Italy humbled by All Whites

New Zealand caused South Africa 2010's biggest upset thus far by holding world champions Italy to a 1-1 draw at Nelspruit's Mbombela Stadium. In the end, only a Vincenzo Iaquinta penalty prevented Marcello Lippi's Azzurri dropping all three points as the All Whites, who took an early lead through Shane Smeltz, produced a courageous and intelligent performance to earn their second FIFA World Cup™ point.

Faced with a side ranked 74 places above them, New Zealand might have been expected to park the proverbial bus in front of Mark Paston's goal. In fact, the opposite was true. Evidently deciding that attack represented the best form of defence, coach Ricki Herbert fielded three strikers in an adventurous line-up, and was rewarded for his boldness with the opening goal inside seven minutes. New Zealand benefited from some distinctly un-Italian defending with the Azzurri rearguard left in chaos by an inswinging Simon Elliot free-kick. The most notable culprit was Fabio Cannavaro, who inadvertently cushioned the ball into the path of a grateful Smeltz. From four yards out, all the New Zealand No9 had to do was poke the ball under the diving Federico Marchetti.

In a tournament full of upsets, it looked at this stage that a truly momentous shock was on the cards, but an Italian response was not long in arriving. They should have been level after 16 minutes, in fact, after Cannavaro knocked down Simone Pepe's corner for the well-positioned Giorgio Chiellini, but the Juventus centre-half provided a typical defender’s finish, smashing the ball out for a throw-in on the far side.

Italy were taking a stranglehold on possession, however, and after Gianluca Zambrotta just missed out on finding the top corner from 25 yards, Riccardo Montolivo went closer still, bending a superb effort around the statuesque Paston only to see the ball rebound to safety off the inside of the post. The Azzurri players must have wondered at this stage if this simply was not going to be their day, but their luck was to change after 28 minutes when Tommy Smith was penalised for pulling down Daniele De Rossi in the box. Iaquinta stepped up to take the resultant penalty and level the scores with a perfect spot-kick low to the left of the wrong-footed Paston.

Italy might have hauled themselves level, but Lippi remained unhappy enough to make a double substitution at half-time that saw Antonio Di Natale and Mauro Camoranesi enter the fray. The former, a prolific scorer in Serie A this season, nearly made an instant impact, firing in an imaginative right-foot volley that Paston could only parry clear. However, Lippi will have been hugely concerned at the relative ease with which New Zealand continued to hold his side at bay, and substitute Chris Wood came within a whisker of winning it for the Kiwis in the closing stages with a left-foot shot that slipped inches wide. Herbert's side were certainly well worthy of a share of the spoils, and go into their final match against Paraguay with everything still to play for in Group F.

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All Whites snatch last-gasp point

A last-gasp Winston Reid header snatched New Zealand an improbable draw against a dominant Slovakia side in their Group F opener in Rustenburg. Robert Vittek had put the Europeans in front, also with his head, in the 50th minute but the All Whites hit back for a result that leaves the section's four sides level on one point – and goal difference – after Italy and Paraguay also drew 1-1 yesterday.

New Zealand defied their underdogs' status in the opening five minutes. First Chris Killen broke free from his marker just inside the Slovakia half, charged forward and unleashed a shot that flew over. Then the same player headed wide from an inviting Leo Bertos cross. That seemed to awaken the Europeans. Vladimir Weiss, son of the Slovakia coach, darted down the right flank before producing a low cross that Mark Paston did well to hold, before Robert Vittek cut inside before blazing a shot high and wide.
The flair of Weiss was thrilling the crowd and on 22 minutes, the Slovakia No7 found space down the left and threaded the ball through to Marek Hamsik, who curled it wide from inside the area. Weiss then craftily laid on a chance for Stanislav Sestak, who fired into the side-netting. Minutes later the No9 missed another chance, this time from a close-range header following a corner. With ten minutes of the half remaining, Vittek cut inside from the right and fired a fierce 20-yard shot wide.

New Zealand, who had been spectators for a period, then went close. Following a neat passing move, Smeltz played a give-and-go with Rory Fallon before shooting into the side-netting from a difficult angle. It proved a brief respite, as the Slovaks dominated possession for the remainder of the half, albeit without creating any meaningful opportunities. They did just that five minutes after the restart, though, and this time they took full advantage. Sestak crossed from the right, and Vittek powered his header into the bottom corner. It was just reward for Slovakia's relentless assault on the Kiwis' goal.

