Soccer: All the pressure is on South Africa, says bullish Turner

It has been one of the enduring relationships in New Zealand soccer but rarely have All Whites coach Ricki Herbert and his lieutenant Brian Turner been under the intense scrutiny they face heading into tomorrow's second Confederations Cup clash with hosts South Africa.

Much has been made of the battling 3-4 loss to World Champions Italy in the days leading up to this tournament. Any afterglow from that result quickly disappeared at the hands of world No 1 Spain on the Cup's opening day. That 5-0 loss was a stark reality check.

Along the Herbert-Turner pathway there have been some encouraging results and the hope that even better might not be far away.

The win over Georgia - the first by a New Zealand team on European soil - and the 2-2 draw with Wales in England stand out, but it is now time to make a real statement on behalf of New Zealand's football fraternity and Oceania.

"We can't afford to lose. Simple as that," said Turner. "Winning this game, it is not quite the biggest challenge - winning through to the World Cup is still the ultimate challenge - but all along the desire at this tournament has to be win a game or at least take a point."

Turner, with Herbert since the All Whites played Australia at Fulham in 2004, spent three hours yesterday with goalkeeping coach and former All Whites goalkeeper Clint Gosling dissecting the tape of South Africa's scoreless draw opener with Iraq.

"We were looking at key elements of their game and their key players," said Turner.

"While I certainly feel they are beatable, it will not be easy. They play with pace and aggression and have a fair amount of talent. The return of Steven Pienaar, who missed most of the first game, will only strengthen their team.

"It won't be the same as we experienced against Spain where they pushed so high up the park they put us under tremendous pressure."

It was pressure of a different kind that captain Tim Brown pointed to.

"South Africa are under huge pressure to perform. Nobody gives us a sniff, it is all about them. There is a lot at stake for them as hosts. We have to make the most of that.

"It will be vastly different than playing Spain. We probably played into their hands by playing deep. Some of the stuff we produced was sloppy."

Turner said there had been no discussion yet on likely changes to the starting line-up.

"It depends on how we are going to play," said Turner. "There is the potential for a change or two."

It is likely Jeremy Christie, brought in for Jeremy Brockie after just 27 minutes of the Spain game, will hold his place. There will probably be consideration in giving Phoenix defender Ben Sigmund his first game time after his recovery from hip surgery.

* New Zealand v South Africa

Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg

Tomorrow 6.30am live SS1

New Zealand (likely): Glen Moss, David Mulligan, Ben Sigmund, Ivan Vicelich, Tony Lochhead, Jeremy Christie, Tim Brown, Simon Elliott, Leo Bertos, Shane Smeltz, Chris Killen.