David Leggat: Keeping perspective on a great achievement

Winston Reid scores against Slovakia. Photo / Getty Images

Right, let's all take a deep breath and calm down.

In the wake of the All Whites' momentous and thrilling first World Cup point against Slovakia early yesterday, imaginations have been running wild on the significance of the event.

The question is this: how do you assess the 1-1 draw in the context of New Zealand sport's finest achievements? At the risk of sounding too clever by half, it all boils down to the personal perspective.

Someone yesterday was insisting the result was in New Zealand's all-time top 10 great moments. Hmm.

Now throw in the individual-versus-team consideration. How does it sit alongside, say, an Olympic athletic or swimming medal? Or any number of team world triumphs? Tricky.

How you view soccer is another log to be thrown on this debate. And even if you're a diehard fan, there's another twist to this.

I knew a plumber who is a mad Liverpool fan, raised in that neck of England. He wouldn't go near a game in New Zealand, rating it unflatteringly alongside what he was brought up on.

On one level it's a complex business, this comparing of apples with grapefruit.

On another, it's desperately simple. You decide, and whatever you come up with is right. Right?

Certain incontestable points can be made. This draw was New Zealand's best soccer moment, hands down.

It eclipsed scoring twice in the opening game of the 1982 finals against Scotland in Spain.

It far surpasses surviving the marathon qualifying slog for those finals, culminating on a steamy night in Singapore against China, an occasion redolent with emotion both there and back home.

This was another step up for the All Whites, and the outpouring of jubilation is rightly substantial.

It also had in its favour being on sport's biggest single-sport stage, and the timing of the All Whites' equaliser, just as a thousand hands were preparing to push the "off" button. Therefore it had the gobsmacking factor to it.

But it was a draw, not a win. Yes, a draw against a middling European team ranked No 34, that's 44 spots higher than the All Whites, and all the more meritorious for that. But a draw just the same.

This All Whites team can play better than yesterday. They lost their way late in the first half and for much of the second, but stuck at the job and got a fabulous outcome.

Level on points with Italy and Paraguay after one round. Who'd have picked it?

My suspicion is that coach Ricki Herbert and captain Ryan Nelsen will fancy more can be achieved.

Maybe. Being professionals, they'll recognise that it was a draw, a fine one admittedly, but still only a draw.

And that thinking would represent a considerable step forward in expectations. Gone are the days when a 3-0 loss to a decent opponent would be regarded as acceptable.

Some years ago, I was stunned when the Tall Blacks won the supreme Halberg Award for finishing fourth at the basketball world championships.

Enough of my fellow judges saw it differently. So be it.

How will the All Whites be assessed in the same category at the end of this year? Much of that probably depends on the next two matches.

And so to the central question.

Consider this small cross-section of champions: Sir Peter Snell, John Walker, Danyon Loader, Valerie Vili, Sarah Ulmer, Denny Hulme, the 1972 Munich rowing eight, rugby's 1987 World Cup winners, Russell Coutts, Caroline Meyer and Georgina Earl (nee Evers-Swindell), the 2008 World Cup-winning Kiwis.

The list could go on a while.

The point is, treat the All Whites' effort yesterday as terrific and worthy of high acclaim. Don't try to settle for some artificial placing in a meaningless pecking order of sporting success. Enjoy it for what it is.