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New Zealand will play football friendlies against Japan and China in March, starting its buildup towards qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Coach Ricky Herbert said Friday that New Zealand will play China in the southern city of Nanning on March 25 and Japan, probably in Tokyo, on March 29.
Herbert said the matches were ''really important'' because the winner of the next Oceania World Cup qualifying series will face home-and-away matches against the fifth-ranked Asian nation in the second stage of qualifying, as it had for this year's World Cup in South Africa.
New Zealand advanced to the 2010 World Cup by winning the Oceania series and then beating the fifth-ranked Asian side Bahrain on aggregate.
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