Neil Emblen is the temporary coach of the New Zealand team and he will be in charge of his country’s squad when they face off against Japan in a friendly match that is scheduled to be played on March 5.
Japan’s last friendly match was back in November of 2013 when they played against Belgium and managed to win with a tight scoreboard of 3-2 while New Zealand on the other hand suffered a 4-2 defeat as they played against Mexico during a World Cup Qualifying match which was during the time that Ricki Herbert stepped down from his role of being the head coach.
“I’m thankful I’ve been given the opportunity. I’ll be doing my best to help the side be as ready as they can be to put in a good performance.” Emblen said.
The interim coach stated that Japan will be a big test not only for him but also his squad and he is expecting the Japanese side to be going at full strength as they have to prepare themselves for the upcoming World Cup with matches against Greece, Colombia and Ivory Coast awaiting them in Brazil.
The squad that was named by Neil Emblen contains players from Wellington Phoenix, Olympique Marseille, Blackburn Rovers, Leicester City, Melbourne Victory, Perth Glory, Stuttgart a number of other clubs which are playing for the Championship league as well as many different leagues from around the globe.
It includes the Phoenix goalkeeper Glen Moss as he will be playing his 1st match for the national team while Winston Reid was not named in the starting lineup of Neil Emblen as Reid remains injured with an ankle problem. Reid even had to miss the 2 leg tie with Mexico which was played some time ago as his injury has left him out of a number of important matches.