New Zealand will be front and centre of the football world on Thursday, when the Football Ferns take to Eden Park to raise the curtain on the Women's World Cup against Norway.
Recent figures have shown less than half the 900,000 tickets for the NZ games have been snapped up, suggesting local interest is low.
That means the stakes attached to the Fern's opener will be critically high, with a good result having an immense follow-on effect on demand for their other pool matches - and hopefully beyond.
According to the most powerful woman in world football, New Zealander and FIFA chief women's football officer Sarai Bareman, the NZ team's results should have no bearing on the tournament's success, suggesting Kiwis should temper their expectations.
"The success of this World Cup isn't on the backs of the Ferns," Bareman told AM.
"The Ferns are an incredible team and they're some amazing athletes. One of the things I'm most excited about for this World Cup is for those athletes to get the recognition they deserve.
"We do have some of the best players in the world, playing in some of the best clubs and the best leagues in the world, and I think it's about time Kiwis recognised these girls and how incredible they are.
"Of course, as a Kiwi, I want them to do well. I'll take off my FIFA hat and say, 'Yes, I'm fully fangirling and I want them to go as far as they can in the tourney', but this is the World Cup.
"It's the single biggest female sporting event in the world. We'll have two billion people tuning in from more than 200 countries to watch, and those eyeballs will be on New Zealand and Australia.
"It's a huge, mega event. Of course, if the hosts go through it's fantastic for us, but its not something that's going to affect the success of the tournament."
The hosts will enter the opening match as comprehensive underdogs against the 12th-ranked Norwegians - a label they'll become quite familiar with. The Philippines (No.46) are the only team in Pool B ranked below the 26th-placed Kiwis, while the fourth team - Switzerland - are 20th in the world.
The crowds flocking to the women's Rugby World Cup last year were linked closely to the Black Ferns' fortunes - but that was rugby and this is New Zealand.
Last week, one of the Cup's primary sponsors Xero gave away 20,000 tickets in an effort to boost Football World Cup attendance, but Bareman dismisses the suggestion that initiative was motivated by any sense of desperation.
She says New Zealand had already met its FIFA-mandated sales target, and Xero's giveaway was simply designed to help foster some enthusiasm around both the tournament and the sport as a whole across Aotearoa.
"There have been 350,000 tickets sold here in New Zealand, which is pretty amazing for a major event," she said. "They genuinely want to grow the game and part of that in NZ is growing the sport to attract fans that aren't typically involved in game.
"Their philosophy is that FIFA have met their ticket sales target now. We want to get as many people in the party as possible - we want to convert those rugby fans and those that aren't involved
"We totally backed this decision and we think it was a fantastic one."
A self-confessed rugby fanatic, Bareman is adamant code-mad Kiwis will quickly be swept up by the occasion, once the showpiece gets into full swing.
She added only a "handful" of tickets were still available for Thursday's opener at Eden Park, which is expected to be at full capacity, come kickoff.
"It's one of my own personal challenges to see how many of the rugby fans I can convert over to football," she said. "For those who aren't yet converted, I can guarantee you they will be after this tournament kicks off, and they see and feel the buzz."
Join Newshub at 7pm Thursday for live updates of the Women's Football World Cup opener between New Zealand and Norway
