HERBERT SIGNS UP FOR NEW ZEALAND

Ricki Herbert has renewed his contract with the New Zealand National Football Team till the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil after a string of impressive results with the All Whites over the last few years.

This is the second time since the end of the FIFA World Cup campaign of 2010 in South Africa that the team has retained the services of the manager who led them to the World Cup for the first time since 1982 and stayed unbeaten throughout the competition that included the likes of then World Champions Italy, Slovakia as well as Paraguay.

Herbert took over the reins of the national team in 2005 and if he does continue till the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, he will become the longest serving coach in the history of the New Zealand National Football Team. After the first extension of his contract after the 2010 World Cup, he was expected to leave at the end of the World Cup Qualifiers for the Oceania group which would have ended in mid 2012 but the rescheduling of the matches mean that the games would finish in 2013.

Herbert has coached the New Zealand national team in 40 matches with 11 wins, 10 draws and 19 losses in all and although this is a very underwhelming result in international standards, his extension was largely due to the qualification and performance of the national in the 2010 World Cup.

According to betfair, after signing his contract with the All Whites, Herbert said that the team had a lot to do if the New Zealand National Football Team were to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Herbert had been tipped to move into management in Europe, with Schalke (the team with the lowest Europa League odds) interested in taking on his services, but the new contract means that Herbert will lead the All Whites at the FIFA Confederations Cup and World Cup instead.