Tommy Smith and New Zealand will be out to win a shock place in the World Cup round of 16 when they complete their Group F games with a match against Paraguay in Polokwane this afternoon (KO 3pm). A victory would take the All Whites through, while a draw may be enough depending on the result of the Italy-Slovakia game being played simultaneously.

Smith told the club site that having drawn their first two games, New Zealand have done even better than they hoped: "We are all really looking forward to the game against Paraguay.

“We are going in to the final game with a decent chance of qualifying and nobody would have imagined that at the beginning of the tournament.

"It's obviously a massive game for all of us but for me personally, I am just trying to enjoy every moment of the competition. Paraguay will be another good test. They have some top quality strikers and playing against them can only help me improve as a player."

Smith, who will again start on the left of a three-man backline, says the likes of New Zealand may have benefited from bigger sides not taking them seriously enough: "I think that sometimes the bigger nations underestimate the smaller ones and that can backfire massively on them.

"Maybe the big teams think they just need to turn up and they will win but that has not proved to be the case. The quality of the smaller nations is a lot better than what they think. Sometimes it just comes down to who wants it more on the day."

New Zealand: 1-Mark Paston, 3-Tony Lochhead, 4-Winston Reid, 5-Ivan Viceleich, 6-Ryan Nelsen (captain), 7 Simon Elliott, 9-Shane Smeltz, 10-Chris Killen, 11-Leo Bertos, 14-Rory Fallon, 19-Tommy Smith. Subs: 2-Ben Sigmund, 8-Tim Brown, 12-Glen Moss, 13-Andy Barron, 15-Michael McGlinchey, 16-Aaron Clapham, 17-David Mulligan, 18-Andrew Boyens, 20-Chris Wood, 21-Jeremy Christie, 22-Jeremy Brockie, 23-James Bannatyne.

Photo: Action Images

kiwiblue added 09:08 - Jun 24 win or lose lets all have a party and best of luck tommy and whatever happens you will be valued by town next year.
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MAVERICK added 09:09 - Jun 24 Go Tommy !
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kiwiblue added 09:10 - Jun 24 phil check dominion post wellington paper for local news stories re the all whites. manager and players being poached by ''big ''clubs.
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dirtydingusmagee added 12:50 - Jun 24 good luck to the Kiwi's.
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generalpublic added 13:39 - Jun 24 be good to see the back of those diving cheating italians
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devontractorboy added 13:43 - Jun 24 A tough side to play I think the Kiwi's have done well and it's great to see an Ipswich youngster in their team. I'll be cheering on the Kiwi's this afternoon. Go Tommy!!!
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