Playing Career
Herbert represented New Zealand at age group level, playing for the New Zealand under-20 side and gained 61 full international caps from 1980–1989, scoring seven goals.
Herbert made his full international début in a 4–0 win over Mexico on 20 August 1980 at the age of 21, and featured in all 15 matches of the All Whites’ World Cup qualifying campaign for the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. Herbert was a substitute for the loss against Scotland, but was reinstated to the starting eleven for both USSR and Brazil as New Zealand failed to claim any points in their first World Cup finals appearance.
At club level, he represented a number of teams in his homeland and played in the Australian league. He had his greatest success with Mt Wellington AFC where he won three league championships during two spells with the club and two Chatham Cup triumphs.
In 1982 Herbert spent some time at Southampton FC, where he made a few appearances for the reserve team and one disastrous friendly appearance for the first team. He also had a spell in English football with Wolverhampton Wanderers from 1984–86, where he made 49 appearances in total. He was signed by manager Tommy Docherty who had previously coached Herbert while manager of Sydney Olympic. However, his time at the club coincided with them sliding down the leagues; Herbert was part of the team relegated to the third tier in 1985, but left in March 1986 shortly before a successive relegation after falling out with new manager Sammy Chapman.
Read more about this topic: Ricki Herbert
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