Tommy Smith and the New Zealand squad have arrived in Austria for their altitude training camp ahead of the World Cup. Smith has been confirmed as a starter for the All Whites when they face Serbia in a friendly on Saturday, while Gareth McAuley and Tamás Priskin could also pick up full caps over the weekend.

New Zealand are holding their camp at St Lambrecht which is more than 1,000 metres above sea level with Saturday’s game being played in Klagenfurt.

Smith has been named in the starting line-up with coach Ricki Herbert reshuffling the side which narrowly lost 2-1 to Australia earlier in the week: “We’ll make some changes personnel-wise but we won’t change tack on what we’ve though is the right process to follow.

“There’ll be some new players coming in but that will be around their performances rather than anything else.”

The Town defender plays on the left of a three-man backline for the All Whites and has impressed in his two international appearances so far.

Meanwhile, Hungary and Priskin, who has previously won 24 full caps, scoring seven goals, face Germany at home in a friendly, while McAuley will be looking to win his 22nd full cap when Northern Ireland take on Chile at the Estadio Municipal de Chillán in a friendly on Sunday.

New Zealand: Mark Paston, Winston Reid, Ryan Nelsen (c), Tommy Smith, Leo Bertos, Simon Elliott, Jeremy Christie, Tony Lochhead, Chris Wood, Rory Fallon, Shane Smeltz.

Photo: Action Images

itfcserbia added 13:09 - May 28 I quite like Tommy Smith, but not on saturday :))
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