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Much Drama and a Missed Penalty Send New Zealand to World Cup
Comments(25)Quick World Cup qualifier coverage update: If you’re watching Ireland vs. France, we have options for partisans on either side, depending on whether you like your coverage with a Gallic accent or a Gaelic one. Our Ireland blog will be doing a liveblog right here (France fans welcome), and our France blog will be hosting an open thread, where you leave your thoughts in the comments. (Ireland fans welcome. But be nice.)
Now let’s talk about New Zealand.
New Zealand has long been known for their rugby. For their football, though? Not so much. The country’s last World Cup was in 1982.
But a goal by New Zealand’s Rory Fallon (video here), and this missed penalty by Bahrain’s Sayed Adnan means the drought is over. And also that New Zealand becomes the first country to ever make the World Cup without having beaten a team with a national population of over 1 million.
A lot of the teams playing World Cup qualifiers today — including all the European squads — won’t know if they’re going to South Africa until after Wednesday’s second leg. Not so for New Zealand and Bahrain, whose second leg was today.
New Zealand will be the lone representative from Oceania, the only FIFA conference not guaranteed a World Cup slot. In qualifying, the All-Whites had to fight off the opposition from such powerhouses as New Caledona, Fiji and Vanuatu to take the top spot, which they did back in 2008. Then came the long wait while Asian sides fought through their qualifying so NZ could learn who their opponent would be — the fifth-place finisher in the AFC. It was Bahrain.
The two sides just finished their home-and-away series to determine who goes to South Africa. The first leg ended 0-0, so it all came down to this match, played before a highly-partisan crowd in Wellington, New Zealand.
(When I’m neutral, I love to see a win in a big game before an ecstatic home crowd like this one.)
Quote of the match comes from NZ goalkeeper Mark Paston:
“I basically just guessed which way he’d go and the ball ended up in my hands,” Paston said. “It’s a bit surreal really.”
Well done, Kiwis. And good luck against the big boys in South Africa. I think you may need it.
Watched the game, and New Zealand, though superior to Bahrain and deserving of the berth, will need the luck in the World Cup. This playoff looked like a competition for placing in the 30s (30, 31, 32) in the World Cup. Congrats to New Zealand and all, but they’ll need to improve before South Africa!
Posted from 
United States
Congrats to New Zealand but they will merely be a sacrifical lamb at the World Cup. They wouldn’t have qualified in any of the regions including Asia. I would be shocked if Fifa don’t rig the draw so they are in South Africa’s group giving South Africa a likely three points as in the Confed Cup.
Posted from United States
Don’t write off the Kiwis just yet. They’ve got it in them to ruin someones dreams of world cup glory – just hope they don’t end up in your country’s pool!
I hope would love if New Zealand end up in a group with one of the teams I’m supporting. Getting New Zealand or North Korea is the best possible outcome.
Posted from United States
South Africa, New Zealand and North Korea (which might be possible depending on how Oceania is seeded) would be the dream draw for any team.
Posted from United States
YES I AM SO PSYCHED ABOUT NEW ZEALAND BEING IN THE WORLD CUP, now the pool of competition is even weaker than the one from 2006 & 2002 combined.
VIVA SEPP BLATTER & all his FIFA sycophants!
Posted from United States
Good post Laurie. Great to see three products of Barnsley’s academy going to SA (Bertos, Mulligan and Fallon all came from us).
Just a note though, you’ve forgotten to link to New Zealand World Cup Blog.
Posted from 
United Kingdom
Oli, the link to the goal goes to NZ WCB, but I’m more than happy to go in and add another link to the blog in general. Going in to do it now.
Posted from United States
Disband the OFC right frickin’ now, please. Colombia, Croatia, Senegal, Sweden, Turkey, not represented (and that list will get bigger after the playoffs are finished) but hey if you can beat Fiji and the Solomon Islands and get lucky over 180 minutes over a second-rate Asian team, we’d be glad to have you at the World Cup to get your head smashed in by all the other teams who’ve worked hard for the last couple of years to make it.
Oh, didn’t realise that, oh well.
Posted from United Kingdom
No worries. Just didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten you entirely. 
Posted from United States
Congrats from Germany !
No matter what NZ’s soccer team’s merits – I love your country and your people (so incredibly friendly – been there twice) – that I am happy to hear you have made it. Welcome to the club. And good luck.
Sam, I like that your country list is in alphabetical order.
Posted from United States
Sam is right that Oceania should be disbanded. It should be incorporated with AFC. Also AFC should only get 4 spots not 4.5. When your fifth place team can’t beat out Trinidad & Tobago or New Zealand in consecutive World Cups then you don’t deserve to have that extra half a spot.
Posted from United States
Sam’s country list shouldn’t have included Senegal though. They came nowhere close to qualifying.
Posted from United States
Sam this time it was Bahrain, last time it was Australia (in the OFC) that qualified after beating Uruguay.
Its good to have countries like Australia and NZ qualify, it gives football a chance to grow in the countries…Everyone thought Australia would have been a joke, but we surprised everyone and got knocked out by the eventual winners.
There’s 12 teams from Europe, ONE team from the OFC
Its the WORLD CUP not the European Cup or African Nations Cup GET OVER IT!!!
Hope New Zealand beat a big team and show you what football is about!
Australia is a good team, which is why they got the hell out of that joke of a confederation to have some real competition. Nobody took them that lightly at the World Cup. On the other hand, New Zealand couldn’t score against Iraq and South Africa and got their asses handed to them by Spain. They. Are. Going. To. Get. Killed. If they get a point against whoever, that will be considered a moral victory for New Zealand, but you cannot have teams in the World Cup who are going there with the objective of not getting embarassed. Of course you want teams from all around the world participating, but above all I think everyone wants quality. How would having an equal number of teams from each confederation work out? Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands and Nauru at the World Cup, while only, say the “big five” in Europe qualify, leaving out Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark, Russia, Czech Republic, and so on?
