): 1-Mark PASTON (gk), 2-Winston REID, 3-Tony LOCHHEAD, 4-Ben SIGMUND, 5-Tommy SMITH (c), 8-Michael MCGLINCHEY, 11-Marco ROJAS, 13-Dan KEAT, 17-Kosta BARBAROUSES, 18-Tim PAYNE, 20-Chris WOOD
Substitutes: 7-Leo BERTOS, 9-Shane SMELTZ, 12-Glen MOSS (gk), 15-Ivan VICELICH, 16-Jeremy BROCKIE, 22-Cameron HOWIESON
Coach: Ricki HERBERT
China (from): 1-Cheng ZENG (gk), 2-Zheng ZHENG, 3-Xiang SUN, 4-Peng ZHAO, 5-Linpeng ZHANG, 6-Xiaoting FENG, 7-Xuri ZHAO, 8-Junmin HAO, 9-Xu YANG, 10-Zhi ZHENG, 11-Dabao YU, 12-Xiaofeng GENG (gk), 13-Jianye LIU, 14-Renliang FENG, 15-Bo XU, 17-Jian LU, 18-Lin GAO, 19-Peng PV, 20-Hanchao YU, 21-Hai YU, 22-Dalei WANG (gk), 23-Shneg QIN, 24-Yang YU, 25-Ting ZHU
Coach: Jose Antonio CAMACHO
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football.
For more on New Zealand Football visit www.nzfootball.co.nz

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