All Whites coach Danny Hay believes Qatar 2022 could be "the greatest World Cup of all time" and he's optimistic about New Zealand's chances of getting there.
Hay has visited training facilities, hotels and stadiums on the Arab peninsula nation little over a year out from the tournament.
He was impressed and got "a sense of where they're at in terms of their world cup preparations".
"If people had any doubts about what type of world cup it's going to be, I think it could end up being potentially the greatest world cup of all time," Hay said.
Seven of the eight stadiums are in or near Doha, which he says will make the tournament unique.
"As I explained to the players, it's essentially like having a world cup in Auckland. A city around that sort of size, with multiple stadiums so fans are going to be able to go to any and every game.
"There's not going to be huge amounts of travel...it's going to be fabulous."
Hay has also allayed concerns about the heat, having spent the past month in neighbouring Bahrain and United Arab Emirates.
"Bahrain was incredibly stifling, the first two weeks here [UAE] were stifling, like ridiculously hot and it was we woke up one morning and it's gone from 39 to 33 [degrees] and it's just stayed at 33 every single day.
"So if we're looking a year in advance, I think the conditions will be very playable, especially if you're not in direct sunlight, where you're playing an evening game.
"I think the quality of the football is going to be high. I don't think there's going to be too many excuses about it being overly taxing on the players.
"I think it's going to be a pretty special World Cup to be honest - we've just got to make sure we get there."
The All Whites returned from the international wilderness to play friendlies against Curaçao and Bahrain last month and will come up against Algeria A and The Gambia in Abu Dhabi over the coming week in preparation for potential Football World Cup qualifiers in the Middle East in March.
Defender Bill Tuiloma hasn't travelled because of leg injury, while playmaker Sarpreet Singh is in doubt.
"He [Singh] just tweaked around his knee a little bit. It's nothing major but you know it's just something that we need to be aware of," Hay says.
"He still made the journey over so we will just need to make sure we look after him, that he gets the treatment that he needs here and look hopefully he'll be right for the Gambia game.
"It's unlikely at this stage that we'll risk him against Algeria, but hopefully for The Gambia he'll be good to go because he's such an important part of the team for us."
Singh and the rest of the All Whites will be able to cheer on the Blackcaps in their Twenty20 World Cup semi-final against England overnight (Thursday morning NZT).
"Funnily enough we're training at the Abu Dhabi cricket ground. They've got a whole heap of really good football training pitches just outside the back of the [cricket] stadium," Hay says.
"We're training at five o'clock and the [cricket] game in the stadium right next door kicks off at six, so I think they're looking to potentially supply us with a number of tickets and if we can shower straight after, then those players that want to go along and watch the second innings can do so.
"It's a good 48 hours ahead of the Algeria game, but I think it'd be nice, particularly for the Kiwi cricketers, the Blackcaps to have a little bit more Kiwi support in there."
Hay will stay on in the northern hemisphere after the All Whites play Gambia, but has had success in the latest MIQ lottery lobby and will return home before Christmas.
He has mixed feelings as none of his other support staff have yet managed to secure a voucher.
"I'm the only one of the four that got a spot. It's hard when Baze [Darren Bazeley] and the other guys miss out, so it's not easy.
"I'm going to go to Europe and spend a little bit of time in Scandanavia straight off the back of this. Go and connect with a lot of players' clubs.
"Pop over to England and then I'll be home for MIQ starts on the eighth of December."
