The excitement is building as we get closer to opening match of the 2010 World Cup. The Great Tournament is less than two weeks away and the anticipation of the 1st African World Cup is building, its going to be great. We continue on to Group F with Oceania's representative, New Zealand.

OFFICIAL NAME: New Zealand Football



NICKNAME: All Whites

FIFA CONFEDERATION: OFC (Oceania)

FIFA CODE: NZL

HOW THEY QUALIFIED: Won Oceania WC qualifying group and def. Bahrain in 2-leg playoff.

WORLD CUP APPEARANCES (INCLUDING 2010): 2

BEST WC FINISH: Eliminated in Group Stage, Spain 1982

WORLD CUP RECORD (MP: Wins - Draws - Losses): 3:0W - 0D - 3L

HEAD COACH: Ricki Herbert

MOST CAPPED PLAYER (# of caps): Ivan Vicelich (66)

ALL-TIME GOAL SCORING LEADER (# of goals): Vaughan Coveny (28)

BRIEF FOOTBALLING HISTORY:
New Zealand became the dominant force in Oceania after Australia joined the Asian Football Confederation. The All Whites 1st appearance in the World Cup was Spain 1982 and they needed a dramatic playoff win against China to make history. 28 years later, it happened again this time against Bahrain in another playoff. New Zealand has yet to win a match in a World Cup or Confederations Cup.

PLAYER TO WATCH:
New Zealand will look to a young playmaker from the A-League to help spearhead its attack, his name is Jeremy Brockie.
(Photo By NZSoccer.com)
Brockie is a veteran of New Zealand's Under-20 and Under-23 teams and wears the #10 shirt for Newcastle Jets of the A-League. Brockie is seen as a rising star in New Zealand football and made the WC squad despite breaking his leg in an A-League match in January.

OUTLOOK:
New Zealand might be the biggest underdog in this World Cup and it will be a massive accomplishment if they can get a point from a team in this group. If they manage to shock the footballing world and advance out of the group, The All Whites would instantly become the sentimental favorites.

FINAL 23-MAN WC ROSTER:
Goalkeepers:
James Bannatyne (Team Wellington), Glen Moss (Melbourne Victory/Australia), Mark Paston (Wellington Phoenix)

Defenders:
Andy Boyens (New York Red Bulls/USA), Tony Lochhead (Wellington Phoenix), Ryan Nelsen (Blackburn Rovers/England), Winston Reid (FC Midtjylland/Denmark), Ben Sigmund (Wellington Phoenix), Tommy Smith (Ipswich Town/England), Ivan Vicelich (Auckland City)

Midfielders:
Andy Barron (Team Wellington), Leo Bertos (Wellington Phoenix), Tim Brown (Wellington Phoenix), Jeremy Christie (FC Tampa Bay Rowdies/USA), Aaron Clapham (Canterbury United), Simon Elliott (unattached), Michael McGlinchey (Motherwell/Scotland), David Mulligan (unattached)

Forwards:
Jeremy Brockie (Newcastle Jets/Australia), Rory Fallon (Plymouth Argyle/England), Chris Killen (Middlesbrough/England), Shane Smeltz (Gold Coast United/Australia), Chris Wood (West Bromwich Albion/England)

WC GROUP SCHEDULE:
June 15 vs. Slovakia
June 20 vs. Italy
June 24 vs. Paraguay

Group F Breakdowns continue with Paraguay

New Zealand - WC Team Breakdown

Paraguay officially began their World Cup preparations as Gerardo Martino gave out his preliminary list of players and as expected Lucas Barrios was on the list.  The former Colo Colo man is happy to have been called up weeks after he did his paperwork for Paraguayan citizenship. 

He will fill in for America star Salvador Cabañas who was shot in a club in Mexico City back in January. 

The Argentine-born Barrios is yet another nationalized player to join the Albirroja much to the controversy in Paraguay. He is the third nationalized player alongside Jonathan Santana and Néstor Ortigoza who plays for Lanús. Barrios will form part of a formidable group of forwards led by Borussia Dortmund teammate Nelson Haedo Valdez, Manchester City's Roque Santa Cruz, and Benfica's Oscar Cardozo.

