All Whites name squad for Mexico meeting next month

All Whites coach Ricki Herbert has given a strong signal of intent by naming his strongest possible squad for a World Cup warm up match against Mexico in Los Angeles on March 3.

Herbert has named a 17-man squad that is without two members - Ivan Vicelich and Mark Paston -of a heroic defensive unit that kept Bahrain scoreless over 180 minutes, but sees Glen Moss return from suspension and newcomers Tommy Smith and Olympic Games standout Craig Henderson given a chance to push for a place in Herbert's final 23 for South Africa.

Paston, one of the heroes of World Cup qualification, has yet to recovery from a fractured tibia while Vicelich is suspended for one friendly after picking up a red card against Jordan in September.

The match against the fellow World Cup finalists is the first outing for New Zealand's World Cup heroes since securing qualification to South Africa in November and with no further international windows before the official World Cup lead-in begins in May, Herbert says his 17-man All White squad will make the most of this opportunity.

"It's very important for us," Herbert said.

"We haven't played for nearly four months now and we could be a little rusty. It's incredibly important that we get the players in now and set the tone for the future, and hence the reason why we've picked very tough team to play against. Mexico won't do us any favours but that gets us back to the reality of what we're going to face in South Africa in June."

"It's the one opportunity we get [before May] so we haven't held back."

New Zealand Football have already confirmed an Austrian base for a training camp in late May with games against Serbia and Slovenia added to the schedule.

Moss, suspended for the playoff matches in Manama and Wellington, was one of the All Whites best performers at the FIFA Confederations Cup last year is an obvious replacement for Paston, while 19-year-old Tommy Smith likely to see significant time against Mexico after making himself available for the country in which he spent some of his childhood.

Smith, a left-sided central defender and former England age-group international declared his allegiance to New Zealand late last year.

"Anyone connected to a Championship club is extremely exciting in terms of building the squad. From an age standpoint he's can look forward to a few World Cup campaigns in the future and I think he could be a real talent for us."

Attacking midfielder Henderson (22) recently graduated from Dartmouth University and his decision to look to Europe rather than pursue a Major League Soccer contract paid off for the New Zealand Olympian when he signed with newly promoted Swedish premier league side Mjällby.

"Craig was one of the standouts in the Olympic campaign in my view. I've worked with Craig a little bit in the past and by the recent recognition of a three year contract at a big club in Sweden is a strong way of waving the flag to be looked at. Athletically and technically he could fit in to what we're trying to do and be involved in future campaigns. We've got no hesitation."

(Club, caps/goals in brackets)

	Goalkeepers		Caps	Goals
Glen	MOSS	Wellington Phoenix	15	0
James	BANNATYNE	Team Wellington	5	0
	Defenders
Andrew	BOYENS	NY Red Bulls	15	0
Tony	LOCHHEAD	Wellington Phoenix	29	0
Ryan	NELSEN	Blackburn Rovers	41	9
Ben	SIGMUND	Wellington Phoenix	12	1
Tommy	SMITH	Brentford (loaned from Ipswich Town)	0	0
	Midfielders
Andy	BARRON	Team Wellington	13	1
Leo	BERTOS	Wellington Phoenix	30	0
Tim	BROWN	Wellington Phoenix	27	0
Simon	ELLIOTT	San Jose Earthquakes	69	8
Craig	HENDERSON	Mjällby AIF	0	0
Michael	McGLINCHEY	Motherwell	3	0
	Forwards
Rory	FALLON	Plymouth Argyle	3	2
Chris	KILLEN	Middlesbrough	35	17
Shane	SMELTZ	Wellington Phoenix	32	17
Chris	WOOD	West Bromwich Albion	5	0

Schoolboy Internationals: The most famous period of the NZ Secondary Schools side was when they covered an 12 year period from 1998 to 2009 when victories over their counterparts from Australia, England, Northern Ireland and Canada in away fixtures, which later also included wins on Continental Europe over professional club sides. Rory Fallon scorer of the famous goal over Bahrain in the World Cup victory in Wellington played in an unsuccessful series over Australian Schools, but in the following year Chris Killen and Leo Bertos were members of a side that returned with the Trans-Tasman Trophy in 1998 in Sydney, whilst Tony Lochhead captained a 1999 side before being chosen for the Junior All Whites (U17s), whilst Craig Henderson was a member of another side that went to Europe, before Tommy Smith was only 15 when selected for the international side that included a win over a Canadian Schoolboys side which was a U20 Development side, which also played against the Australian Schools side en route back to New Zealand in 2004.

Confirmed World Cup build-up matches: