Town duo Tommy Smith and Monty Patterson have been named in the New Zealand squad for their warm-up games ahead of next month’s Confederations Cup in Russia.

The All Whites play Northern Ireland in a friendly in Belfast on Friday 2nd June and League of Ireland side Cabinteely in Dublin on Tuesday 6th June with head coach Anthony Hudson picking his final Confederations Cup squad two days after that match. They then face Belarus in Minsk in a final friendly on Monday 12th June.

In the Confederations Cup itself New Zealand take on the hosts in St Petersburg in the opening group game on Saturday 17th June, Mexico in Sochi four days later and then Portugal back in St Petersburg on Saturday June 24th.

Centre-half Smith, 27, has previously won 31 caps and has scored two international goals, while striker or midfielder Patterson, 20, has won nine caps and has netted once.

Speaking about the Confederations Cup in March, Smith said: “It will be another competition ticked off my international list, having already played in the World Cup and the Olympics.

“Testing myself against that calibre of player will be good. Cristiano Ronaldo could be involved and I’ll be testing myself against one of the very best in the world.”

Patterson is yet to make a senior appearance for the Blues but spent time on loan with Braintree in the Vanarama National League during 2016/17. The club recently announced they would be taking up an option to keep him at Portman Road for a further season.

Former Blues loanee Chris Wood, the Championship's top scorer with 27 goals for Leeds, is also in the squad and captains in the absence of injured West Ham defender Winston Reid.

All Whites: Stefan Marinovic (SpVgg Unterhaching), Tamati Williams (RKC Waalwijk), Glen Moss (Newcastle Jets), Andrew Durante (Wellington Phoenix), Thomas Doyle (Wellington Phoenix), Storm Roux (Central Coast Mariners), Michael Boxall (SuperSport Utd), Kip Colvey (San Jose Earthquakes), Themi Tzimopoulos (PAS Giannina), Deklan Wynne (Vancouver Whitecaps), Sam Brotherton (Sunderland), Tommy Smith (Ipswich Town), Dane Ingham (Brisbane Roar), Bill Tuiloma (Marseille), Clayton Lewis (Auckland City), Michael McGlinchey (Wellington Phoenix), Ryan Thomas (PEC Zwolle), Marco Rojas (Melbourne Victory), Alex Rufer (Wellington Phoenix), Chris Wood (c) (Leeds Utd), Monty Patterson (Ipswich Town) , Shane Smeltz (Borneo FC), Kosta Barbarouses (Wellington Phoenix).

Photo: TWTD

12th_Man added 01:32 - May 26 Good luck to you both
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Seasider added 12:46 - May 26 Looks like their sojourn will be brief this year then if they start with the rest of the team,as think players report back straight after they finish for the Lilywhites? Expect they will given a bit more time off into July though?
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distractored added 13:30 - May 26 NZ v Portugal sounds like something worth staying up all night for. Go Kiwis.
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busterjames1 added 20:13 - May 26 Well both of you ..Lets hope Monty gets a run in our first team sooner rather than later !
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busterjames1 added 20:13 - May 26 Well done both of you !!!
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OwainG1992 added 18:16 - May 27 Really hope players like Monty Dozzell Morris etc get more of a chance next season.
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