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PARAGUAY 0 - NEW ZEALAND 0


New Zealand's World Cup campaign ended with another draw as they held group winners Paraguay 0-0 but went out of the tournament.

New Zealand finished Group F unbeaten, having drawn with defending champions Italy and a talented Paraguay team who qualified ahead of Argentina in South America.

The All Whites didn't push forward until the final ten minutes and never really looked like forcing anything from the game. They didn't possess enough quality but must be praised for their fantastic run - an unbeaten World Cup campaign represents an incredible achievement for the minnows.

New Zealand's game-plan, as it had been all along, was to keep things locked down at the back. Their five-man defence, marshalled by Blackburn's Ryan Nelsen, was supplemented by holding midfielders Ivan Vicelich and Simon Elliot sitting just a few yards in front.

Paraguay were very disappointing following two impressive performances against Italy and Slovakia. Lacked a real cutting edge and failed to produce in the final third. Were reduced to woeful long-range efforts and must reproduce their form of the previous fixtures to have any hope of advancing.

 

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