New Zealand's World Cup record: 1982 1st rd.
How New Zealand qualified for World Cup 2010: Oceania/Asia qualifier.
The Coach: Rickie Herbert (New Zealander, 48. Appointed: Feb 2005. WC experience: Player: 1982. Coach: None.
Herbert spent most of his playing career in New Zealand and Australia apart from a spell at Wolves, where he played under Tommy Docherty.
The Country: The All Whites used to battle with Australia for top honours in the Oceania Football Confederation. But with the Socceroos switching the Asia for World Cup qualification, the Kiwis faced less formidable opposition in an attempt to reach the finals for the first time since 1982.
Their white strip, by the way, was originally based on the colour of England's shirts and name is quite the opposite with the rugby union team, the All Blacks. New Zealand confirmed qualification with a 1-0 aggregate play-off victory over Bahrain, winning the second game in Wellington in front of a New Zealand record football crowd of 35,100 thanks to a header from Plymouth striker Rory Fallon.
But it also required a penalty save from goalkeeper Mark Paston, who denied Sayed Mohamed five minutes after the interval in the return leg, to confirm the Kiwi’s passage.
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