Coach Milan Macala admits it would be a "dream" for his Bahrain side to secure their first ever World Cup appearance when they take on New Zealand needing a scoe draw to book a place in South Africa on November 14.

Bahrain narrowly missed out on reaching the 2006 tournament in Germany when they lost a similar two-legged encounter with Trinidad & Tobago.

They now have the chance to make amends for that heartbreak when they travel to Wellington for a potentially historic encounter with the Oceania qualifying zone champions.

Bahrain were held to a goalless draw in the first leg in Manama but Macala highlighted exactly what it would mean to the tiny Gulf state if they can return home with a ticket to next summer's finals.

"I'm living this dream like any other Bahraini who wants to qualify to the World Cup for the first time ever," said the Czech. "We will work very hard to achieve this dream and qualify for the World Cup.

"If we made this dream come true then it will be a big achievement for this tiny kingdom and it will help football in Bahrain to advance up the world rankings."

Macala saw his side waste a host of chances in the stalemate on October 10 at the National Stadium but the 66-year-old remains positive his men still have all the tools to get the job done, promising they will attack Ricki Herbert's men from the opening whistle.

"I'm confident of our chances and the spirit of the players, who played well in the second half of the first leg," he added. "We had many chances in that game and this will give us a good motivation and the players know their responsibilities well.

"We didn't play well in the first half of the first leg. At half-time we asked the players to apply the tactics that we showed them and we managed to create a lot of scoring chances.

"We will not be afraid of our opponents. Our main aim is to score early in order to put pressure on our opponents, who will be playing at home and in front of their own fans."

Bahrain will prepare for the crucial contest in Australia and Macala hopes to have his squad together from Sunday, although he will definitely be without prolific striker Ala'a Hubail, who has torn the cruciate ligament in his right knee.

"We have put a preparatory schedule according to the availability of our players who are playing abroad," he said. "I hope that all the foreign-based players will join us before November 8.

"We have experienced this situation before and we have adapted to it. We are going to prepare the team for the game against New Zealand in addition to the game that we have against Yemen four days later."