Think of New Caledonia and football, and Christian Karembeu comes to mind.
The former Real Madrid midfielder, who was a key part of the French team which won the 1998 World Cup, was born in New Caledonia but played for the French national side.
New Caledonia is an overseas territory of France. Its footballers are known as Les Cagous, and have been more than competitive over the years, though they were only admitted to Fifa in 2004.
It knocked the All Whites out of the Oceania Nations Cup last year, winning 2-0, but then lost to the All Whites 2-0 in Noumea in the first match of the 2014 World Cup qualifying stage.
New Caledonia has gone on to win its next three games and is still in with a chance to qualify for the World Cup, provided it gets something out of the match tonight. It has never qualified for the World Cup before.
The side is coached by Alain Moizan. Most of the players are semi-professional but there are five based in lower-division clubs in France.
New Caledonia plays Tahiti on Tuesday but knows if it loses tonight, its hopes of going to Brazil are gone.
It has form on its side, with a convincing 6-2 victory against the Solomon Islands in its last competitive match.
Whatever happens, the New Caledonians can not blame too many distractions in the lead-up to this match.
Attempts to contact the team yesterday by the Otago Daily Times came up short.
They were not scheduled to have a run at Forsyth Barr Stadium before the match and had spent five days in a camp in New Caledonia before leaving the country.
NZ v New Caledonia
Last five games
July 26, 1979: All Whites won 2-0 (Keith Nelson, Steve Sumner)
September 6, 2008: All Whites won 3-1 (Shane Smeltz 2, Ben Sigmund)
September 10, 2008: All Whites won 3-0 (Shane Smeltz 2, Jeremy Christie)
June 9, 2012: New Caledonia won 2-0
September 7, 2012: All Whites won 2-0 (Shane Smeltz, Chris Wood)
