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.

"Home advantage is going to be huge. They've got a 60,000 sold-out stadium in Shenyang, where we'll play, so yes they'll have a little bit."

European U21 champion Belgium and Brazil make up the rest of the group. Brazil is hungry for its first Olympic gold medal in the sport and ranks as one of the tournament favorites, along with defending champions Argentina and European powerhouse Italy.

As only the top two teams of each of the four groups progress to the knockout stages, the Kiwis have their work cut out if they are to emerge from the preliminary stage of a major competition for the first time.

"It's a tough group, so that's what we're pinning everything on, getting a result in all three games," said Smith, adding that he was not disheartened at having Ronaldinho heading up the Brazilian attack.

"You've got to look forward to playing against the best, so it's great that he's going to be there and it's great for the lads to get an opportunity to play against him," he said.

"Hopefully (Brazil) will take us a little bit lighter. They'll be prepping themselves against China and Belgium as the teams to really beat in their group, and New Zealand might be a team where they rest a couple of players and look further in the tournament, so we might have an edge that way."

Brazil benefited on Wednesday from a FIFA ruling that mandates that clubs must release all of their U23 players for the Beijing Games, meaning that the South American side can now enjoy the services of Schalke defender Rafinha and Werder playmaker Diego in addition to teen sensation Pato.

New Zealand will rely heavily on its three over-23 players from the English and Scottish leagues during the Aug 6-23 tournament.

(China Daily August 1, 2008)