With three New Zealand teams about to play at World Cups, the Phoenix about to embark on their debut A-League journey and the All Whites set to start World Cup qualification in October, credibility is high on New Zealand Football's agenda.
Stu Jacobs' under-20s are the first teamin action and will take on Mexico, who won the under-17 World Cup two years ago, Portugal and Gambia at the tournament starting in Canada on June 30. The team, whose highest-profile player is Fulham reserve Chris James, leaves on Tuesday.
The under-17s venture to South Korea in August, while the senior women line up in China for their World Cup in September.
"The rest of the year is really significant for the development of the game here and people will make judgements on how we are progressing," NZF chief executive Graham Seatter said.
"Part of our mission statement is not only to qualify for World Cups but to be competitive.
"If we can come away without a hammering and maybe nick a draw or two, that would be good. Ideally, we would like to see a team progress to the second round."
Colin Tuaa's under-17s were seen as the team with the most potential but have been handed an extremely tough draw alongside Brazil, England and North Korea.
After one-sided 3-0 and 5-0 defeats to Canada recently, there are concerns about the competitiveness of the women's team, drawn to play China, Brazil and Denmark at the World Cup.
New Zealand's performances at these World Cups will have a bearing on Oceania's future as a confederation. Oceania have direct entry to all competitions except the men's World Cup but Fifa has talked about Oceania becoming a sub-group of Asia if the confederation is seen to be failing.
Australia withdrew from Oceania in January 2006, citing better competition. In that time, New Zealand have qualified for five World Cups out of five, while Australia have qualified for two out of six.
NZF have targeted qualifying for 14 World Cups in five years.
