The All Whites won't see many friendly faces in the crowd when they face Mexico in Los Angeles. Photo / Mark Mitchell
A hostile crowd is expected to engulf the All Whites at Los Angeles's massive Rose Bowl Stadium when they face Mexico's national soccer team this week.
The All Whites will play Mexico - ranked 17th, against New Zealand's 79 - in a World Cup preparation match on Thursday, New Zealand
time.
A statement released by NZ Soccer this evening says 50,000 tickets have been sold with the crowd expected to swell to as many as 75,000 people.
In a city home to 4.7 million Hispanics, and California to more than 8 million Mexicans, the overwhelming majority will be Mexico supporters meaning that Rose Bowl Stadium will be anything but a neutral venue.
It is likely to be one of the biggest crowds most All Whites players would have faced.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the crowd in last week's match against Bolivia, played in San Francisco, was "pro-Mexico".
Before 34,244 supporters Mexico thrashed Bolivia - who did not qualify for the World Cup but ranks 23 places higher than New Zealand in FIFA's world rankings - five to zero.
That game was at San Francisco's Candlestick Park, which has 30,000 fewer seats than Los Angeles' Rose Bowl Stadium.
The Rose Bowl Stadium is home to one of the United States' biggest american football games between university teams every year, played on New Years Day.
The 1973 Rose Bowl drew a record attendance of 106,869.
The All Whites' New Zealand-based players and management arrived in Los Angeles this afternoon after an economy-class flight from New Zealand. The team will begin their match preparation tomorrow morning.
They will be without captain Ryan Nelsen, out for up to six weeks with a hyperextended knee.
"The preparation is never how you wanted to be," stand-in captain Tim Brown said upon the team's arrival in Los Angeles.
"We've had enough experience of that we'll be okay and we can rip into it."
