After 9-to-5 routines, Kiwis pit skills against mighty Brazil

“It’s pretty special. Most of our players are at university and some of them have nine to five jobs so this is quite a change,” said striker Jeremy Brockie. Isolated in the Oceania confederation, most of New Zealand’s competitive games are against minor teams from the South Pacific such as the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Samoa.

“Nothing is bigger than this. It’s going to beone hell of a night,” coach Stu Jacobs said. “They are all with top Europeans clubs, you have got Marcelo with Real Madrid, a couple in the Premiership, Alexandre Pato, to name a few. It’s not everyday you get to play Brazil and the names that roll off their team sheet.”

New Zealand, whose toughest qualifying game was a 2-1 win over Fiji, held hosts China to a 1-1 draw in their opening Group C game and face Belgium in their final match.

Jacobs said he did not want to depend on winning the Belgium match to qualify.

“First and foremost, we are concentrating on getting a decent result, but we don’t want to look too far ahead. It’s not a case of putting all our eggs in the Belgium basket.

“It’s just not in our make up to write this game off, and it would be a disservice to the players to do so.

“If we just try and hold them at bay, I think we are going to get trounced.”