New Zealanders hope it will be all white on the night in opener

New Zealand coach Anthony Hudson believes his side can “do something significant” in the Confederations Cup ahead of the tournament opener against hosts Russia in St Petersburg today.

The All Whites are representing Oceania in a group which also contains Euro 2016 champions Portugal and CONCACAF Cup winners Mexico, as well as the hosts, who are gearing up for the 2018 World Cup. New Zealand have played in the Fifa-backed tournament on three previous occasions, losing all but one of their nine matches.

However, Hudson’s side are now through to the Oceania Football Confederation final against the Solomon Islands, and the winner will advance to the inter-confederation playoffs in a bid to return to Russia next summer.

Hudson, a former West Ham United youth player, believes his troops can make an impact in the Confederations Cup, starting with today’s clash against Russia.

“We go into this tournament wanting not just to take part, we want to go there and really do something significant,” Hudson said. “We want to do something New Zealand has never done – and that is win a game at the tournament.”

New Zealand will be missing West Ham defender Winston Reid through injury, but Leeds forward Chris Wood should lead the attack as the All Whites aim to improve on warm-up games which saw defeats against Northern Ireland and Belarus.

Russia, meanwhile, will be expected to kick-off the Confederations Cup with an impressive showing at the Krestovsky Stadium. New coach Stanislav Cherchesov has rebuilt the Russian side following a disappointing Euro 2016 campaign.

Speaking after a 1-1 draw against Chile, which extended Russia’s unbeaten run to three matches, Cherchesov felt his team were moving in the right direction.

“I liked that we did a small, but significant, progress compared to the last match against Hungary,” Cherchesov said.

“I hope that we will be able to make certain improvements before the opening match of the Confederations Cup,” he added.