New Zealand have decided to make a permanent appointment for the managerial role, which has been currently occupied by Neil Emblen on an interim basis. The court was appointed as the manager of the team following the exit of Ricki Herbert, who managed to lead the team to immense success over the last five years. Their most crowning achievement certainly has to be the 2010 FIFA World Cup. New Zealand not only qualified for this tournament against all expectations, but they also did exceedingly well even against the world champions Spain.
Since then, New Zealand has been unable to hit the heights in terms of international football. This has led to the exit of Herbert and then the arrival of Neil Emblen. However, it is understood that in New Zealand football Association are not too happy with the work done by Emblen. They recently advertised an opening for the comment managerial job. New Zealand FA chairman Andy Martin has revealed that the response for this advertisement has been overwhelming, as he has already received 50 proposals from managers around the world.
Until the permanent appointment is made, Emblen will be leading the team for the upcoming matches and this includes the friendly against South Africa. New Zealand have failed to win any of the last five matches, but they did go on a three match winning run prior to this.
“The key decision is how we put the team together. In an ideal world we’re looking at a coach that’s fulltime, that can deliver on the high stakes. If that proves to be difficult or we’re not able to do that, then we have to look at how we blend the team together,” said Martin. The South Africa friendly is the final friendly match for the team before they prepare for the next World Cup qualifying.