Portugal’s position of strength in Group A is likely to mean Santos rotates his squad at the weekend, with captain Ronaldo set to be given the day off.
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New AC Milan signing Andre Silva should lead Portugal’s attack in Saint Petersburg, where Portugal will be the heavy favourites.
“We can’t play a game of this magnitude being afraid of losing”, Mexico midfielder Andres Guardado said.
“We know how to adapt to different opponents”.
New Zealand have not had much success in the competition so far and have already been eliminated from the tournament.
Portugal’s tournament hopes took a blow with a possible broken leg for Guerreiro, who was substituted in the 65th after limping off injured.
Things remain tight in Group A before Saturday’s final round.
With the win, Portugal are now topping Group A with four points from two games while Russian Federation are in second place with three points from two games.
John Sutcliffe reports from Sochi on the keys to Mexico’s victory in a game full of squad changes against New Zealand.
He has 74 goals for Portugal and 603 total for club and country.
Mexico launched a second-half comeback to survive a serious scare against New Zealand.
Like he did before the Mexico game, Hudson called on the Kiwis to be “brave” against the European champions.
Awaiting the cross was Cristiano Ronaldo who found a way to beat defender Fedor Kudriashov’s and secured a headed goal for Portugal.
New Zealand played on, went down the other end and almost scored, with the Mexicans urging their opponents to stop the game.
But he was all smiles, escorting a young mascot in a wheelchair out onto the Moscow pitch before netting his first Confederations Cup goal.
The Oceania champions took a shock lead when Clayton Lewis threaded his pass between two defenders to Wood, who coolly fired home on 42 minutes. “I warned the players at half-time there would be a change though, and Russian Federation pressured us well in the second half, ” he said.
Ronaldo was unusually cheered by the Moscow crowd whenever he broke forward, but as the game’s early stages developed, it became apparent that the crowd’s encouragement of the Real Madrid winger was redundant.
Carlos Salcedo sustained the injury during Mexico’s win over New Zealand.
“We are extremely confident”, said Osorio.
Mexico tops Group A after two games, with defeat sending New Zealand to the bottom of the group with zero points.
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“Some of us have been playing for the national team for a long time, it’s always like this”.
