KEY POINTS:
New Zealand coach Stu Jacobs is comfortable his side have done all they can to be ready for their opening Beijing Olympic Games men's soccer qualifier on Saturday.
Jacobs's under-23 Olympics side face a difficult assignment against Oceania qualifying tournament hosts Fiji at Lautoka's Churchill Park.
The match
is scheduled to start at 2pm local time (3pm NZT) - the hottest part of the day and pits a New Zealand side only brought together in Auckland 11 days prior to kick-off against a Fijian squad that has an extensive build-up, including an unbeaten four-match tour of Queensland in early February.
New Zealand have had to make do with warm-up matches against an Auckland City XI and an Eastern Suburbs-Auckland Football combination which the Oly-Whites encouragingly won 2-0 and 2-1 respectively.
With New Zealand dominating Oceania qualifying tournaments at all-levels since Australia's departure to the Asian Football Confederation in January 2006, the Oly Whites understandably start favourites in Fiji.
But Jacobs is under no illusions, particularly given the Oly-Whites daunting opening match.
"You look at the effort put into the U-20s campaign, a good 14 months, and people saw how difficult it was to qualifying at home," Jacobs said.
"Now we've had ten days to try and pull together a side and we have to qualify up in Fiji - it's not going to be easy.
"But we're confident we can get a result against Fiji to get our campaign off to a good start.
"The squad's come together very well and have worked hard to understand the system we want them to play."
As well as Fiji, Jacobs is also warily eyeing New Zealand's fourth match against the Solomon Islands on March 7.
The winner of the six-nation, nine-day tournament qualifies for August's Beijing Olympics as the Oceania Football Confederation's sole representative.
The Oly-Whites will require final sign-off from the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) to take their place in the 16-nation Olympic tournament should they qualify.
New Zealand will be without the experience of injured Sunderland FC defender Jack Pelter and Manawatu playmaker Nick Roydhouse while Canterbury United goalkeeper Michael O'Keeffe is an 11th hour withdrawal from the squad after picking up a mystery virus.
O'Keefe has been replaced by Australia-based goalkeeper Roy Bell from the McArthur Rams.
New Zealand has never qualified for the Olympics, narrowly dipping out to now Asian-aligned Australia for a place at the 2004 Athens Games.
Olympic qualifying football is played by U-23 teams with three over-age players permitted at the Games proper.
The other participating nations in Fiji are Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu.
- NZPA