If you want New Zealand at the WC, that’s all fine and dandy, but if they’re to be there they should be competing with the Asian confederation all the way through, not beating island nations of a handful of thousands before hoping to pull a result out of their asses against another side that would get embarassed at the big stage.
And hah, I didn’t notice my list was alphabetical. Good eye.
Italy 4, New Zealand 3…
I am not saying that the spots for the WC should be distributed equally, fair enough the way it is, but why shouldnt the OFC get one spot?
NZ cant go to the AFC because the AFC refuses to take them ( they are trying to get in but they cant as im sure you wouldnt know )…If you want to speak about Asian and Oceanic football politics lets go, I’m sure you have no clue as your so naive (eg. ‘we’d be glad to have you at the World Cup to get your head smashed in by all the other teams *who’ve worked hard for the last couple of years*’ Hmm so the NZ plays havent even been training or trying to qualify, they just rocked up and won on the day…)
Why should Croatia, Portugal, Sweden get a spot over NZ? its not there fault that a team such as Portugal cant play like a world class team, they have an equal opportunity at qualifying.
NZ being in the WC is an achievement, and needs to happen so the nation can progress on the football stage, if there not good enough there not good enough but football is all about David Vs. Goliath contests and im sure New Zealand can do themselves proud weather they leave with a win or no points, they have made a big step
“NZ cant go to the AFC because the AFC refuses to take them ”
BS. The NZ federation has publicly declared they have no intention of switching, specifically BECAUSE they get so many advantages from being the only country in their confederation with a decent team. Think about it: they get an automatic spot in the Confederations Cup, a generous road to the World Cup, and even a club in the Club World Cup every year. Plus a disproportionate amount of FIFA “development funds”.
All you said is nonsense because, while noble to give developing (in football terms) teams a chance, the current system gives New Zealand an undeserving, stupid shot at qualification. Why not give that spot to Canada to develop? China?
Posted from United States
So New Zealand played like a world class team? Please elaborate.
And don’t pretend like you don’t see the point I’m making with my “working hard for the last couple of years” bit. Ireland go undefeated (10 matches) in a group with Italy (no 4-3 losses, no sir!) and they still have to face France (which is about the same caliber as Bahrain, granted…) to make it. You can call me naive because I look at it in such a simple way, but simple is what works.
Hungary wins 5 of 10 and gets 4 points off of Denmark in their group, and they finish fourth.
Poland wins 3 matches and gets 11 points but finishes second last in their group ahead of San Marino.
Finland amasses 18 points despite the presence of Germany and Russia in their pool.
Bolivia beat both Argentina (6-1) and Brazil.
Either Egypt or Algeria will not be part of festivities next summer despite winning 4 of 6 in the group.
To me that sounds deserving of a spot at the World Cup, more than, say, a team that lost 0-2 to Fiji at home in the group stage and had to rely on Bahrain missing six hundred chances in their playoff.
Jose that is BS mate because the NZ football association have also stated that they are trying to get into the AFC because Wellington Phoenix want to be guaranteed a place in the A-League (which is under threat due to there OFC status) and if they win the league they want to play in the ACL (currently as there are appart of the OFC they chant compete in the ACL). If you have followed the A-League im sure you would have heard about all the noise from the disgruntled ACF who want Wellington out of the A-League (and have tryed to push them out of the league).
Sam I’m not saying NZ are world class nor am i saying that its not unfortunate that some teams that you could say deserved to qualify didnt. im trying to say is that its not Portugals or any other teams right to qualify because they are a better team or has a bigger reputation. I think its harsh to say a team like Hungary deserve to qualify, 4 of the 5 wins were against Malta and Albania and they beat Denmark who’d already qualified at that stage…
Its true NZ arent a great team, but they have a path to the WC like every other team, its the only path an OFC team has and they have taken it.
Maybe the only reason I am arguing that its there right to be there is because we (Australia) have been there, the WC changed the nations football mentality. Now we have a national league that is stable and football has much more focus in the country and plays a bigger role in communities. As an A-League support I believe that NZ trained for this immensely as Wellington (6 players are NZ int. starting 11) who are cellar dwellers beat the top team 6-0 after the 0-0 draw to Barhain.
I guess what im trying to say is that down here (Australia and NZ) making the WC isnt just an achievement for football as it changes the whole country, it is a step forward for football. IF NZ arent allowed to qualify then dont call it the World Cup, because your excluding parts of the world. All i can say is this will change football in NZ forever.
PS Bolivia beating Arg 6-1 was due to Maradonna imo if it was the normal full strength team i doubt it would have been the result. fe anyways
“In qualifying, the All-Whites had to fight off the opposition from such powerhouses as New Caledona, Fiji and Vanuatu to take the top spot”
epic.
Posted from United States
The way to incorporate OFC in to the Asian qualifiers IMO is this:
OFC qualification round takes place as before and produces a winner.
They then take a place in the Asian final round of qualifying, so in effect the OFC is a regional qualifier to the Asian final round of qualifying. NZ (or Solomon Islands or Fiji…) would then play in a group of 5 or 6 or whatever with the top 2 places in each group going to the World Cup.
This way they have to earn their spot. Of course the other option is for OFC to be fully incorporated into Asia…
Posted from United Kingdom
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“New Zealand becomes the first country to ever make the World Cup without having beaten a team with a national population of over 1 million.”
Now that’s a stat. Thanks Laurie.