Rustenberg: Slovakia and New Zealand, two World Cup outsiders, are keen to show they won't be easy prey in South Africa when they meet in their Group F opener on Tuesday. Slovakia is in its first international tournament as an independent nation since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993.
New Zealand, meanwhile, is returning to the World Cup stage for the first time since its debut appearance in 1982.
But New Zealand captain and central defender Ryan Nelsen, who plays for Blackburn in the English Premier League, says the performances his team delivered in its warmup games demonstrated it has the talent to test its World Cup group opponents, which also include Italy and Paraguay.
"We've proved over last four-five games we can be competitive," Nelsen said Monday, looking back on a recent 1-0 win over Serbia. "We're a very good football team. It's as simple as that."
Apart from Nelsen, others based in England are Middlesbrough striker Chris Killen, Plymouth striker Rory Fallon, and Ipswich Town's Tommy Smith.
The All Whites also have Shane Smeltz, who was the top scorer last season in the Australian A-League.
"We've proven that we have been more than competitive across the board," said coach Ricki Herbert, a defender in New Zealand's 1982 World Cup squad in Spain.
Herbert said he would put veteran defender Ivan Vicelich in midfield as Tim Brown recovers from a fractured shoulder that could keep him out of the entire tournament.
New Zealand, viewed as the weakest team in the group, profited from Australia's switch from the Oceania Confederation to the Asian Confederation following the 2006 World Cup. It easily won its regional qualifying tournament, featuring mostly small Pacific island nations, and then beat Bahrain — the fifth-place team in Asian qualifying — to reach South Africa.
The challenge now is to improve on its showing 28 years ago when it lost all three group games.
Slovakia qualified at the expense of Czech Republic and Poland to reach this World Cup.
New Zealand's Nelsen said he expected tough opposition. "They are very strong, very disciplined, very organized. Their team all round is very solid," he said. "They're going to be very awkward to play, kind of like ourselves."
Despite their qualities, neither the Slovaks nor the Kiwis can match the pedigree of defending World Cup champion Italy and Paraguay, which is playing at its eighth World Cup. Only two countries advance to the next round.
"It's certainly not an easy group," Slovakia coach Vladimir Weiss said.
Slovakia traveled to South Africa without 33-year-old midfielder Miroslav Karhan, its most experienced player, who was ruled out with an Achilles' tendon injury.
Strikers Filip Holosko and Robert Vittek are regaining match fitness after injuries. That means 23-year-old Sparta Prague midfielder Juraj Kucka, who didn't play in World Cup qualifying but scored in Slovakia's 1-1 draw against Cameroon last month, may feature at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
Liverpool center back Martin Skrtel has returned to normal training after breaking his right foot in February, and captain Marek Hamsik of Napoli is back from a muscle injury.
Weiss, who described New Zealand as "a very difficult opponent," declined to disclose his team picks, but said he had all his squad available. "Tomorrow's (Tuesday's) match will reveal a lot," he said.
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