KEY POINTS:
Chris Milicich can do no more.
The planning has been meticulous but even he knows planning alone does not win football matches. The biggest challenge of his coaching career is a massive step up. The chances of his Waitakere United team beating top Iranian side Sepahan at Tokyo's national Stadium tonight are, at best, 40-60.
"And that is only if we play well," said Milicich from Japan last night. "If we drop the standard we have set ourselves, the odds lengthen to maybe 30-70. We realise we are going to be playing at a level we are not used to. How we cope is key.
"If they are better than us we will accept that but we will not give up without trying."
Milicich's worst fear is conceding an early goal.
"If we have to chase the game, it will be very, very difficult. We want to have a go for 90 minutes rather than playing the whole game with 10 men behind the ball."
It seems certain Milicich's assistant coach Neil Emblen will start up front, probably with Benjamin Totori. There are also likely to be other changes with Matt Cuneen likely to be pressed back into action.
If that is the case, United may go with a back three of Danny Hay, Jonathan Perry and Darren Bazeley leaving Neil Sykes to play a wing back role.
"It is a one-off international. You can't sit on your haunches and wait for things to happen. They are the kind of team who will roll the ball around and then suddenly 'whack', it has gone 60 yards," said Milicich. "They also have the ability to change things very quickly.""
Tonight's match will be the first at a Fifa tournament in which microchipped balls will be used.
"All the balls have eight tiny chips in them. They react with a magnetic field which indicates when a goal has been scored," said Milicich. "That signal is flashed to the referee who has a screen on his wrist which flashes goal if and when the ball crosses the line. He is the only person who has access to this technology."
Tokyo's National Stadium is world's apart from United's Fred Taylor Park but the team from the west are determined to at least give their time in the sun their best shot.
