KEY POINTS:
History will be a big motivator when the All Whites open their World Cup soccer qualifying campaign against Fiji in Lautoka tomorrow.
The New Zealanders, who fly out of Auckland today, will head into the encounter as favourites.
But for skipper Tim Brown, that status counts for little
and he has ruled out any complacency within his camp.
"With what history has taught us, this squad will not be taking anything for granted," he said yesterday.
"We've got a lot to prove and Wednesday is the first chance to do that. We will be very up for it."
Those who were there haven't forgotten New Zealand's humiliating exit from their last World Cup campaign.
Their elimination came courtesy largely of a shock 4-2 defeat to Vanuatu in the Oceania qualifying tournament in Adelaide in June 2003.
Brown was in the squad, and the fact that he didn't get on the pitch against Vanuatu didn't lessen the impact of the result.
"It still burns," he said. "It's still etched in my memory."
Brown will be leading his country for the second time when he walks out at Churchill Park.
He put on the captain's armband for the first time when standing in for the injured and now-retired Danny Hay in the All Whites' impressive 2-2 draw with Wales in Wrexham in May.
He said he didn't know a lot about the Fiji side and the All Whites' focus in their preparations had been on their own game.
"With the quality we got in the squad, if we turn up to play and we perform, that should take care of the result, but we are under no illusions that it's going to be easy," he said.
"The conditions will be very, very hot and the crowd very much against us, and Fiji will be fired up because it's their World Cup qualifying campaign as well."
He said the All Whites' false start to their present campaign, with the postponement of the opening fixture against Fiji in Auckland on Saturday, had initially been "pretty deflating".
World governing body Fifa called the match off because of the New Zealand Government's refusal to give Fiji goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau a visa.
Under sanctions introduced after the coup in Fiji last December, Tamanisau was denied a visa because his partner's father is in the military.
"We had a quiet couple of days over the weekend to take stock," Brown said.
"The squad as a whole worked very hard towards that game and when it doesn't happen, it's deflating for the guys, but we're over that now. It was a political issue and out of our control."
Teammate Ivan Vicelich expected Fiji to be tough, strong and a big side physically.
They would also be confident after their second placing in the South Pacific Games in Samoa last month, a tournament that was the first stage of qualifying for island nations.
"It's home ground for them and there'll be a lot of support there, so it's going to very difficult," Vicelich said.
"We have to be switched on from the first whistle."
- NZPA
