Cook Islands football coach Shane Rufer accepts their hopes of progressing to the final stage of Oceania World Cup qualifying is out of their hands.
Cook Islands lost 3-2 to Samoa in Apia on Tuesday local time and must beat American Samoa and Tonga in their final matches, and hope Samoa slip up, if they're to advance to the next stage.
Shane Rufer says they'll have to be on the ball too, with American Samoa breaking a 30 match losing streak against Tonga in their opening match.
"American Samoa will be on a high but we will concentrate more on what we need to do and that is retaining and keeping possession of the ball, and playing with more desire and conviction and controlled aggression but we need to keep the ball more."
The other second roud match is between Tonga and Samoa.
