Town defender Tommy Smith has been named in New Zealand’s final 23-man squad for the World Cup in South Africa. The 20-year-old recently won his first cap for the All Whites, having switched allegiance to the country where he lived between the ages of eight and 16 after representing England, the nation of his birth, at U17 level.
Coach Ricki Herbert, who worked on his coaching badges alongside Blues boss Roy Keane, is pleased with his squad: "Defensively and attack-wise, I don't think the nation has been in a better state. We've got some absolute quality coming through there.
"I don't think we are too far away from probably having the best side we've ever had in New Zealand."
The squad will assemble in Auckland on May 19th and then travels to Melbourne on May 22nd for a friendly with Australia at the MCG two days later. They are then off to Austria for a training camp and further friendlies against Serbia and Slovenia, before arriving in South Africa on June 6th.
After a warm-up game with Chile, Smith and his team-mates then take on Slovakia, Paraguay and Italy in their group matches.
Smith will be the first Town player to appear in the World Cup since Matt Holland played for the Republic of Ireland and Amir Karic featured for Slovenia at the 2002 tournament.
New Zealand: Ryan Nelsen (Blackburn), James Bannatyne (Team Wellington), Andy Barron (Team Wellington), Leo Bertos (Wellington Phoenix), Andy Boyens (New York Red Bulls), Jeremy Brockie (Newcastle Jets), Tim Brown (Wellington Phoenix), Jeremy Christie (FC Tampa Bay Rowdies), Aaron Clapham (Canterbury United), Simon Elliott, Rory Fallon (Plymouth Argyle), Chris Killen (Middlesbrough), Tony Lochhead (Wellington Phoenix), Michael McGlinchey (Motherwell), Glen Moss (Melbourne Victory), David Mulligan, Mark Paston (Wellington Phoenix), Winston Reid (FC Midtjylland, Denmark), Ben Sigmund (Wellington Phoenix), Shane Smeltz (Gold Coast United), Tommy Smith (Ipswich Town), Ivan Vicelich (Auckland City), Chris Wood (West Bromwich Albion).