All Whites assistant off to World Cup draw

ROSS GIBLIN/The Dominion Post

RED CARPET: All Whites assistant coach Brian Turner is off to the Fifa World Cup draw in South Africa as a stand-in for coach Ricki Herbert.

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All Whites assistant coach Brian Turner will deputise for Ricki Herbert when New Zealand discovers its World Cup opponents at the final draw in Cape Town next week.

The draw will be shown live on SKY sport at 6am on December 5 (NZ time).

Club commitments with Wellington Phoenix, who play Melbourne Victory at home the night before, will prevent Herbert from attending the red carpet event but Turner will represent the All Whites coaching and management team when the 32 qualified nations learn their fate.

Fifa will determine the eight seeded teams – hosts South Africa are guaranteed to be one of the seeded nations – at a meeting on December 2 in Cape Town.

New Zealand Football Chairman Frank van Hattum, who will also be present at the red carpet draw along with NZF High Performance Manager Alex Chiet, was pleased that Turner had secured leave to complete the project team.

''We must thank Brian's employer Bostik for their generosity and understanding," van Hattum said.

"Brian will add that crucial input from the management team on decisions around preparation and I'm sure he'll be in demand from international media when the draw is made."

"There is also lot of work to be done once we find out who and where we are playing and Brian and Alex will be at the heart of that."

The following two days after the draw will be spent visiting facilities in the venues of New Zealand group matches.

- © Fairfax NZ News