KEY POINTS:
"China, do your best! China, do your best!"
As catchy crowd chants it wouldn't make the top 10 but it was quite a racket when 60,000 people cleared their throats in unison.
The urgings were for the men to match the women, who had kicked off their Olympic
campaign with a win over Sweden a night earlier.
But instead it turned out to be a good night to be a New Zealander at the packed Shenyang International Stadium on Thursday as the Oly-Whites marked their Olympic debut with a gritty 1-1 draw against the hosts.
Apart from the 18 players and support staff, there were no more than a small handful of Western faces, mainly parents and relatives, among the crowd who sat sweating buckets in the spectacular stadium.
"Excuse me, sir, where are you from?" the young male volunteer asked during the match.
"Take a guess my friend. Go on, have a wild stab," one was tempted to reply, except that would be rude to hosts whose politeness has constantly provided a counterpoint to the blank-faced security cordon at these Games.
Shenyang is an industrial city north of Beijing. Scenery? Forget it, but the soccer stadium, all layered clean lines with a couple of half shells at each end, is a sight. However it was heartening to note that Eden Park is not the only ground with unacceptably large concession queues.
When the teams walked out, the wall of noise was of slap-in-the-face intensity. Throw in the stifling humidity and you knew what lay ahead.
If you wondered what young soccer players at their first Olympics made of the experience you only needed to check out Aaron Scott, who plays right back and captains the side when Ryan Nelsen isn't around. Scott belted the national anthem out with full gusto and a glance at the faces gave away their sense of the occasion.
"Since day one, when we walked into the Olympic village I've [appreciated] that I have so missed playing for my country," Nelsen said of his first game for New Zealand, albeit at under-23 level, in over four years.
Thursday night, from the anthems to the dramatic finale, brought it all home. A bit different from Blackburn Rovers then?
"Where I play the pressure is pretty intense. Everyone in the world wants your job. But this is a different type of pressure, quite rewarding in a different way _ and quite refreshing too," he said.
When Jeremy Brockie thumped the Oly-Whites into the lead just after halftime it sounded as if a giant tyre had been punctured, a collective emitting of breath from a vast red swathe of people who had come to witness what they figured would be a routine win.
Brockie's father Paul was there to see his son's magic moment.
"I said hello to him afterwards," the Hawkes Bay United striker deadpanned later.
At the post-match press conference, Oly-Whites coach Stu Jacobs was asked his thoughts on the outcome of the pool play. Brazil and Belgium are also in the group, and fancied to advance.
"I'd like to think from our group it will be China and New Zealand," he said. Cue spontaneous laughter and clapping from the Chinese media contingent _ and consideration for a future career in the diplomatic corps for Jacobs.
Asked what he had made of China's performance, a senior Chinese sports writer almost spat the words out.
"Hah! China no good," then laughed and made a face which said: "What do you expect from this lot?"
And New Zealand?
"Better than China."
That'll do as an epitaph on a remarkable night when the Oly-Whites were three minutes from what would have been a famous soccer win.
"It was very emotional. Made you proud to be a Kiwi," Nelsen said.
A hell of a night, too.
