Soccer: Adshead - Bahrain can't take the heat

Pressure from above - in Bahrain's case royalty - will tip the Asia/Oceania World Cup play-offs in New Zealand's favour, says former All Whites coach John Adshead.

Fully aware of the culture and protocols in the Middle East, Adshead is convinced the pressure will get to the Bahrain footballers and play into New Zealand hands to the extent he is picking the All Whites to win both legs of the decisive tie.

"I honestly believe New Zealand can win both games," said Adshead who, after living for years in Oman, is well aware of the immense pressure facing the Bahrainis on the eve of their date with destiny. "The Bahrain royal family basically runs football in their country.

"There will be a lot of gold braid at Sunday's game and the expectancy of victory will be huge. There is the likelihood the royal family will meet the players who will be getting the royal treatment this week. That is normal.

"There will be a full house at the game. The crowd will be fanatical. You talk about mana in New Zealand, in the Gulf it is three times greater. Victory is the only thing they accept.

If New Zealand don't win [Sunday's first leg] they will deal with it far better than the Bahrainis. If the All Whites can score a goal up there, and I think they will, they will be in a strong position to go on and claim their place at the World Cup."

Adshead is convinced those very high expectations of a Bahrain victory in Manama will play into New Zealand hands.

"If New Zealand go 1-0 up, they [Bahrain] will panic. Half their eyes will be on the grandstand," said Adshead. "Ricki [Herbert] and Brian [Turner] have experienced this. They know their team will deal far better with falling 0-1 behind than Bahrain.

"In my time with the Oman under-17 team we played Bahrain and were getting absolutely wellied by them. Then, we scored a 30m free-kick and followed that with a second goal. They could not handle it. You know when you have got them [beaten].

"Bahrain never shine in the Gulf. They are only the third, fourth or fifth best team in the Gulf. They are fortunate to be where they are. It is similar to the situation we had in 1981 when we played in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia except we know a lot more about football in that part of the world now.

"In our day the Kuwait and Saudi players played at home. The Chinese team we beat in Singapore had one player playing in Germany," said Adshead.

"There is a massive difference now - football is truly global but, having said that, the Bahrain players playing away from their homeland are not playing at the same level as players like Ryan Nelsen, Chris Killen and Rory Fallon.

"If we win on Sunday, Bahrain will come out with a hiss and a roar for 20 minutes in Wellington. The longer the game goes the more concerned they will become. It will all be about our players concentrating for 90 minutes. I would play three up front. I think New Zealand is very capable of scoring. They have four strikers who can do the job.

"But, like anything at this level," said Adshead, "It's not the journey, it is the destination that matters."