Nelsen coming back to lead All Whites against Reggae Boyz

The New Zealand Football bean counters are as excited as national coach Ricki Herbert that Ryan Nelsen will be back to lead the All Whites in Auckland on Wednesday.

Nelsen – who has just joined third-ranked English premier league club Totten- ham Hotspur from battlers Blackburn Rovers – confirmed yesterday he would return to play Jamaica at Mt Smart Stadium.

The Reggae Boyz are ranked 50th in the world – the All Whites are 120th – but the Jamaicans have no household names. Hence the availability of New Zealand’s only regular premier league star could help offset the estimated $500,000 cost of assembling the New Zealand team.

‘‘Ryan is a huge drawcard and will no doubt put bums on seats,’’ New Zealand Football chief executive Grant Mckavanagh said. ‘‘Tickets are priced very accessibly and sales are already tracking well but this will speed things up . . .’’

With Herbert on Phoenix duty in Sydney, Mckavanagh spoke to the Tottenham defender overnight and confirmed his availability.

Nelsen will leave for New Zealand after Monday morning’s crucial north London derby between Spurs and Arsenal at Emirates Stadium, arriving in time to take the captain’s run at Mt Smart Stadium on Tuesday evening.

He will then fly out immediately after the game to return in time for Spurs’ weekend clash against Manchester United at White Hart Lane. ‘‘It shows just how committed Ryan is to rep- resenting New Zealand,’’ McKavanagh said.

Meanwhile, young All Whites keeper Jake Gleeson has been forced to withdraw from the Jamaica game and has been replaced by 17-yearold youth international Scott Basalaj, who will be Mark Paston’s backup.

Gleeson, 21, is applying for permanent residence in the United States, where he plays for Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers, but the process has taken longer than expected, grounding the one cap international until the procedure is completed.

Basalaj – currently in Melbourne with the New Zealand Olympic squad – impressed at last year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico and earned a call up for the U-20 event in Colombia. He was linked to a move to Glasgow Rangers before the club’s well-documented financial difficulties.