But it's a symptom of New Zealand's inactivity since those heady days in South Africa, when they drew with Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay after beating Serbia (then ranked 15th in the world) in a World Cup warmup. The All Whites were ranked 54 soon after the World Cup but have been on a constant slide since. They played only three friendly matches last year (a 1-1 draw with China and 3-0 defeats to both Mexico and Australia) but should jump up the rankings this year after June's first stage of World Cup qualifiers _ more ranking points are at stake in meaningful matches.

Their current ranking places them alongside Namibia but behind the likes of the Faroe Islands (118), St Kitts and Nevis (117) and only 31 places above Samoa. The folly of the ranking system is illustrated by the fact Samoa are the second-ranked team in Oceania - which comes on the back of their World Cup qualifying defeats of the Cooks Islands and American Samoa - ahead of the likes of Fiji, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Article sourced from NZ HERALD - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10785921