New Zealand vs Slovakia – teams announced

Slovakia captain Marek Hamsik will shake hands with New Zealand skipper Ryan Nelson ahead of their side’s match which kicks off at 12.30pm today.

The Blackburn man is key to New Zeland’s hopes of keeping a clean sheet, which they are 6/1 to do.

Napoli’s Hamsik meanwhile, will be trying to ensure the All White’s goal is breached, and is a decent price of 7/1 to score first.

The odds suggest it will be a matter of how many for the European side with a win for them 4/9.

2-0 is 5/1 while 3-0 is 10/1. Slovakia’s current top scorer, Robert Vittek also starts. He is 5/1 to break the deadlock.

The draw is priced at 3/1, a possibly generous price when you consider the Australaisian team beat Serbia 1-0 in a warm-up game.

The same positive score for New Zealand here is 12/1. Middlesbrough’s Chris Killen makes Ricki Herbert’s starting XI and is 7/2 to score at any time.

See the Daily Specials market to bet on this match in combination with the day’s others.

Teams in full:

New Zealand
Paston, Lochhead, Reid, Vicelich, Nelson (Captain), Elliott, Smeltz, Killen, Bertos, Fallon, Smith

Slovakia
Mucha, Skrtel, Cech, Zabavnik, Strba, Weiss, Sestak, Vittek, Durica, Hamsik (Captain), Jendrisek

How will Group F’s less fancied sides fare against each other? See the full New Zealand v Slovakia match betting market.