We caught up with dual Wellington Phoenix and All-White coach Ricki Herbert, the only A-League boss to be in the dugout at this year's World Cup.

What are your reflections on the year gone by?

It's been a really special time for football in New Zealand. The club is growing and getting stronger, and obviously the World Cup opportunity grows the game pretty quickly in a multiple of ways, financially and a whole raft of things. So it was an exciting end to a memorable year.

At the World Cup, you play Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay. With a number of non-European league players, tell us about how you'll tailor your preparations and recovery?

There will be a strong emphasis on recovery. We have a sports scientist [Kenny McMillan] who will join us. He's at Aston Villa and was on board for the Confederations Cup. He was with Martin O'Neill at Celtic. That'll be incredibly important.

Logistically all our games are at altitude hence the reason to get there early, but I don't want to be there for a whole long time because that could get quite boring.

But the volume of days in-between games is a bit more sensitive.  So we travel to three venues and two of those will be by plane so you're talking about a day of travel, the next day playing, and the next coming home.

You've got 23 players but at the end of the day you've probably got a dip in your quality. It's an absolute priority on how we do it [recovery].

Are you courting danger by parking the bus against a side like Italy?

There's always a balance to it. I think for a long, long time, for maybe too long, the psyche of New Zealand teams has been very much to get everyone behind the ball and if we score off a corner then great. Hopefully I've broken that tradition a little bit with formations and who we've selected in the team in crucial games.

I mean, we played two upfront against Italy [in a 2009 Confederations Cup warm-up friendly, losing 4-3], with Smeltz and Killen in a 4-4-2 and we created a number of chances. I think you've got to give yourself a foothold in the game and if you're not careful.

I think proof was there in the Spain game [at the 2009 Confederations Cup] when we never got going and were 5-0 down after 30 minutes and you can't get out. Whether that was a little lack of belief or a bit of insecurity against the best in the world. If we'd have been different I don't think you'd be 5-0 down after 30. So you could balance it out by being a bit more aggressive. I've always said to the players we're a much better team when we're on the front foot.

Against Iraq [at the 2009 Confederations Cup], who needed to win to progress, I thought we were well dominant and should've won it. And they weren't inferior to South Africa [who beat New Zealand 2-0]; in fact they were a better side, but our application was different on the night. And it gave us belief that we could compete at this level.

Italy will be under pressure from their own fans if things don't go well against you...

I guess we kinda know the Italians a little more by playing them in the lead-in to the Confederations Cup. I'm really excited - four times World Cup winners - you can't pit yourself against anyone better.

Of course you've got to be cautious but it's the mentality. If you're going to try soak up against Italy for 90 minutes - forget it. You could be on the back end of a hiding.

If we're careful in what we do and the mentality is right, physiologically we'll cope with it but that's a little bit of me too. I don't want to sit back. Let's not play six at the back and hopefully Smeltzy gets one on the break.

One local football commentator recently described New Zealand as "road kill" in your group. How does that sit with your view?

I don't think it hurts you in any way. The reality is we are what we are but I think within the players there is a good belief and a direction about what we want to do and I think we can make it difficult.

In our own small way we made it difficult in 1982 [at the World Cup in Spain] by scoring two goals against Scotland which put them out on goal difference.

I don't think we'll go there [to South Africa] and be totally exposed.

Smeltzy, is he good enough to play in the EPL? And what advice would you be giving him in the lead up to an almost certain move away this year from the A-League to a bigger competition?

Having worked with Shane for a long period of time, I've seen a development of maturity and performance. He's had a balance in his life too and all those sorts of things have culminated in what he's doing. His delivery goal-wise, success-wise in this league is second to none now.

I think he could [play in the EPL]. I think it's a league we watch a lot of and now... look, five years ago no, but Shane would be a better player in a good league. Not in a third division... but in a good footballing side, yes I think he could.

And I think he will be ambitious. I don't know where his head is at day-to-day but I think he needs to be ambitious because the product and quality is there and he's worked extremely hard.

He's come through difficult times and I think I've said it before, he was on the brink of not playing for us some years ago, but he's captured that form and belief is back and we've stuck with that belief and he's on fire.

It seems like since the Wales game in 2007 [the All-Whites drew 2-2 with Ryan Giggs' side in Wrexham, with Smeltz scoring a brace], he's been on an upward swing that's not stopped...

Yeah, Shane's come off the back of that, had two good years with us scoring goals, he's been golden boot then to Gold Coast. I think he's realising everything he thought he could realise but wasn't prior to that.

It's funny how things just fit into place. A lot of people want him there and he's playing in a role where everyone's chasing quality.

How is the next World Cup squad shaping up?

Most of the players are available for the 2014 campaign. Smeltzy, Fallon, Lochhead, Brown, Bertos all those boys came out of the Olympic Games campaign I had and they'll all go another World Cup. Put a Ryan Nelson in there, he'll go around again, Tommy Smith now coming in from Ipswich, the two keepers Paston and Moss will continue on.

We won't be any inferior; in fact, we'll probably be better. Chris Wood will be another extension to what he's doing at West Brom and Rory Fallon has only played three games - he'll probably have 30 games under his belt by that time.

It's promising.

What are your coaching ambitions?

I've been asked that a few times... to be fair I've just tried to take a bit of a deep breath. It's been a helluva year. But there's always been that conjecture over club and country. It hasn't actually posed a problem but obviously it's going to be tougher now with World Cup... I'm not 100% sure.

What's your New Year's resolution?

I think to have a big and better 2010. It's often easy to say we're here now, 'okay we've made the World Cup' but I want to help support the momentum of football in New Zealand.

There are all these thousands of kids playing the game; what are they playing it for? They want to see success at the top level, they want heroes. And players to support, and that's been the great thing about Phoenix - there are six World Cup players playing in Wellington. And that's pretty good.

I just love the game and I'm not always going to be the national coach, but I don't want to see an All-White team get thumped and not going to a World Cup.

Why can't we go every four years? How cool would that be? Let's be more ambitious, let's be a bit more visionary and break the mould.

*In part two of our chat with Ricki Herbert later this week, he tells us how he plotted Bahrain's downfall in the final World Cup qualifier, New Zealand's future in Asian football and how the game back home is slowly changing.