New Zealand Football Team 2010

The All Whites, as they are commonly known, is one of the most successful football clubs in the OFC region. New Zealand regularly traded victories with Australia up until 2006, where Australia were moved to the AFC region of qualification. Now New Zealand are the only team in the OFC to have played in a previous World Cup.

That entry came in 1982 in Spain. They won their OFC qualification tournament by going undefeated throughout the competition, and advanced to a 4 team league featuring Kuwait, China & Saudi Arabia from the OFC. Finishing level on points with China in 2nd place, they played a playoff game that The All Whites won, gaining entry to the World Cup Finals. Drawn in a tough group with Brazil, Soviet Union & Scotland, they lost all three games, conceding 12 goals and scoring only two.

With Australia no longer competing in the OFC group, New Zealand had a largely untroubled route to the AFC playoff, losing only one game to Fiji when qualification was already assured. What was surprising was beating Bahrain over two legs to qualify for the tournament overall. Nevertheless, New Zealand are the rank outsiders, with some bookmakers offering 3000-1 for them to win the tournament. They have also been dealt a tough group, with Italy, Paraguay & Slovakia in the group.