All Whites Qualify for 2010 World Cup

Awesome!!

New Zealand's national soccer team - the All Whites - beat Bahrain last night by 1-0 to qualify for next year's FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Check out video of last night's match http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/3063562/Video-All-Whites-highlights

This is an awesome achievement for NZ which has only qualified once before in 1982. What makes it such an achievement is that many small countries like NZ not only have to win in their region (in NZ's case - Oceania), but they then have to play-off against teams from other regions which are in a last-chance situation.

In 1982 I was 12 and played for the local soccer club in my hometown. We were so excited then that NZ could make it to the finals in Spain. NZ had tough1st pool opponents - Brazil, the Soviet Union and Scotland. The team didn't do so well, but it did score two goals against Scotland which was remarkable.

I'm hoping the current team does well next year like Australia did in Germany 2006, but can get through to the next rounds. Wouldn't a NZ-Japan final be amazing! Keep your fingers crossed - with the big teams out early in Germany, anything could happen in South Africa. Just watch out for head-butters.

By the way, the name 'All Whites' comes from the fact that the NZ team wears white uniforms as opposed to the All Blacks rugby team which wears black. The NZ basketball team also wears black, but they are called the 'Tall Blacks.' The NZ men's hockey team is know as the 'Black Sticks,' while the cricket team is called the 'Black Caps.' Incidentally, women's sporting teams use the national plant - the silver fern - in their nick-names. The national netball team is known as the 'Silver Ferns,' while the basketballers are the 'Tall Ferns.'