New Zealand trust in blend of experience and youth

New Zealand will place their trust in a blend of experience and youth when they take on Slovakia in their World Cup Group F clash here on Tuesday.

Coach Ricki Herbert confirmed a defensive-looking line-up for the encounter on the eve of the match.

Veteran defender Ivan Vicelich comes into the side in midfield as cover for Tim Brown, the vice-captain who has been given more time to complete his recovery from shoulder surgery at the end of May.

“Tim has pulled up a fraction short for this match,” Herbert confirmed. “We will reassess that in the coming days and hopefully he will be there for selection for the games against Italy and Paraguay.”

Vicelich, a 33-year-old who played for seven years in the Dutch top flight for Roda JC and RKC Waalwijk, will partner Simon Elliott, who turned 36 last week, in central midfield, where they will come up against Slovakia’s talented young playmaker and captain, Marek Hamsik.

It would be a major surprise if Elliott and Vicelich’s mature legs lasted the 90 minutes and Herbert admitted he had thought long and hard about including Motherwell’s Michael McGlinchey.

The 23-year-old is an energetic, box-to-box midfielder who represented Scotland at youth level before opting to play senior football for the country of his birth.

“If we have to bring Michael off the bench he can have an impact,” Herbert said. “Not starting him was one of the hardest decisions I had to make. But it is great from my point of view to have that option and he is an important player who can add a lot.”

Defender Ben Sigmund, an ever-present in New Zealand’s Oceania qualifying campaign, misses out on a starting line-up with Herbert opting for Winston Reid, 21, and Ipswich’s Tommy Smith, 19, on either side of skipper Ryan Nelsen.

Leo Bartos will start on the right of midfield with Tony Lochhead, normally a left-back, on the opposite flank.

The forward line is comprised of Shane Smeltz, Chris Killen and Rory Fallon, the Plymouth striker who scored the only goal in New Zealand’s qualifying play-off win over Bahrain.

Slovakia’s coach Vladimir Weiss declined to follow Herbert in naming his line-up but confirmed he had a full squad to pick from.

“The state of health of all the players is very good,” he said. “(Miroslav) Stoch did not train for a few days because of minor problems but he is fine and (Juraj) Kucka trained with the ball for first time today, so everyone is ready.”

“We are all full of expectation, me and the players. We are looking forward to the match. A World Cup represents the pinnacle of a career for every coach and player.

“I can feel the tension in training but it is a nice tension. We will play against a difficult opponent so we have to be humble but we will try to go for a win.”

Asked what the reaction would be back home if Slovakia were to lose to New Zealand, Weiss laughed and broke into English to say, “I don’t know,” before adding: “I think we will win so everything will be alright.”

New Zealand (3-4-3)

Mark Paston; Winston Reid, Ryan Nelsen (capt.), Tommy Smith; Leo Bertos, Ivan Vicelich, Simon Elliott, Tony Lochhead; Shane Smeltz, Rory Fallon, Chris Killen

Slovakia (4-4-2, probable)

Jan Mucha; Peter Pekarik, Martin Skrtel, Jan Durica, Marek Cech; Vladimir Weiss, Zdenko Strba, Marek Hamsik (capt.), Miroslav Stoch; Stanislav Sestak, Robert Vittek (or Filip Holosko)