The All Whites gathered in Los Angeles yesterday facing a tight turnaround before a tough World Cup soccer warm-up match against world No17 Mexico in Pasadena, California, tomorrow (NZT). Tim Brown, who will wear the captain's armband in place of the injured Ryan Nelsen, was among the bulk of the squadto arrive from New Zealand and while the Phoenix midfielder admitted to being a "bit jaded", he said the Mexican test was already whetting the appetite. " We [squad] haven't seen each other for a while but we're excited about the challenge," Brown said. The team will train just twice today after not playing together since beating Bahrain 1-0 in Wellington on November 14, a result which guaranteed their passage to the World Cup in South Africa in June. Brown said a lack of time together was simply part and parcel of international soccer. "The preparation is never how you want it to be but we've had enough experience of that, we'll be okay and we can rip into it." Mexico are coming off a 5-0 win over Bolivia with local players and will welcome their European-based stars for the match against New Zealand. Organisers have already sold 50,000 tickets and a crowd of up to 75,000 is expected. "It'll be massively tough," Brown said. "A lot of teams around the world would struggle, but we will have to step up and rise to the challenge because with the quality of players they have it could be a very difficult night for us if we are not switched on." However sizeable the task, Brown believes the carrot of a place in coach Ricki Herbert's 23-man World Cup squad can inspire the best out the current group, including three uncapped players. "There's a big tournament coming up and everyone wants to be there. Every time you play for New Zealand you play for your jersey." NZPA
