Top 10 reasons to be optimistic about the All Whites

All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen. Photo / Brett Phibbs

1 - WE PLAY SLOVAKIA

There is a suspicion about the quality of teams from countries that only fairly recently were other countries. Slovakia, the country, is younger than Chris Wood, so surely they can't have their footy completely sorted out yet.

Which overlooks the positive influence that a new spirit based on nationalism - and not the boundaries imposed on them - might have on their sports teams.

However Slovakia - formerly part of Czechoslovakia - are tempting targets for the All Whites.

This is their first crack at a big event, and hell, we're wily old veterans compared to that, this being our second World Cup tournament.

Against Slovakia, New Zealand will get more time on the ball in certain areas of the field than many other teams would allow, which may give them a chance to launch their aerial attack.

Slovakia have lost their midfield general Miroslav Karhan to injury, and others including leading lights Robert Vittek and Martin Skrtel are returning from injury.

And if we can beat Serbia, we can beat Slovakia.

2 - ITALY ARE TIRED OLD BUGGERS

Time for serious straw clutching. While Marcello Lippi has left out a few of the old brigade such as Francesco Totti, Italy aren't exactly spring chickens and could be drained by the altitude.

Lippi is supposedly a creature of habit and tradition, so leaving out Totti and Co. was a bit of a surprise. His team are also the defending champions, so we're not about to suggest he has lost his marbles.

Italy do have to play Paraguay in Cape Town first up, which means an awkward climb back up the hill to play our brave lads.

And champions do crash, a-la France in 2002.

New Zealand beating, or even drawing, with the current world champions though? Not very likely, is it? Rome would burn.

Herbert's heroes could keep the score down though, and Italy don't often start with a hiss and a roar.

And we did stick three past them in a friendly in South Africa last year.

We don't even manage that against Fiji, so in some respects Italy are our bunnies.

Just kidding.

Think positive. Think positive. Think positive.

3 - PARAGUAY AREN'T A STRIKE FORCE

Easy. Easy. In our dreams, because this is a good Paraguay side and they have a solid recent record of making the round of 16.

Put it this way - it could be worse, although only slightly.

If you accept that Italy will make it through, this is the team the All Whites must beat to make it into the knockout round.

Tragedy has to be mentioned - a bar shooting has removed Paraguay's star striker Salvador Cabanas.

Their other leading striker Roque Santa Cruz is returning from a knee, injury, and Ryan Nelsen will know all about him from their days together at Blackburn.

In reality, it is hard drumming up a lot of optimism about this game - but Paraguay's goalscoring problems are a comforting port of call in this desperate mission.

They might not always be so flash away from home either. While the penchant of Paraguayans for playing for Mexican clubs gives them advantages at altitude, the Mexican influence isn't overly strong in this World Cup squad.

4 - COMMANDER NELSEN

If you could only have one Premier League, top-flight player in an otherwise workmanlike squad (and presuming Rooney and Torres were already taken) then you'd do well to make it a centre back. And New Zealand's square-jawed Captain Fantastic has proved a perfect fit for the All Whites.

Sitting deeper in the back line of the 3-4-3 formation allows Nelsen to pick the channels for attack and put his foot in when necessary. Smart and with a powerful personality, Nelsen brings a professional's expectation to the All White camp and a resolute force to the last line of defence.

5 - SMELTZ REOPENS HIS ACCOUNT

Whatever team he plays for, Shane Smeltz tends to be the man most likely to find the net.

He bagged the A-League's Golden Boot award in each of the past two seasons, once with the Phoenix and then Gold Coast United, but he had been absent from the chances at international level since the 3-4-3 system arrived for the match against Bahrain.

When he turned inside the Serbian right back and stroked the ball smoothly past the goalkeeper, the Kiwi gun proved that he can take an A-League nose for goal to top international opponents.

Now, having broken a dry run in All Whites' colours, Smeltz is unlikely to freeze when a chance comes against the likes of Slovakia.

6 - THE LATE ARRIVALS STEP UP

The All Whites' defensive unit, already regarded as among the best in the team's history, received a boost with the arrival among the defensive ranks of two young outsiders.

Coach Ricki Herbert nailed it when he said that Winston Reid and Tommy Smith both looked like they they could "live on the ball".

It would be over-stating matters to suggest that All Whites defenders of the past were more likely to drop dead than "live on the ball", but long, hopeful clearances tended to be the order of the day.

The pass from Reid to Rory Fallon that led to Shane Smeltz's goal against Serbia showed the All Whites' great Dane has a cool head.

Moments before the pass, Fallon had accidentally put his elbow into the face of Serbian defender Ivan Obradovic, which led to a change at the back for the Europeans.

With a new centreback pairing suddenly forced together so early in the match, Reid recognised it was a good time to try an accurate long pass. And it was a gem of a ball.

"I wanted to see how Winston and Tommy would go against a world-class team," said Herbert.

"Their ability to live on the ball, the fact they were really patient, to provide that patience from the back and the ability to play good ball forward was great."

7 - FRIENDLY FORM

While getting robbed by the Convicts 2-1 in Melbourne and beating 15th-ranked Serbia 1-0, the All Whites have looked a confident and surprisingly classy outfit. Even in the 0-2 defeat to Mexico, they were sharp in possession.

Too often in the World Cup qualifiers against Bahrain, Ricki Herbert's men looked laboured on the ball and short of time to find one another in possession. The friendly matches have revealed a team with a calmer demeanour and a more fluid awareness of passing chances. And they've defended like titans.

Carrying that form from the carefree atmosphere of friendly matches into the tense reality of a knockout tournament is a different matter. But at least the All Whites now know they can look more-fancied international opponents in the eye.

8 - LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

The thin air of the Highveld should suit New Zealand's endearingly non-technical style of play. Coupled with a ball that critics say seems to defy the laws of physics (in actual fact, it's flight is entirely dictated by said laws), the All Whites' tactic of solid defence and lumping it up to Rory Fallon might be a challenge for even the most cultured of teams.

This should not be read as snide criticism - if you're not Barcelona, why try to play like them?

New Zealand, whose team is made up largely of jobbing pros battling away in blue-collar heartlands such as Blackburn, Plymouth and Wellington, should feel right at home playing in three towns - Polokwane, Rustenberg and Nelspruit - with the collective charm of Greenlane's boulevard of cars.

9 - THE 3-4-3 FORMATION WORKS

What looked a risky move by Ricki Herbert for the first Bahrain qualifying match now seems shrewd.

Against Bahrain, the three-man forward line stuttered in attack, while the midfield struggled to gel. Worryingly, Shane Smeltz, the side's most effective goal-grabber, seemed to go missing in the unfamiliar shape.

In the three warm-up matches since, the width as Leo Bertos pushes forward and the extra striker up front have proved difficult for defences to handle.

The key will be dealing with a lack of width on defence.

10 - LOW EXPECTATIONS

There's another team from these fair shores who pitch up to every World Cup with the favourites tag weighing heavy around their necks.

It hasn't worked out so well for them, making just two finals and winning one in six attempts.

The national representatives of our summer sport have feared even worse, attending nine World Cup extravaganzas without even making a final. So in terms of percentages, the round-ball boys should have no fear of failure.

They're hardly going to come home to the sound of the air crackling with talkback opprobrium.

In fact, a fair few of them won't even come "home" at all, heading straight back to their teams in England, the US, Denmark and points in-between.

- reporting by Chris Rattue, Dylan Cleaver and Winston Aldworth