New Zealand-born midfielder Chris James played a number of youth international matches for England where he lived for 13 years, before confirming his allegiance to the Kiwis.
James will be especially keen to meet the world's best after being forced to miss the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, and failing to claim a berth in the Beijing Olympics squad. His absence was a severe blow to the New Zealanders after James had been named the best young player in the country in 2006.
The energetic and talented playmaker spent two years with Finnish club Tampere United, where he follows in the footsteps of previous All Whites to have played for the same club, Noah Hickey and Lee Jones. However after only infrequent appearances for the club, which included loan stints at TPV and FC Ilves, James secured a move to English League Two club Barnet in April. James initially learnt his trade at Fulham where he spent four years without making a first team appearance.
The 22-year-old played three of their six FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers in the Oceania zone but was left of the 18-man roster for the two-legged playoff against Bahrain.
James was used as a substitute in two FIFA Confederations Cup matches against Spain and South Africa and also played in two pre-tournament friendlies against Botswana and Tanzania but is another to have been recently squeezed out with their emergence of the likes of Chris Wood, Rory Fallon and Michael McGlinchey.
