The tim brown football whites brown we’re

Vice-captain Tim Brown knows there’s still a huge mountain to climb to
get to the 2010 football World Cup finals, but says the All Whites are
up for the challenge.

New Zealand play New Caledonia in Auckland on Wednesday night in a
return match that has become a dead rubber in the Oceania qualifying
process.

The All Whites opened out an unassailable lead at the top of the
Oceania points table when they beat the same opponents 3-1 in Noumea
at the weekend.

They now face one more phase of qualifying to gain one of the 32
places in the World Cup finals in South Africa – a home-and-away tie
late next year against the fifth-ranked Asian nation.

While that means just two matches stand between the All Whites and the
game’s biggest tournament, Brown and his teammates weren’t
underestimating the difficulty of the task before them.

“Whoever we play, we go into the situation as massive underdogs,
there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

“But the fact is, we’re there and we have a chance. However small that
chance is, we have a chance.”

“I know from the nature and the character of this group that we’re
going it embrace it whole-heartedly,” he said.

The present round of Asian qualifying – where 10 teams in two groups
are battling for four automatic places – began at the weekend and is
set to continue until June.

While the result of the upcoming match against New Caledonia was
largely academic, there had been no drop-off in intensity within the
squad.

“We’re moving towards two important games, essentially 180 minutes of
football that will put us in the World Cup,” he said.

“Every time we’re together, every training session, every match we
play is important. The entire focus of the players and the management
is to prepare in the best manner possible for that 180 minutes.”

Brown is set to make his comeback for the All Whites tomorrow night,
having sat out the 3-1 win in Noumea because of suspension.

That match featured the return of Blackburn skipper Ryan Nelsen to
international duty after a four-year break, and he was handed the
captain’s armband that Brown wore during a four-match unbeaten run.

Brown said the All Whites would look for better cohesion at North
Harbour Stadium than they showed at the weekend in their first
international in 10 months.

“It was a high pressure situation and it was pretty hot, and island
teams are difficult to play against because they’re unpredictable,” he
said.

“You can’t change that, but what you can do is improve some of the
combinations and the overall performance a wee bit.”

Both teams will wear armbands in honour of New Zealander Charlie
Dempsey, a former Oceania Football Confederation president, who died
in June, aged 87.

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