The New Zealand women's under-17 football side have been handed a tough draw for September's World Cup in Azerbaijan, landing Japan, Brazil and Mexico in their group.
All three of New Zealand's pool games are in stadiums within Baku, the Azeri capital where the draw for the 16-nation tournament was held overnight.
The Young Football Ferns open Group C against Mexico on September 23, take on the Asian champions three days later before completing pool play against the South American champions on September 30.
On paper only Group B - where powerhouses North Korea, France and the United States are joined by Gambia - can lay a claim to being the tougher pool, but New Zealand coach Paul Temple is taking a pragmatic and positive approach to progressing beyond pool play.
"It's obviously a very tough group with opposition that present different challenges to us but we have to be confident in our own ability to cause them problems, too," he said. "We'll be taking a positive approach and giving it our best shot at causing some upsets.
