The All Whites were back in the township of Daveyton on Thursday to train as a full squad for the first time since securing an historic and dramatic draw against Slovakia in Rustenburg.
After the session, All Whites coach Ricki Herbert spoke to New Zealand and international media, including several Italian journalists, about New Zealand’s chances against an Italian side on level pegging with New Zealand on one point in Group F after a 1-1 draw with Paraguay.
“I’m sure everybody in the group thought they would get three points out of New Zealand,” Herbert says. “Maybe the Slovakia result will change Italy’s thinking a small bit but I don’t know.”
New Zealand’s first ever point at a FIFA World Cup has seen interest in the Kiwis build before their date with the Azzurri at Mbombela Stadium on Sunday (2am Monday NZT).
Herbert says the team had targeted four points from their three matches to progress to the second round. That equation is now reduced to securing at least one even-more historic result from the final two group matches.
“I think the beauty of it, and what is great for the country, is that no matter what happens against Italy, we’re still not out of it,” he says.
There is still some guesswork as to who Italy will put on the field on Sunday. Herbert says the Italian squad has huge depth of talent so New Zealand will just have to wait and see the team sheet.
Midfield playmaker Andrea Pirlo has apparently been ruled out while top goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, substituted at half-time against Paraguay, will also not be on the pitch.
Herbert says Buffon is an outstanding keeper “but no doubt the second one is quality as well”.
Tommy Smith, whose development in his role within the back three continued with another accomplished performance against Slovakia, is respectful of the Italian side but determined.
He says all Italian teams are good sides and New Zealand will just have to deal with the fact that Italy has good players.
But he is adamant the All Whites want to win and says they have taken lessons away from the Slovakia match.
“I think we’ve learned that we can match anyone on our day. We can score goals and if we hold our own at the back, there’s no reason why we can’t win games.”
The Ipswich Town defender says everyone is expecting Italy to get a result against New Zealand “and we want to prove them wrong”.
Simon Elliott, arguably New Zealand’s standout player against Slovakia, says the world has yet to see the best of the Italians at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
He is focused on the match but says the result will be just one part of a much bigger picture.
“You can’t really look at all three games individually, you’ve got to get them right as a group.”
Story courtesy NZF Media.
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