New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert says decisions by the referee in his side's draw with Italy were 'quite strange'.
All Whites will be 'hard to beat' in qualifying decider
New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert says decisions by the referee in his side's draw with Italy were 'quite strange'.
The All Whites enjoyed their finest ever match on a football pitch after they recorded an incredible 1-1 stalemate against the world champions in Nelspruit.
The minnows' afternoon got off to an amazing start when Shane Smeltz prodded them into a shock lead after seven minutes, however a penalty awarded against Tommy Smith allowed the Azzurri to claim a point.
The Group F hopefuls also endured a frustrating time as referee Carlos Batres blew up constantly against their physical approach - much to New Zealand's ire.
Bloody hard
And Herbert was left confused by the performance of the official from Guatemala - however the manager was delighted to have picked up such a shock result.
"These boys just keep responding," said an elated Herbert.
"We knew we'd be up against it tonight.
"I thought some of the (referee's) decisions were quite strange."
New Zealand go into their final group match against Paraguay level on points with Italy and have a real chance of progression should they pick up a positive result in Polokwane.
New Zealand have twice shown their amazing capacity to stun after their draw to Slovakia - and their boss has not ruled out another World Cup upset.
Speechless
Herbert added: "We are going to turn up and we are going to be bloody hard to beat, I'll tell you that."
Captain Ryan Nelsen was similarly ecstatic at the prospect of going through to the second round and he hailed the superb rearguard action put in by his team-mates.
The Blackburn Rovers stopped typified the spirit of the underdogs with a colossal display and he said: "It was amazing.
"It wasn't pretty, they (the New Zealand team) showed so much determination and guts."
"I'm speechless because everybody put in such a shift. We've given ourselves an opportunity (to go through to the second stage)."