Rather than sit back, the team in blue went in search of a second goal. After 58 minutes Sestak held the ball up well and touched it into the path of Hamsik, who failed to keep his shot down from the edge of the area. Slovakia almost doubled their lead soon after. Zdenko Strba and Sestak exchanged passes, before the latter set up Vittek. However, Paston rushed from his line to make a smart block from the 28-year-old forward.

It took an alert Tony Lochhead to deny Vittek a clear sight on goal with 15 minutes remaining, before Smeltz headed wide from a rare New Zealand attack with just minutes remaining. It appeared then that their last chance had gone, but deep into injury time Smeltz crossed for Reid to steal in and nod home a dramatic equaliser.

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Brown will be given until last minute

Brian Turner has reiterated that injured New Zealand midfielder Tim Brown will be given as much time as possible to prove his fitness ahead of the start of the team's World Cup campaign.

The All Whites vice-captain suffered a fractured right shoulder in the friendly loss to Australia and returned to New Zealand as his team-mates flew to Europe to continue their preparations for the tournament which begins in South Africa on June 11. Box-to-box midfielder Brown had surgery in Auckland last week where three screws were inserted into the broken bone.

He now faces a nervous wait to see if he can recover sufficiently to join his team-mates in time for their opener against Slovakia on June 15. A decision is expected to be made on June 10. Cole Peverley is currently with the squad on standby. Brown, who plays for the Wellington Phoenix A-League club, has been a key component in getting the All Whites to their first World Cup since 1982.

"He's an integral part of the team and I think we're all in agreement that we want to give him every opportunity we can so that he can participate,'' said New Zealand assistant coach Turner.

In Brown's absence Jeremy Christie performed well in the midfield in New Zealand's shock 1-0 win against Serbia, a match that also saw Winston Reid, in his first start for the All Whites, and fellow new recruit Tommy Smith perform strongly alongside captain Ryan Nelsen in defence.

Turner felt the 3-4-3 formation which New Zealand employed against Australia and Serbia and is likely to use in another warm-up game against Slovenia on Friday, would be one that was carried into their Group F matches against Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay.

"We are pretty comfortable with the system we've got (3-4-3) and it's now more about individual people doing things and understanding their roles and responsibilities very clearly so they can perform them on the day,'' Turner told Radio Sport. "It's just getting onto the park now and working through things and putting in the hard yards at training.''

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Development of New Zealand's Team

Despite its large player numbers, football in New Zealand struggles to compete with other sports such as rugby union, rugby league and cricket, financially and for media exposure. The performance of the national team is further hindered by a relatively young semi-professional domestic league, the New Zealand Football Championship having been established in 2004. New Zealand has one professional team, Wellington Phoenix, which competes in the Australian A-League.

Since the 1990s, U.S. college soccer has played a significant role in the development of New Zealand players. This influence began when former Scotland international Bobby Clark returned to the U.S. after his 1994–96 stint as All Whites head coach to take the head coaching job at Stanford University (he now holds the same position at Notre Dame). Clark began recruiting in New Zealand, and current All Whites Ryan Nelsen and Simon Elliott played for him at Stanford. The trend that Clark started has continued to the present; more than two dozen New Zealanders are now playing for NCAA Division I men's programs in the U.S. A common next step in these players' career paths is a stint in Major League Soccer; ESPN soccernet journalist Brent Latham speculated in a March 2010 story that the All Whites' 2010 FIFA World Cup squad could have more MLS players than the U.S. squad. However, Latham's speculation did not prove true, as only one MLS player made the New Zealand squad for the World Cup.

The best known current players are Blackburn Rovers defender Nelsen, former Roda JC defender Ivan Vicelich, Gold Coast United striker Shane Smeltz, Middlesbrough striker Chris Killen and Plymouth Argyle striker Rory Fallon. Several young players have shown promise in breaking through into the senior side, including Barnet FC midfielder Chris James, Newcastle Jets midfielder Jeremy Brockie, Shrewsbury Town striker Kris Bright and West Bromwich Albion striker Chris Wood.

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Inrtoduction: New Zealand National Football Team

The New Zealand national football team, nicknamed the All Whites, is the national association football team of New Zealand and is governed by New Zealand Football. The team plays in an all-white strip, hence its nickname.

The All Whites played in the 1982 FIFA World Cup and on 14 November 2009 qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Because of the lack of a high-quality domestic league, most top New Zealand footballers play in the leagues of Europe, in the United States, or in the Australian A-League.

New Zealand formerly battled Australia for top honours in the Oceania Football Confederation(OFC). This is no longer the case as Australia now plays in the Asian Football Confederation, leaving New Zealand as the only seeded team in the OFC. New Zealand has won the OFC Nations Cup four times - in 1973, 1998, 2002 and 2008.

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