Football fever is building in Wellington, with more than 16,000 tickets already sold for the All Whites' World Cup qualifier on November 20.
Tickets have been on sale for just two days and only people who signed up on a Ticketek waiting list have been able to purchase them.
Public ticket sales open on August 29 and New Zealand Football's interim chief executive Mark Aspden assured fans that "several thousand" would remain available then.
A sellout of the 35,000 capacity Westpac Stadium appears assured in a repeat of the epic 2009 win over Bahrain which propelled the All Whites into the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The All Whites play a home and away playoff against the yet to be determined fourth-ranked country from the Concacaf region (North and Central America and the Caribbean).
Qualifying is ongoing but Honduras and Panama appear New Zealand's most likely foes, with the winners advancing to next year's World Cup in Brazil.
The away leg will be held on November 15 before the teams resume hostilities in Wellington.
"We're delighted with sales so far, but certainly not surprised," Aspden said.
"Anyone who was at the Bahrain game four years ago will want to be back."
We were at the Bahrain match in 2009, and it remains one of the very best sporting occasions we've ever attended. The crowd at the Ring of Fire was outstanding and the atmosphere electric. It was an unforgettable night.
And we'll be back; having registered with Ticketek when the fixture was announced, we took advantage of pre-sales yesterday, and scored our tickets. We wouldn't miss this match for the world.
The 2009 fixture sold out, but only after the All Whites had drawn one-all with Bahrain in the away leg. The 2013 edition will be sold out much earlier than that based on the interest to date. It's going to be a night to remember, and we can't hardly wait!
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