Soccer World Cup: All Whites to play world champions

The All Whites will play World Cup holders Italy in their first appearance at the finals since 1982 with coach Ricki Herbert saying today's draw was another emotional high point for his team.

New Zealand were also drawn against Paraguay and Slovakia in this morning's draw in Cape Town, South Africa.

Herbert described the draw as "interesting" with Paraguay and Slovakia unknown quantities, but he said the All Whites go into the tournament "with some confindence".

The management staff are now working out where the All Whites will play build up games. Herbert said with two European teams they will probably concentrate their preparation games there.

However, with all three first round games being played at altitude, the team are now likely to go to South Africa earlier than planned in order to acclimatise, Herbert said.

The All Whites' fixtures:
Tuesday, June 15, 11.30pm NZT, NZ v Slovakia, at Rustenburg
Monday, June 21, 2am NZT, NZ v Italy, at Nelspruit
Friday, June 25, 2am NZT, NZ v Paraguay, at Johannesburg
Full draw

Herbert agreed that New Zealand may benefit from being drawn against teams which generally play physical but structured football.

"Anything that could play into our hands would be a bonus for us," he said. "We're only going to be as good as we are.

"From a planning point of view and everything that we do around organisation now and games leading into the tournament, that process has to get under way immediately to give us the best chance no matter who we play."

Herbert said the draw was another of the emotional high points his team had enjoyed since they sealed their place in South Africa with the 1-0 win over Bahrain in November.

"It's been 27 years since something like this happened so it's been an incredibly passionate time since we qualified," he said. "I wouldn't have been a lot different from many people just waiting for this to come. It's come now and I'm just so proud that we're back in the World Cup.

"Now the dust settles and the program starts to crank up and get under way."

The All Whites avoided potential powerhouses such as Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Portugal and France.

Slovakia are in the World Cup for the first time after winning their European qualification group over Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Northern Ireland and Poland.

Paraguay have reached the second round of the World Cup three times but have not progressed any further. They qualified third in the South American pool and beat Brazil during qualifying.

The All Whites pushed Italy to 4-3 in their lead-up to last year's Confederations Cup but the four-time winners are invariably tougher at the World Cup itself.

The groups at a glance:
Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Honduras, Chile, Switzerland

Elswhere in the draw, England have a potentially easy looking route with the USA, Algeria and Slovenia in their group.

Former England coach Terry Venables said the draw was "as good as we could have expected". In Cape Town, current England boss Fabio Capello called it "one of the more well-balanced groups" and said his team would "have to be careful".

Australia have a tough task against Germany, Serbia and Ghana. That may be the 'group of death', though Brazil, Portugal and Cote d'Ivoire, along with North Korea, is another contender for the title of the hardest group to qualify from.

Brazil will face two teams in the top 16 of FIFA's rankings as well as North Korea in Group G.

The draw was kind to all the other top teams.

European champions Spain were drawn into one of the easiest groups, facing Switzerland, Honduras and Chile, while France will face host South Africa in Group A, which also includes Mexico and Uruguay.

South Africa will face Mexico in the opening game of the tournament.

Ranked 86th in the world, the hosts will find tough opponents in the world's 15th-ranked team on June 11. On the other hand, it will be able to count on strong support in the 87,000-capacity Soccer City stadium.

A huge gasp went up from the 3,000-strong crowd when Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron announced that Mexico would play the opener.

"I don't envy the Mexicans who are going to be subject to 90,000 vuvuzelas," said South Africa defender Matthew Booth, referring to the loud horns that Bafana Bafana fans love to use.

Worse was to come for South Africa when France, ranked seventh in the world, was also put in group A. The French will play the often decisive last group game against the hosts.

"Sometimes no comments speak louder than words," said Theron, the presenter. Uruguay was the fourth team in the group.

As hosts, South Africa were already sure to play the opener at Soccer City.

- NZHERALD STAFF, NZPA, AP