All Whites captain Winston Reid has laid down the gauntlet ahead of tomorrow's match with Peru, with a cheeky jibe at a local reporter.
Coach Anthony Hudson and Reid faced a huge posse of local media in the pre-match press conference, with almost 100 journalists in the room.
One reporter seemed to try and provoke Reid asking him "We knew statistics are made to be broken but your team has a bad record away from home. How will you overcome that?
Reid took gentle umbrage at the question, and reminded the room of Peru's long World Cup drought.
"Well you haven't been to a World Cup either for 30 years have you?" said Reid, prompting a hush to come across the room. "Records are there to be broken for you and for us so we'll see. We know it's difficult like Anthony said, you have a very good team but we must come here and believe in ourselves and through that we will try to get a good result"
Peru last played at the World Cup in the 1982 tournament, the same event in which the All Whites made their maiden appearance.
The All Whites last qualified for the World Cup in 2010, when they drew all three group games against Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay.
New Zealand are $5.50 outsiders at the TAB to advance to their third World Cup. Peru have the heavy favourites, paying $1.11.
The All Whites trained today at the Estadio Nacional, where the game will take place tomorrow afternoon. Defender Tommy Smith did not take part in training, putting serious doubt in whether he will take the field in Lima.