Hunt on in Russia
Africa.
Hudson is determined the Oceania champions will not go to Russia to make up the numbers, however, as he continues to try and raise the expectations of football fans in a country where rugby rules the roost.
“We are not going to Russia to take part, we are going there to achieve something significant,” the Englishman said.
“We are focused on the task at hand, we are not going to get carried away with who we are playing, we know they are top teams but we are a strong team and we are going there focused on ourselves and the task at hand.”
The task at hand also involves matches against Mexico, who routed New Zealand 9-3 on aggregate in the intercontinental playoff for the 2016 World Cup finals, and then European champions Portugal.
They will be without regular captain Winston Reid, who battled a knee injury through the last weeks of the English Premier League season with West Ham United.
Leeds striker Chris Wood, who scored 27 goals to top the English Championship last season, will instead captain a young side that Hudson has been building since his appointment in 2014.
Group B action begins on Sunday when Cameroon play Chile in Moscow, while Germany meet Australia in Sochi on Monday.
While Germany coach Joachim Low is resting his top players, Portugal have arrived at their first Confederations Cup appearance with world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo their talisman as they hope to follow up Euro 2016 success with a triumph in Russia.
Chile, under Argentinian coach Juan Antonio Pizzi, also regard their first Confederations Cup tournament as another major step for the “golden generation” which has produced the likes of Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez and Bayern Munich’s Arturo Vidal.
The Confederations Cup is certainly no World Cup form guide – no Confederations Cup winner has become world champions the following year.
Russian coach Stanislav Cherchesov is confident his side can impress despite a process of transition following a poor Euro 2016.
African champions Cameroon will meanwhile do well to get out of a group featuring Chile and Germany, while Australia are tournament outsiders. – dpa