The Surprise of the tournament

I have to give credit where credit is due, everyone including myself believed Group F was the easiest group in the tournament because you had the second lowest FIFA ranked team in the tournament in New Zealand (78) a couple of so-so teams in Slovakia (34) and Paraguay (31) and then almost everyone's pick Italy (5) - except of two notable persons, Rich and myself.

Now I will admit I thought the Kiwis would struggle to even score a goal let alone take away a single point from this tournament because they are a team because they are a team made up of second flight footballers from teams in the English Championship (2nd division), lower tier teams in Scotland, many in Australia, and a few even at home in almost a semi-professional league. Instead they showed true grit and came out undefeated, just unable to break through to the knockout round because of a lack of a key win.

Winston Reid stole a point for the tiny island nation in the first game with a goal in the 90th minute. Again New Zealand was outplayed in its second match with Italy this time an early goal - with a hint of offsides - by Shane Smeltz was good enough as the Kiwis defended their asses off and keeper Mark Paston was sensational making many big saves. Rich can speak more towards New Zealand's last game because I was watching Italy go down in flames, but it appeared to be a fairly open game with Paraguay getting the better of the chances, but the Kiwis certainly didn't back off.

A very respectable 0-0-3 record for New Zealand, who only had made one other appearance in World Cup history back in 1982 when they lost all three of their matches.

New Zealand

Best Moment: I don't think there is really any question, the dramatic tie vs. Slovakia was nice and their first ever point at the World Cup, but the odds for them to take any points off Italy in the Kiwis second match were absurd +1400 to win +500 for a draw on the moneyline, just astronomical. The tie sent shock-waves rippling around the World Cup, and may have put Italy into a haze they could never get out of.

Worst Moment: Not much to complain about, but the only goal the Kiwis conceded vs. Italy was via a penalty kick from Vincenzo Iaquinta after Tommy Smith pulled down Daniele De Rossi in the box on a corner, so we'll go with that.

Best Result: Ditto what I said above in the Italian game. Mark Paston was immense in net, and New Zealand pulled off one of the greatest upsets, yes it was upset just to get a draw, in World Cup history.

Worst Result: New Zealand had to get a win in their final match vs. Paraguay to move on, and actually unbelievably would have won the group had they done that. But they just simply could not find the back of the net or anything even close really. It's too bad because that would have been an incredible Cinderella story.

Final tally: Three draws, two goals scored, two goals conceded.

Best player: No question, Mark Paston the keeper. I can tell you there a few clubs in England that would love to have a keeper of his quality. Apparently a few already rejected him from the lower ranks, but believe me he was terrific stopping 12 of 14 shots on goal throughout the tournament.

Worst player: No one got thrown out of a game for New Zealand and the only mistake that really cost them was Tommy Smith's pull-down in the box otherwise we might be looking at the greatest upset ever, so sorry Tommy you earned it.