Football: Top All Whites to play Jamaica friendly

New Zealand Football will demand its best side takes the field against Jamaica in Auckland on February 29, assuming the match is signed off in the next couple of days.

The national body was surprised to learn this morning the Jamaican Football Federation and Fifa had publicised the game even though it hadn't been signed off.

But New Zealand Football (NZF) chief executive Grant McKavanagh said it didn't feel pressured to accept the fixture.

"We will make the right decision for New Zealand Football,'' McKavanagh said, referring to the financial risks of hosting internationals in this country.

A decision is likely tomorrow or Monday.

It makes sense to play the game and it won't be a good look if it falls over. NZF had been close to securing a game with Canada at Brentford's ground in London on February 29 but this hit difficulties because of England's game against the Netherlands in London on the same day.

A deal with Jamaica has been agreed in principle and they would be good opposition for the All Whites.

It is the only game before June's Oceania Nations Cup, which doubles as the first round of World Cup qualifying and, more importantly, would be against opposition from Concacaf (North and Central America).

The Oceania winners will play the fourth-placed Concacaf side in a playoff for a spot at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Jamaica, as the world's 52nd-ranked side, are fifth in Concacaf, one place behind Honduras, with who the All Whites drew 1-1 in a post-World Cup friendly in 2010.

"We have planned [our international programme] to 2014 and this is probably the only opportunity we will get to size up Concacaf opposition,'' McKavanagh said.

"Once the playoff draw was done, everyone sized everyone else up. Our success at the [2010] World Cup made us an obvious choice to play and we have had a few people talking with us from [Concacaf] about games.''

For that reason, NZF will insist on its best side taking on Jamaica, even though it is a tight international window and will put pressure on overseas-based players.

Ryan Nelsen is unlikely to feature because of ongoing injury problems, but it's reasonable to expect Chris Wood, Winston Reid, Tommy Smith (all England), Chris Killen (China) and Kosta Barbarouses (Russia) to be called up.

Clubs must release players for Fifa windows but often pressure players to forgo games, especially if it involves long-distance travel.

A venue for the Jamaica game has yet to be decided, with North Harbour Stadium, Eden Park and Mt Smart Stadium all being considered.

NZF has a contractual obligation to play the majority of its home games at North Harbour but, with home-and-away World Cup qualifiers due to be played here later in the year, it's possible it could go somewhere like Eden Park.

That, however, is more expensive to hire and would need a bigger crowd to make it financially viable.

"The bottom line is we don't want to put ourselves at risk financially,'' McKavanagh said. "We have looked at the numbers and model to make it successful. Ultimately, the crowd number is the dictator because it's the main income stream.

"My preference is somewhere we can make the model work for us. I'm not overly stressed about which one.''

The All Whites didn't play at home at all in 2011. They drew 1-1 with China in Wuhan and suffered 3-0 away defeats to Mexico and Australia, prompting their ranking to slide from 63 to 118.

It's not an accurate reflection of their standing, and they would normally occupy a position between 60 and 80.

They will get a chance to address this with the upcoming Nations Cup. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Fiji but the political situation there and a legal spat between Fiji's government and Oceania general secretary Tai Nicholas makes this highly unlikely.

New Zealand or New Caledonia loom as the most likely alternatives.

- Michael Brown of APNZ