Papua New Guinea have won 14 of their 15 Tests in Port Moresby over the past decade, despite entering Saturday's World Cup clash as outsiders against Samoa.
The match could determine who reaches the semi-final play-in stage, and former PNG international Marcus Bai wants the Kumuls to make their home advantage count.
"Honestly, good luck to them, a 2.25pm, kick-off I feel sorry for them," Bai said.
"If you play in Australia and you come here, it's hard to swallow. It's not a good welcome.
"You can't doubt what Samoa has in their team but I know and I want to see the Kumuls boys dig in and have a go."
Samoa captain Jarome Luai and his teammates received a heroes' welcome when they arrived in Port Moresby on Wednesday.
Temperatures are forecast to reach 32C for the mid-afternoon kick-off. PNG assistant coach Paul Aiton said the heat and humidity could help his side against Samoa's stronger NRL contingent.
"Even for myself that lives here, it's definitely warm out there and a bit humid," Aiton said.
PNG beat Lebanon 42-18 in their tournament opener, but players complained the sold-out Santos Football Stadium surface was unusually hard amid drought conditions.
Samoa coach Ben Gardiner said his team would accept the challenge.
"At the end of the day, that's why they call it a Test match. It's to test your capabilities under different conditions with different oppositions.
"We plan to go out and test ourselves and if the ground's part of that test, away we go."