As he walks through the darkened tunnel into the bright lights, the question will soon become known and the wonderment will cease-only to be replaced by a level of play he and many others have never seen before.
Just as Landon Donovan, Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, and a few dozen others did in the days before him, former UCSB men's soccer player Tony Lochhead will find out the answer if he and his team are as good as the worlds best soccer teams in the World Cup.
The 28-year-old and his teammates will represent New Zealand in the Cup for the first time since 1982 when they play Slovakia early this morning in their opening match at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg. A few days before the first day of the tournament, he said he was very excited.
"I want to do well on the field, but I also want to enjoy the moment of being apart of the worlds biggest sporting event because it's not everyday you get to go to the World Cup," Lochhead said.
"Overall the team is feeling pretty good fitness wise because we have had a good training camp (in Austria). We have worked hard to make sure we are all on the same page."
The former Gaucho, who played from 2001 through 2004's College Cup finals reaching season, is back at full strength, after having surgery to repair an injured groin muscle following his Wellington Phoenix (Australian League) season. He said that he was good to go.
"My fitness is pretty good since I have played the last two (exhibition) games which has been a good test," Lochhead said. I feel like I (got) better with every game in terms of fitness. Right now, I'm just trying to focus on the job at hand we have three tough games against three quality teams"
In a group that includes defending champion Italy, as well as tough teams Paraguay and Slovakia, the 83rd ranked team (only host South Africa and North Korea are lower) is not considered a contender to make it to the knock-out round.
"It is always going to be tough for us but we have the belief," Lochhead said. "Playing against quality teams means you have to be switched on that much more or you can get punished. Which also means you have to work that much harder. But the team is quietly confident. We have three guys up front that are dangerous and can score for us."
The team will be particularly be relying on defender Lochhead and his defensive mates to hold the line to help give strikers Chris Killen, Tim Brown, and Shane Smeltz a chance to score. His team had mixed reviews of the four exhibition matches against Cup qualified teams, the All Whites won one, a 1-0 victory over Serbia near their training grounds in Austria. The three games were losses- a 2-0 decision against Mexico on March 3, a 2-1 game to rival Australia on May 24 in Melbourne, and a 3-1 loss to Slovenia, a team that is in Group C along with the United States.
The team's first opponent resembles the last of these and it is all on him and his defensive teammates, he said.
"They are a very similar team," Lochhead said." They play with a 4-4-2(formation) and are good on the ball, and the outside fullbacks like to bomb, so they can be dangerous if they are given too much time and space. So we will make sure we are solid defensively and we feel like we are creating enough chances in the games to score."
Lochhead said that his country has shifted their attention away from their popular rugby counterparts, the All Blacks, and onto them.
"The interest in football has definitely increased and we are the top story at the moment-which is great," he said. "With a good showing, hopefully we can build on this even after the World Cup."
The team's foundation begins to build today.
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