AW v China 12:30am 26th March SS1

Every International game is a tough one for the All Whites to win regardless of who we are playing(except maybe some of the lower island teams).

But it makes things even harder when we are missing potentially 6 plus or so of our normal starting lineup. i.e. Paston, Nelsen, Reid, Sigmund, Elliott, Bertos, Brown, Fallon.

In the past losing 6 starters would have exposed our lack of depth, now at least we still have good strength up front. but we are left with gaps/risks at the back and midfield.

But it also offers Ricki the forced opportunity to try new things. which could reveal some positives...i hope.

History says we will probably lose this game especially with some key players missing, no build up vs China's build up, and playing away in China.

I would hope we could scrape a draw, which i would be content with.

Of course my heart is saying we can win 2-0 but losing would not exactly be a surprise.

Its basically just a training match

Pretty much. It's going be really interesting if Kosta and Marco can fire on the international stage as well as they can in the A-League.

               �� Moss

It'l be a 3-4-3

Here is when the game will be replayed in case you can't stay up on Friday night.

China is playing the AWs on 25th and Honduras on 29th Junior822011-03-24 14:38:01

This is a pretty hard side to pick. Normally overflowing with center back options we quite short for this game. I think Ricki will generally start the more experienced players who have been in the enviroment loger. Hardest call is where to play Vicelich and whether to start Kosta or Wood.

China tipped to adopt a 4-4-1-1 formation with Hao Junmin on the bench (only arrived yesterday)

Edit again: Just noticed the NZF article linked on the home page. Slight grizzle: NZF has capitalised the Chinese players personal names not their surnames. Major big-nose-round-eye fail there.
Junior822011-03-24 21:12:55

Will be interesting to see what tactics Rickie plays......there have been calls for him to give the young guns like Kosta and marco a run, which will probably happen.

Clapham?

Wonder if he knicked the scarf off an 18 yo?

I hope David Mulligan starts. Keen to sea his freekicks! I am hoping he can do something good because of the potential Ricki had seen in training.Luis Garcia2011-03-24 22:35:28

New Zealand (3-4-3): 1- Glen MOSS (GK); 4-Ivan VICELICH �, 5-Tommy SMITH, 13- Andrew BOYENS; 3- Tony LOCHHEAD, 7-Michael McGLINCHEY, 11-Jeremy BROCKIE, 15-David MULLIGAN; 8- Chris WOOD, 9-Shane SMELTZ, 10-Chris KILLEN.

Substitutes: 12- Jacob SPOONLEY(GK), 16-Kosta BARBAROUSES, 20-Aaron CLAPHAM, 21-Marco ROJAS, 22- Michael FITZGERALD, 2-Michael BOXALL.

http://nzfootball.co.nz/index.php?id=11&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=968&tx_ttnews[backPid]=10&cHash=f093e5ac86

grrr....that was a huge front page on the Herald yesterday and I didn't see any coverage about the game in their print edition today...

any football fans out there who aren't being investigated by the cops?

Could this go to off topic? Wanna talk about the game!

martinb2011-03-25 08:12:58

How the heck does Mulligan get a start? sheesh.

Interesting line up....NOT

Shortest. Midfield. Ever.

Sub off Brockie for Rojas and average hight will be about 5 foot 4 inches nothing.

Because other than Vicelich (who I would have played there) we don't have another defensive midfielder in the squad.

odds George Costanza2011-03-25 08:52:56

haha mulligan to start, love it

Boyens Boyens Boyens 

I hope Marco and Kosta get to play at least 25 minutes, hopefully Marco can be an impact sub just like he was for the Phoenix when he came off the bench.

Marco shmarco. 

As much as I despise Marco now, this will be the last game in a while where he will be playing on our side, so I hope he plays well.

Well f**k who else is going to slot in there? Rickis already stated days ago that EVERYONE was getting game time anyway...

Boring starting lineup..go for the result ahead of trying out new blood.  70th minute subs juist wil not do.....Marco and Kosta need 45m plus.

Would have liked to see Boxall start... I just don't think Boyens is international quality.

Isn't the entire spanish midfield a bunch of midgets? I don't think height has anything to do with quality (I also tell myself that everyday).

Doesn't matter how tall the midfield is because we will just be knocking long balls from the back anyway.

Li Weifeng (central defender), the veteran of the team (32) has had a history of ill-discipline.  Seemed to like collecting red cards for dangerous tackles (maybe learned from Oz coaches?).  However he redeemed himself when he signed for the Suwon Bluewings in 2009 and 2010 (nicknamed the great wall of China).  Currently playing for Tianjin Teda.

Please don't tell me you've just compared McGlinchey and Mulligan with Xavi and Iniesta.

Plus Sergio Busquets and Xabi Alonso aren't exactly short.

Mulligan is quality in midfield, piss poor at right back. Did not get a fair chance at the nix but that debate has been heard.

two things.

Mulligan is a really interesting one.  From the 4-1 win over Vanuatu in Wellington in November 2007 (in which he scored two goals) he started ten straight All Whites games, the last of which was the 0-2 loss to SA in the 2009 Confederations Cup.

Then he came of the bench in the 0-0 draw with Iraq and the friendly vs. Jordan in September 2009.