Tommy Smith hopes to be competing in the Olympic Games in London, although he will be unable to help New Zealand qualify in the coming days.
The 21-year-old has no complaints about not being released by Ipswich for the competition to determine who emerges from Oceania to take part in the competition proper, which kicks off on July 25 and climaxes at Wembley on August 11. Nations field U23 sides plus three overage players.
The qualifying tournament gets under way today with hosts New Zealand, coached by former Norwich defender or midfielder Neil Emblen, firm favourites to advance.
While they are competing against Papua New Guinea and Tonga in one group, the other involves American Samoa, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. After semi-finals and a final the winners will be known on March 24.
Smith said: "It is understandable that Ipswich didn’t want me to go over to New Zealand for this month’s qualifiers because it would mean me missing five league games.
"To be honest I’d rather play for Ipswich every week and although I haven’t spoken to the international manager I think he fully understands that club commitments must come first. I don’t think it will impact on future selection.
"Other players are in the same boat and as long as the lads get through we can have quite a strong side in the Olympics. It’s such a massive sporting event and having played in the World Cup already, to add the Olympics to my cv would be another great achievement for me.”
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