The group of death is in town.
Mali and Serbia arrived in Dunedin yesterday ahead of their opening Fifa Under-20 World Cup matches at Otago Stadium on Sunday.
They joined heavyweights Uruguay and Mexico, who arrived on Monday.
The four teams form group D, which was almost immediately touted as the group of death when the six pools were drawn in February.
Mali's 30-strong squad, which only received its visas a few weeks ago, was the first to arrive yesterday morning.
Like Uruguay and Mexico, the West Africans were greeted by the the King's and Queen's High School kapa haka group.
The players soaked up the welcome, with the majority of them snapping photos and videoing it on their phones and tablets.
Dunedin venue manager Mike McGarry welcomed the team to the South on behalf of Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull, who is overseas, before each member of the group was presented with a greenstone pendant.
The City of Dunedin pipe band also played. Mali, which finished fourth at the African under-20 championships in Senegal in March, had barely checked into its inner-city hotel before hitting the training field. The squad held a closed training session at Logan Park yesterday afternoon in preparation for its tournament opener against Mexico on Sunday.
Coach Diarra Fanyeri, who was in charge of Mali for the Fifa Under-17 World Cup in New Zealand in 1999, said he did not know much about the other three teams in the group, and was concentrating solely on his own team's performance.
His side won all three of its group matches at the African under-20 championships before losing its semifinal, against Senegal, 1-0. However, Mali will be boosted by the return of two of its best players for the coming tournament.
Midfielder Adama Traore (19), who plays for French club Lille, is one of those players.
Born in Spain, he only switched his allegiance to Mali, his parents' homeland, last year, after originally playing for Spain's youth teams.
Before joining Lille last year, the electric winger made a couple of appearances for Barcelona, replacing Neymar on debut against Granada.
The return of first-choice goalkeeper Djigui Diarra, following an injury in the lead-up to the African championships, is also welcome news for Fanyeri.
After playing Mexico at Otago Stadium on Sunday, Mali will play Serbia under the roof on Wednesday night, before completing the group stage against Uruguay in Hamilton next Saturday.
Serbia, which opens its campaign against Uruguay on Sunday, received a similar welcome to the other three teams late yesterday afternoon.
A few squad members will visit Halfway Bush School this morning, before the team trains at Logan Park at 3.30pm.
The session is expected to last until about 5pm, with the last 15 minutes open to the public.
