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Tim Brown of the All Whites (c) is congratulated by Jeremy Brockie (R) - Source: Getty Images -
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It is one heck of an assignment, even by All Whites standards.
Taking on the might of Mexico at Denver's aptly named Mile High Stadium and then hopping off a plane and doing it all again against the Socceroos at Adelaide Oval.
But New Zealand's football team is starting to make a habit of overcoming obstacles and punching above their weight, fighting qualities that midfielder Tim Brown believes will serve them well in back-to-back away internationals next week.
The All Whites fly out to the United States today for a date against the classy Mexicans next Thursday, with the game against a useful Australian side on the following Sunday.
Mission impossible?
Not necessarily according to Brown, who at 30 years old with 27 caps to his name is well placed to explain the post-World Cup mindset of the national team.
"I think it's the expectation around what we can achieve and what we should achieve and I think it's not different for these games," Brown said.
"I think in the past we would have said playing Mexico, away, at altitude, in front of 80,000 people, we're just happy to be there, but I think the past 18 months have set the bar, set a level of expectation around performance, and I think this is something that we're going to carry into these games."
Brown, of course, missed the World Cup after injuring his shoulder in a spiteful warmup game against Australia, and also missed the 1-1 draw against China in March after having the screws removed.
Back to fitness - albeit not match fitness during the A- League's off-season - All Whites coach Ricki Herbert said Brown was likely to regain the captain's armband from Ivan Vicelich against Mexico.
Inspirational skipper Ryan Nelsen is out of the tour with injury, and with such a tight turnaround Herbert will need to cleverly manage his 22-man squad.
Brown said the Mexico and Australia games were being approached with equal importance.
"Mexico, it's a massive challenge in itself, but whenever you play Australia it's just always a big one. We've got a very, very tight turnaround there. I think we get in the day before the game and I don't even know if we have time to train."
Brown was on the scoresheet as the All Whites beat Waitakere United 4-1 during a five-day training camp in Auckland, but apart from that a large chunk of the squad have seen precious little recent action.
"It has been difficult; it has probably been a couple of months since we've played but I've done a lot of work, a lot of running. It's not ideal, it's a massive challenge with these games coming up but I think we'll give it our best shot."
Five of the squad - Michael Fitzgerald, Chris Killen, Simon Elliott, Andy Boyens and Michael Boxall - are on club duty this weekend and Herbert said he would wait to see how they pulled up before settling on a starting XI for Mexico.
Kosta Barbarouses was likely to start up front with Killen and Shane Smeltz in a 3-4-3 formation, with Jeremy Brockie probably filling in for the injured Tony Lochhead on the left flank.
Meanwhile, Nelsen picked up the men's player-of-the-year accolade for the sixth time at New Zealand Football's annual awards dinner in Auckland last night.
Ali Riley won both her third successive women's player-of-the-year title and second consecutive Oceania gong.
Tommy Smith and Olivia Chance were the young players of the year, while the All Whites and Herbert were predictable winners of the team and coach categories.
ALL WHITES: Jake Gleeson, Glen Moss, Mark Paston; Andrew Boyens, Michael Boxall, Michael Fitzgerald, Winston Reid, Ben Sigmund, Tommy Smith, Ivan Vicelich; Jeremy Brockie, Tim Brown, Aaron Clapham, Simon Elliott, David Mulligan, Michael McGlinchey, Marco Rojas; Kosta Barbarouses, Craig Henderson, Chris Killen, Shane Smeltz, Chris Wood
