The European champions, who will be making their tournament debut, will be bidding to stretch their unbeaten streak to 33 games - they are currently three short of the record held by Brazil - when they run out against their Oceania counterparts at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium tomorrow.

La Roja are unbeaten since 2006 and victory against the All Whites in a relatively easy Group A, which also includes hosts South Africa and Asian champions Iraq, will already move them a massive step towards the semi-finals.

But Del Bosque is taking nothing for granted.

"For me, I am cautiously optimistic," he said. "In sports, you always have to be careful, regardless of the opponent and often when you are expected to win, you do not always obtain it.

"The players are making a great effort. But they are also doing it with pleasure because they are happy to be here."

The Spanish boss could well be spot on with his comments, especially after watching New Zealand in their final warm-up game when they gave World Cup holders Italy a scare, before losing 4-3.

He continued: "To be honest, they played well against Italy during the friendly and they gave the impression that they are a team, not just another national selection.

"They are very well organised, although they showed two different sides against the world champions: the negative, they conceded four goals, but on the positive, they managed to score three."

Spain were given a major boost ahead of the game with news that defenders Sergio Ramos and Carles Puyol have been cleared to play from the start, while David Silva and Gerard Pique have also been given the go-ahead to play.

The New Zealanders, who come into the tournament without injured defender Ryan Nelsen, are making their third appearance at the finals having previously lost all six games.

Nonetheless, their coach Ricki Herbert is certain they can more than hold their own this time around.

"We could be the dark horses in the tournament, who knows?" he said. "Our agenda at the tournament was to finally get a point or a win, but to get to the semi-finals is now a realistic dream."

Looking back at their final warm-up game against the Italians, he added: "I was very proud of the way we played and to get a hat-trick of goals against a team of Italy's pedigree was superb.

"We now go into the tournament with a real degree of confidence."

Kick Off is 4am tomorrow morning live on SBS.