Overall the majority of the team comes from Germany, Argentina, and Mexico.   Martino did count with four domestic players that came from the two top teams in the Paraguayan league- Cerro Porteño and Libertad. 

The biggest shock was the inclusion of 36-year-old Denis Caniza to the list. Caniza could make it to his fourth consecutive World Cup. The former Cruz Azul, Olimpia, and Nacional man is currently also playing in the Mexican Primera A with León.

Coach Gerardo Martino will give out the final 23-man roster on June 1st. Paraguay will participate in Group F alongside Italy, Slovakia, and New Zealand.

Goalkeepers: Justo Villar (Valladolid-ESP), Aldo Bobadilla (Deportivo Independiente Medellín-COL), Diego Barreto (Cerro Porteño)

Defenders: Denis Caniza (León- MEX), Darío Verón (Pumas-MEX), Julio Cáceres, Antolín Alcaraz (Brugge-BEL), Paulo Da Silva (Sunderland-ENG), Claudio Morel Rodríguez (Boca Juniors-ARG), Carlos Bonet (Olimpia), Aureliano Torres (San Lorenzo-ARG), Julio Manzur (Racing Club-ARG), Marcos Caceres (Cerro Porteño).

Midfielders: Enrique Vera (LDUQ-ECU), Cristian Riveros (Cruz Azul-MEX), Edgar Barreto (Atalanta-ITA), Jonathan Santana (Wolfsburg- GER), Néstor Ortigoza (Argentinos Juniors-ARG), Víctor Cáceres (Libertad), Eduardo Ledesma (Lanús-ARG), Marcelo Estigarribia (Newell's Old Boys- ARG), Sergio Aquino (Libertad).

Forwards: Osvaldo Martínez (Monterrey- MEX), Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City-ENG), Nelson Haedo Valdez(Borussia Dortmund- GER), Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dortmund- GER), Oscar Cardozo (Benfica-POR), Edgar Benítez (Pachuca- MEX), Jorge Achucarro (Newell's Old Boys- ARG), Rodolfo Gamarra (Libertad).

Related Articles

• FIFA.com: Santa Cruz: We will be hard to beat
  
• USA Today: Slovak defender Skrtel recovers from broken foot
  
• Yahoo UK: Barrios included in 30-man roster
  

Martino divulges Paraguay list

Italy coach Marcello Lippi named his 29-man roster prior to the World Cup.

He did exclude players from both Inter and AS Roma as they will be playing in the final of the Coppa Italia. These two sides are also battling for the Scudetto as well. Inter meantime are looking to become the first Italian side to win the treble. So players like Daniele De Rossi and Luca Toni. This also gives Inter's mercurial striker Mario Balotelli a chance to still be part of the squad.

Lippi will have to decide which six players he will have to leave out prior to his trip to South Africa. Based on the initial list, the big shock could be the exclusion of Villarreal striker Giuseppe Rossi.  The native of Tea Neck, New Jersey was a constant call for the Azzurri during World Cup qualifying and was the team's leading scorer in last year's Confederations Cup.  But his current campaign with the Yellow Submarine

Another player that will not get the callup from Lippi will be Juventus striker Amauri. The Brazilian-born poacher was being speculated to go with the Italians after well over two seasons of speculation over which colors he would be defending come South Africa. In the end he will be left out by both Italy and Brazil.

Other that were left out of the mix were Palermo's Fabrizio Miccoli as well as Sampdoria's Antonio Cassano.

Italy begin the defense of their title on as they face Paraguay on June 14th. They will then play Slovakia and finish off group play against Oceania champs New Zealand.


Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari), Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo)

Defenders: Salvatore Bocchetti and Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Leonardo Bonucci (Bari), Fabio Cannavaro, Giorgio Chiellini, Fabio Grosso and Nicola Legrottaglie (all Juventus), Mattia Cassani (Palermo), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan)

Midfielders: Mauro German Camoranesi, Antonio Candreva and Claudio Marchisio (all Juventus), Andrea Cossu (Cagliari), Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Simone Pepe (Udinese)

Forwards: Marco Borriello (AC Milan), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli)

Lippi announces Italy pre-World Cup roster