NELSPRUIT, South Africa – New Zealand could not quite pull off a win over Italy in their second Group F game on Sunday but a 1-1 draw still represented an extraordinary achievement. World champion Italy was aided by a controversial penalty against New Zealand in earning a 1-1 draw at the FIFA World Cup in Nelspruit on Sunday.”
“I think that stopped the nation,” New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert said. “It’s the most incredible result we’ve had across the board. As a football coach, it’s way above anything we’ve achieved in the history of the game.
“We are always daring to dream. At the World Cup anything is possible – we’ve seen some strange results – but nothing as big as that one.”
“We’re just sorry we didn’t win a match we could have,” Italy coach Marcello Lippi said. “If we didn’t win against New Zealand it’s our fault. Once again, the opponent scored on their first chance. We were able to control the game after that, but this was a match we should have won.”
New Zealand are at number 78 in the FIFA rankings and began the tournament as 1,000-1 outsiders while Italy are the World champions yet you would never have known it from the game in Nelspruit
Source:
CBC
Reuters
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