It may be a friendly match but the United squad sweated through two tough sessions, the first under the hot Pacific sun and later in the cooler but still testing conditions at the stadium where tonight's contest will be played.

Six weeks ago Dutch midfielder Bas Van den Brink was standing in down town Amsterdam. Today he was trying to come to terms with the temperature extremes as the blue waters lapped at his feet.

"Yes it's a bit of a holiday destination for me but still if you are on the pitch you have to train hard," he said. "The only thing I have to get use to is it's a bit more humid than it was in Australia right now so it's a bit tough to train here.

"I have to push it, but still I like to train hard and see the nice views over here so it's a good combination for me."

Those nice views have copped only fleeting glances from the Dutchman who had no idea where New Caledonia was until recently.

He added: "When they told us we we're going to New Caledonia I obviously looked on the internet to see where we were going and it looked beautiful in pictures and now that we are here it looks as amazing as I expected it to be."

While President of the New Caledonia Football Federation Claude Fournier predicted a tough game for the Gold Coast side, United Coach Miron Bleiberg had his own predictions.

"We want everybody to be scared of us," he said. "We are an unknown entity, but every game we have to win."

Travelling with a squad of 24, Bleiberg will put the players through another session in the morning before naming his starting side for tonight's game.