The Junior All Whites currently sit second in Group B thanks to 1-1 draws against Cameroon and Uruguay, and a win over leaders Portugal in Cali would book progression to the round of 16 as one of the top two teams.
A draw would also be good enough to reach the second stage as one of the four third-place finishers, given the extra point would give New Zealand a superior record to the third-place teams (England and Panama) from the two groups to have completed pool play already.
A loss, however, could put the Kiwis out and at best would leave New Zealand sweating on results from groups C and D on Sunday before knowing their playoff fate.
A place in the second round would be a breakthrough at this level for New Zealand in just its second appearance at a FIFA U-20 World Cup and coach Chris Milicich says the chance to make history is a position his team are relishing.
“If you said to me six months ago that we would be going into the game against Portugal with a chance of getting out of our group I’d take that any day of the week,” Milicich says.
“It’s a game we are really looking forward to and will have to play very well in to get something out of. Portugal had a good win in their last game against Cameroon so from our perspective we’ll be approaching it the same as the first two games and giving everything we’ve got.
“I think a do-or-die match certainly suits our team. Your backs are to the wall fighting for respect and the right to be here and carry on. It suits our culture. It’s the toss of the coin and we’ll see what happens.”
Only two previous New Zealand teams, the U-17 squads of 2009 and 2011, have made it to the knockout stages of a FIFA tournament.
Marco Rojas, who set up Andy Bevin’s opening goal against the Uruguayans, came through his 75 minutes well after missing the first match through injury, meaning Milicich once again has a full squad to choose from.
For Portugal, midfielder Sergio Oliveira returns from suspension after being sent off against Uruguay but he may not make it back into the run-on 11 after a re-jigged line-up impressed in a 1-0 win over Cameroon to move to the top of the group.
The Junior All Whites play Portugal at 10am Saturday (NZT) with live coverage on Sky Sport 2.
FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011

Group B
New Zealand v Portugal
Estadio Olimpico Pascual Guerrero
Cali, Colombia
August 5, 2011
5pm (10am August 6 NZT)
Sky Sport 2
New Zealand: (from) 1-Stefan MARINOVIC (gk), 2-Andrew BEVIN, 3-Nick BRANCH (c), 4-Ryan CAIN, 5-Sean LOVEMORE, 6-Nikko BOXALL, 7-Cameron LINDSAY, 8-Ethan GALBRAITH, 9-Tim PAYNE, 10-Anthony HOBBS, 11-Dakota LUCAS, 12-Andrew MILNE, 13-Colin MURPHY, 14-James MUSA, 15-Marco ROJAS, 16-Luke ROWE, 17-Mikey KRAMER, 18-Adam THOMAS, 19-Liam HIGGINS, 20-Scott BASALAJ (gk), 21-Coey TURIPA (gk).
Coach: Chris MILICICH
Portugal: (from) 1-MIKA (gk), 2-PELE, 3-TIAGO FERREIRA, 4-NUNO REIS (c), 5-RODERICK, 6-JULIO ALVES, 7-NELSON OLIVEIRA, 8-CEDRIC, 9-AMIDO BALDE, 10-SANA, 11-CAETANO, 12-TIAGO MAIA (gk), 13-LUIS MARTINS, 14-ALEX, 15-DANILO, 16-SERGINHO, 17-SERGIO OLIVEIRA, 18-RICARDO DIAS, 19-LUIS RIBEIRO (gk), 20-MARIO RUI, 21-RAFAEL LOPES.
Coach: Ilidio VALE
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football.
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