Tommy Smith will win his 23rd New Zealand cap this evening as the All Whites take on hosts Saudi Arabia in their opening game at the OSN Cup in Riyadh.

The winners will face the victors of today’s other match between the UAE and Trinidad and Tobago in the final on Monday when the losers will take part in a third/fourth place play-off.

New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert plans to use the tournament to experiment ahead of November’s World Cup play-offs against the fourth-placed side in the CONCACAF qualifying group, including playing a back four instead of their usual three-man central defence.

"We're going to try a whole raft of things and see how it goes. Some might work, some might not,” he said.

Herbert believes the Riyadh heat will be tough for his players: "It's going to be incredibly demanding.

"But it's more about, are players comfortable in their roles, do we feel we've got the right sort of connections, the right sort of links? And players being comfortable with that."

Smith is one of two members of Town’s senior squad currently away on international duty with right-back Elliott Hewitt in action for the Wales U21s against San Marino and Moldova in Euro 2015 qualifiers on Friday and Tuesday respectively.

Photo: Action Images

ManningtreeBlue99 added 06:43 - Sep 5 Enjoy Tommy, beat the Arabs and most importantly come home safe.
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kalypso added 08:22 - Sep 5 Good luck Tommy, don't get injured.
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PortmanPie78 added 10:00 - Sep 5 That made me smile :)
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michael99 added 11:54 - Sep 5 Oh dear i think tommy is going to lose his place to berra i think for 3 reasons.firstly mick likes berra 2nd he keeps playing these crap low standard friendlies(so he is tired and poss misses league games)and 3rd that he is not very good,yes he is good in the air especially at offensive corners but although looks strong he gets knocked off the ball easily and he is so slow if any attacker runs at him it is just embarrassing,chambers is by far the better of the 2 imo

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taylor15 added 12:42 - Sep 5 are you serious michael99? he's "not very good", so our "not very good player" was our best player last season, and is becoming one of the best centre backs in the league!? give us a break mate! also, i do NOT think he is 'slow' either, he has great pace on fifa13!!!
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Hegansheroes added 12:57 - Sep 5 Michael99, have to agree with you apart from TS not being very good. Since getting the break he needed he has been pretty consistent & I have to agree with taylor15 he is one of the best centre backs in the division. Worrying playing 2nd rate internationals how ever & more worrying it seems MM has his old boy network & Berra is one of them.
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runningout added 13:29 - Sep 5 This fixture is the reason we have and need at least 3 decent CB's
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Robbie12345 added 14:03 - Sep 5 Atleast we have a full international player, michael99 and hegansheroes, do you play for your country? No, didn't think so, maybe you should play in something better than the cups, before slagging them off.. You both would be complaining if we didn't have a international player for Ipswich. Mick knows whats hes doing, obviously likes Smith (has started all the games soo far I believe) and had a amazing run of form last season, too early to start being already at him.. Give the poor lad a chance!! ðŸ˜

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Keaneish added 14:43 - Sep 5 Only 23 caps? Wow! The world cup was nearly four years ago! Tommy not very good!? Do me a favour... Absolutely flourished under a manager who understands how to coach defenders! A rock. Why would he lose his place to Berra? Berra's right footed so Tommy has the advantage over him and the fact he's barely put a foot wrong for nearly a year is enough to guarantee he's one of the first name on the team sheet along with Cresswell.

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JLITFC added 16:15 - Sep 5 The comments on here cannot be serious, playing in a world cup at 19, not good enough....hahah TS has come on leaps and bounds.
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jas0999 added 17:20 - Sep 5 One of our best players.
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michael99 added 18:02 - Sep 5 oh well football is all about opinions i think that berra is left footed but i may be wrong lets just wait and see if i am proved right ,if not i will wind my neck in .of course tommy played last year and this season up to now but who would have replaced him?last season until we got stearman who i do rate we only had 2 cb's in the squad and stearman was brought in to play rb anyway.

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