Yes the All Whites pulled off an amazing result this morning. It’s tough for such a rugby-knowledgeable country to get our heads around celebrating a draw (like, we’re not English you know?) but this result was both unlikely and historic. It’s the third time we’ve pulled off a surprise result against a team rated dozens of places higher than us in the last six months and we can honestly say this team are no easy beats. Herbert got his tactics right and, while it wasn’t champagne stuff it played exactly to our strengths right up to Winston Reid’s beautifully taken header to break Slovakian hearts.
The Sydney Morning Herald has come to the party nicely, while here in NZ we’re in danger of losing a little perspective. Ryan Nelsen keeps his promise to make us proud, reports the BBC while the Guardian calls the cleanly locked up Group F table, "startling".
And while DJ supremo Gilles Peterson hinted only the hardcore would be interested, that isn’t going to be the case in NZ today where the Herald was delayed, just so the final score could be included.
So let’s just enjoy our first world cup point, our third World Cup goal scorer, and let the mighty Tackhead rip out some funky footballing goodness.
Pete