The influential but injured All Whites midfielder and vice-captain Tim Brown remains hopeful he can play a part in New Zealand's football World Cup campaign next month.
Brown's spoken to media for the first time since undergoing surgery to hold his fractured shoulder together, following the injury in Monday's Socceroos friendly.
He's got three big screws in there and reckons he's really lucky. The surgeon says he "aced it" and Brown says it's not often that doctors talk like that.
It was a freak thing and the bone's really settled with the screws locking it in and all the muscles and ligaments are intact.
Brown will get on the bike to maintain fitness and do other rehabilitation before meeting with the surgeon again on June the 10th to reassess his situation.
If he gets the green light he'll be on the first plane to South Africa.
The All Whites face Serbia in a friendly in Austria tomorrow morning.
