Wisconsin men’s soccer sophomore defender Sam Brotherton has been called up to compete with the New Zealand national team in the All Whites’ 2016 USA Tour.
“It’s just very special to be called up by your country, by your full national team,” head coach John Trask said. “Sam is the only amateur player on the team. It’s just great for the athletic department and the university to have a player that is representing their country and playing Mexico and the United States, two of the best teams in the world, here in the next eight days.
“All of his teammates and the coaching staff are wishing him good luck and he will rejoin the team in preparation for the Maryland game.”
The Oceania Football Confederation Nations Cup champions will play an international friendly against Mexico on Oct. 8 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee and the United States on Oct. 11 at the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington D.C.
The All Whites have played the USA only twice in their history. They lost 2-1 at Richmond, Virginia, in 2003 when Vaughan Coveny was on the scoresheet for New Zealand and they went down 2-1 in Guadalajara in the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup when Chris Zoricich scored his only international goal with a late free-kick.
Both competitions against the U.S. and Mexico will help prepare the All Whites for the OFC Stage Three Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup in 2016-17 and the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.
Brotherton and the New Zealand national team captured the OFC Nations Cup title in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea last summer.
In the championship game, Brotherton started and played the full 120 minutes for the All Whites, who defeated host Papua New Guinea on penalty kicks, 4-2, to capture the tournament title. The Badgers’ captain this season, Brotherton started all five matches for New Zealand at the OFC Nations Cup.
A native of Auckland, New Zealand, he was a 2015 All-Big Ten Freshman honoree for the Badgers after starting all 17 games he played in for Wisconsin.
(courtesy UW Athletic Communications)
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