![Where to spend $17m payday](/pf/resources/images/placeholders/placeholder_l.png?d=793)
Where to spend $17m payday
New Zealand Football is poised to trouser the biggest cash dividend in its 122-year history if the All Whites can get past Mexico over the next six days.
New Zealand Football is poised to trouser the biggest cash dividend in its 122-year history if the All Whites can get past Mexico over the next six days.
The Azteca Stadium, where the All Whites face Mexico tomorrow, is an arena every player wants to play in but it is also a place of physical and mental suffering.
As the All Whites enter Mexico with some players privately questioning if New Zealand Football has done enough to ensure their safety.
Marco Rojas was mobbed as the team arrived at Mexico City airport tonight.
The psychological warfare has begun. The All Whites will be forced to play in black on Thursday, while their arrival details into Mexico have been published nationwide.
The All Whites completed their first training session today in the plush surrounds of LA Galaxy's home ground.
He "retired" more than five years ago but Ivan Vicelich will be a key figure for the All Whites on Thursday.
Next Thursday, the All Whites will be entering the most formidable fortress in world sport.
The All Whites are well versed in demanding travel schedules but what they are about to undertake over the next two weeks is at the extreme end of the scale.
With the timing and circumstances of Winston Reid's withdrawal from the All Whites after injuring an ankle in training, it is easy to get carried away with hyperbole but Ivan Vicelich provides some context.
Attacking trio Shane Smeltz, Chris Wood and Marco Rojas have returned to the All Whites squad to face Mexico later this month.
Just 11 days out from the All Whites' most important game in four years, NZ Football and the Phoenix are embroiled in a Mexican standoff.
The All Whites have never won on Mexican soil but they at least have a pedigree of solid performances in the country, which will need to be emulated in November.
The All Whites would take any result against Mexico in their World Cup playoff next month, but more than 30 years ago, at a ground that holds 100,000 fewer than the famous Azteca Stadium.
Our three experts look at the All Whites' chances in their World Cup playoff against Mexico.