The Football body of New Zealand have confirmed the friendly game set to hold against the Mexican national team in October as reported in the media.
They say the All Whites will fly to Tennessee to play against their opponents as the coach believes that the game will be a good training base ahead of the intercontinental playoff for the World Cup set to be hosted in Russia.
Coach Anthony Hudson said: “For me Mexico are one of the top teams in the world and you saw that at the World Cup in Brazil where they were incredible. This team will be as good if not better than the fifth best team in South America. So it is important for us to go and play them, albeit in America.
“I am sure we will be playing in a stadium with around 70,000 Mexican fans so this will be a very similar team and environment to what we will face next November.”
Mexico is currently ranked 16th while New Zealand are ranked 93rd in the FIFA ranking. The coach of the New Zealand team says he would make his best legs available for the game with top players Winston Reid, Glen Moses, Henry Cameron and Ryan Thomas set to feature. The coach said this would be different compared to the past where they field debutants like their game against South Korea and China. He said he would put up a full strength squad as they hope their opponents would do same.
Mexico defeated the team on a 9-3 aggregate the last time they met and qualified for the 2014 World Cup. New Zealand won the OFC Nations Cup and has booked a place in the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017. They could meet Mexico along with Portugal, Germany, Russia, Chile and Australia.