Town defender Tommy Smith looks set to win his 24th full cap later today when New Zealand take on the UAE in the final of the OSN Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The All Whites beat the hosts 1-0 in their opening game on Thursday.
Smith was pleased with their performance in that match, particularly as coach Ricki Herbert switched to a back four from their usual three-man central defence ahead of November’s World Cup qualification play-offs against the fourth-placed side in the CONCACAF group, who are currently Mexico.
"We haven't played a game since March and the system we used worked really well,” the Town centre-half said. "That was the goal, to try and work on a different formation that we could perhaps use heading into the November games.
"We're delighted that it worked out well tonight and we got a positive result. It's just nice to know that we have options to use if we have to change it during the games in November or from the start.
"Most of us play a back four at our club teams so it was a fairly smooth transition. Ricki's delighted that the system we implemented worked well and we stopped them from playing for large parts of the game. And we managed to get on the scoresheet ourselves."
Despite the very hot temperatures in Riyadh, Smith said he was fine after the first game: "We didn't have too much to do at the back so I'm not feeling that bad at all, to be honest.”
Coach Herbert has said he may shuffle his pack to give players who weren’t involved against the Saudis a game, however, vice-captain Smith still seems a likely starter.
Meanwhile, right-back Elliott Hewitt has travelled to Moldova with the Wales U21 squad for Tuesday’s Euro 2015 qualifier. The 19-year-old looks set to win his eighth cap as the Welsh youngsters try to put Friday’s defeat to San Marino behind them.
Elsewhere, academy first-year scholar Cemal Ramadan is with the Republic of Ireland U17 squad for two friendlies against Slovakia in Bratislava this week. The first game is on Tuesday and the second on Thursday.