"I've got bad memories there - that's the worst one for me," said midfielder Michael McGlinchey. "The conditions, the heat, the crowd gets on their side... you need to stay focused and concentrate the whole time."
Tuesday's match will be played at 2pm (3pm NZT), the same timing as 2012 when temperatures got as high as 40 degress celcius and pitch side humidity was close to 100 per cent.
"With the humidity especially, I don't think people understand how difficult it is," said McGlinchey. "At halftime you wear an ice vest to cool your body. It's very hard to deal with. But we need to be smart on the ball and make sure they do all the running."
Tomorrow's match will be a vastly different proposition to last Friday in Auckland. The Solomon Islands team struggled on the slick Albany surface (several members of their team went shopping for new boots with longer studs before the match) and desperately missed the impetus and attacking threat of Micah Lea'alafa, arguably their best player who was unable to travel to New Zealand due to a visa issue.
Across Anthony Hudson's tenure the All Whites have a solid record in the Islands. A depleted squad was unconvincing but unbeaten at the 2016 Nations Cup, conceding only one goal during their five matches in Papua New Guinea. They've been similarly miserly during the current qualifying series, with a 0-0 draw in New Caledonia followed by 2-0 win in Fiji.
"In the first 10 to 15 minutes need to come out like we did on Friday night and make sure that [the tie] is completely dead," said Michael Boxall. "Try not to let any complacency come in."
New Zealand has never lost to the Solomon Islands, in 11 previous encounters, dating back to 1980. However the last four matches played outside this country have been close.
The All Whites won 1-0 in Papua New Guinea last year, and 2-0 in Honiara in 2013. At the Nations Cup they drew 1-1 in the group stages, before a 4-3 win over the home side in the third place playoff.
