RUSTENBURG - Tony Lochhead didn't sleep much on Sunday night (South Africa time).
He sat down in the early hours of Monday morning and something compelled him to watch the replay of their 5-0 hiding at the hands of Spain. It wasn't pretty but perhaps a little cathartic.
"It's not
fun watching them walk all over you," the 27-year-old left-back says reflectively. "I didn't get to sleep until about 5am, tossing and turning thinking about it.
"There were patches when we put together some OK stuff, just not enough of it.
"Maybe we gave them too much respect. Maybe we went in thinking we will stop them from scoring rather than thinking we should play our game. We gave them too much time, space and respect and they took advantage of us."
Lochhead would do well to remember plenty of teams have suffered the same fate at the hands of this Spain team. They are, after all, Confederations Cup favourites, European champions, world No 1 and just two results shy of equalling Brazil's record of 35 matches unbeaten.
The sort of football they played in the opening 30 minutes, when they raced out to a 4-0 lead, was often breathtaking and the finishing from Fernando Torres, who scored the quickest hat-trick in Confederatons Cup history with three inside 17 minutes, confirmed his place as the world's best finisher.
The All Whites contributed to their own downfall, too, with some basic errors and slack defending and Lochhead wouldn't have enjoyed watching himself get out-jumped for Torres' third goal.
"We did well against Italy but Spain was a wakeup call," he says. "We were too afraid when we were out there - deer in the headlights.
"We need to put it behind us and concentrate on the next two games because South Africa and Iraq aren't going to be easy, either. But the tournament starts here for us. We just need to go out and do what we know we can.
"We want to get through to the second round. If we get a draw or a win against South Africa [Thursday morning NZT], that puts us in really good shape. Then we would need either a draw or a win against Iraq because, realistically, Spain are going to win their next two games [against Iraq and South Africa]. We got thumped 5-0 but we are still in pretty good shape."
They will start as underdogs in both of their remaining games but will have seen nothing to fear in South Africa's largely uninspiring 0-0 draw with Iraq in the tournament opener.
Bafana Bafana looked better in the second spell and should have won but couldn't find a breakthrough against what was an average Iraq side.
There is tremendous pressure on the hosts, especially with their outlandish demands for financial riches if they win the tournament, and most South Africans expect them to win each time they take to the field even if it is against the best teams.
If the All Whites could start well in their second match, and play somewhere approaching the level they did against Italy, they would grow in confidence and frustrate a side whose chances of advancing to the second round would be virtually over if they don't pick up at least a draw.
Coach Ricki Herbert is playing his cards close to his chest to put all players on edge but could opt for the fit-again Ben Sigmund in place of David Mulligan at right-back and either Jeremy Christie or Andy Barron for Jeremy Brockie at right midfield.
"I saw parts of the South Africa game," says Lochhead, whose 91-year-old grandmother died when he was with the All Whites in Tanzania on the eve of the Confederations Cup. "It was the first time I have seen them play. I think they will be athletic and pretty quick and good on the ball but I think if we're solid as a unit we can break them down.
"I don't know if they looked nervous or it was the [poor state of the] pitch but they were giving the ball away a little cheaply. I don't think either team will be easy but they are definitely beatable. I don't think we should go in thinking we don't have a good chance because we do."
Lochhead would surely sleep better at night if they could.
Michael Brown travelled to the Confederations Cup courtesy of Emirates, official airline of the 2010 World Cup.
