AUCKLAND – 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 football qualifier on Saturday.

Jacobs’ U-23 ‘Oly-Whites’ face a difficult assignment against Oceania qualifying tournament hosts Fiji at Lautoka’s Churchill Park at 2pm local time (3pm NZT).

Scheduled for the hottest part of the day, the match pits a New Zealand side only brought together in Auckland 11 days prior to kick-off against a Fijian squad whose extensive build-up has
included an unbeaten four-match tour of Queensland in early February.

New Zealand has had to make do with warm-up matches against an Auckland City XI and an Eastern Suburbs-Auckland Football compilation – matches 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 – who has predictably promoted a number of players he guided to last year’s  FIFA U-20 Men’s World Cup in Canada last year – 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 10 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 Friday, 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 would 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 YoungHeart Manawatu playmaker Nick Roydhouse while Canterbury United goalkeeper Michael O’Keeffe was
an 11th hour withdrawal from the squad after picking up a mystery virus.

Jacobs is confident he has the personnel – and just enough training time – to ensure New Zealand compete in Lautoka despite the loss of Pelter, Roydhouse and O’Keeffe who has been replaced by
Australia-based goalkeeper Roy Bell (McArthur Rams).

“The new system has been more about how we want to play without the ball, but we also have to be pro-active with it because you generally get a lot of possession against the island nations,’
Jacobs said.

“We’ve got some reasonable ability going forward so we’ve just got to make sure we make the most of it.”

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.

Oly-Whites squad for Oceania Olympic Men’s Qualifying tournament at Churchill Park, Lautoka, Fiji from March 1-

Goalkeepers: Jacob Spoonley (Wellington Phoenix), Liam Little (Otago United), Roy Bell (Macarthur Rams).

Defenders: Aaron Scott (Waikato FC), Steven Old (Wellington Phoenix), Michael Boxall (University of Santa Barbara), Phil Edginton (University of Louisville), Cole Tinkler (Team Wellington),
Joel Mathews (Auckland City), Hone Fowler (Waikato FC).

Midfielders: Jason Hayne (Waitakere United), Jeremy Brockie (Hawke’s Bay United), Cole Peverley (Hawke’s Bay United), Craig Henderson (Dartmouth College), Shaun Van Rooyen (Waikato FC), Dan
Keat (Dartmouth College).

Strikers: Greg Draper (Wellington Phoenix), Costa Barbarouses (Wellington Phoenix), Daniel Ellensohn (Team Wellington), Sam Messam (Hawke’s Bay United).

Management team – Coach: Stu Jacobs (Team Wellington). Assistant/Goalkeeping coach: Jonathan Gould (Hawke’s Bay United). Trainer: Andy Smith (Team Wellington). Manager: Jim Hogg. Doctor:
Celeste Geerstema. Physiotherapist: Roland Jeffery.  

Saturday, March 1, 2008 – Match Day 1

14:00 (3pm NZT)             New Zealand v Fiji

16:30 (4.30 NZT)             Cook Islands v Vanuatu

19:00 (8pm NZT)             Papua New Guinea v Solomon Islands

Monday, March 3, 2008 – Match Day 2

14:30 (3.30 NZT)            Solomon Islands v Cook Islands

17:00 (5pm NZT)            Fiji v Papua New Guinea

19:30 (8.30 NZT)            Vanuatu v New Zealand

Wednesday, March 5, 2008 – Match Day 3

14:30 (3.30 NZT)            Fiji v Cook Islands

17:00 (6pm NZT)            Papua New Guinea v New Zealand

19:30 (8.30 NZT)            Solomon Islands v Vanuatu

Friday, March 7, 2008 – Match Day 4

14:30 (3.30 NZT)            New Zealand v Solomon Islands

17:00 (6pm NZT)            Cook Islands v Papua New Guinea

19:30 (8.30 NZT)            Vanuatu v Fiji

Sunday, March 9, 2008 – Match Day 5

12:00 (1pm NZT)            Cook Islands v New Zealand

14:30 (3.30 NZT)            Vanuatu v Papua New Guinea

17:00 (6pm NZT)            Solomon Islands v Fiji

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