Kiwis confident of beating host in opener

China can expect to lose its opening soccer clash with New Zealand in Shenyang in eight days' time, an official from the lowest ranked team in the group said on Wednesday.

"I think we can beat China in the first game. We'll be going into that very confident we can beat them," said Andrew Smith, the men's team's conditioning coach.

"Obviously everything's stacked in their favor, but as the underdogs I hope we'll come through on the day," he said, conceding that China would be buoyed by a boisterous home crowd.