New Zealand boss looks for English influence ahead of Slovakia clash
RICKI Herbert is hoping Plymouth’s Rory Fallon and Middlesbrough’s Chris Killen can deliver the goals to give New Zealand a World Cup to remember.
Fallon and Killen were named up front in the side to face Slovakia in today’s Group F opener in the Royal Bafokeng stadium in a team which also contained captain Ryan Nelsen from Blackburn and Tommy Smith from Ipswich.
New Zealand head coach Herbert wants more from the 2010 tournament than the souvenir he received from the nation’s only previous encounter at the World Cup finals in 1982.
Herbert, a central defender who played for Wolves in the mid-1980s, still has the shirt of Brazil star Socrates hanging up in his home in New Zealand, a legacy of a 4-0 defeat by Brazil in a group phase when they lost all three matches.
Victory over Slovakia would give New Zealand their first-ever World Cup triumph and Herbert said: “It’s been a long time, 28 years, and it’s good to be back. It’s a distant memory but a fond memory.”
