Town defender Tommy Smith has been named in the starting line-up for New Zealand’s friendly against Slovenia in Maribor this evening. Striker Tamás Priskin could also be in international action this weekend.
Smith, who generally plays on the left of a three-man defence for New Zealand, will win his fourth cap in the game, which is the All Whites’ final match before they travel from their training camp in Bad Waltersdorf, Austria to South Africa. The New Zealanders have one more training game with Chile on June 9th before they start their World Cup campaign against Slovakia in Rustenburg on June 15th. Matches against Paraguay and Italy follow.
Elsewhere, Tamás Priskin could win his 26th cap on Saturday when Hungary face Holland in a friendly in Amsterdam. The frontman has scored seven international goals.
New Zealand: 1 Mark Paston, 3 Tony Lochhead, 4 Winston Reid, 6 Ryan Nelsen (c), 7 Simon Elliott, 9 Shane Smeltz, 11 Leo Bertos, 14 Rory Fallon, 19 Tommy Smith, 20 Chris Wood, 21 Jeremy Christie. Subs: 2 Ben Sigmund, 5 Ivan Viceleich, 8 Cole Peverley, 10 Chris Killen, 12 Glen Moss, 13 Andy Barron, 15 Michael McGlinchey, 16 Aaron Clapham, 17 David Mulligan, 18 Andrew Boyens, 22 Jeremy Brockie, 23 James Bannatyne.