Looks like the FIFA World Cup is on for the All Whites.  

Last night in Wellington the national men’s team pulled Fiji apart, winning 7-zip. No surprise there. They’ll take on New Caledonia on Monday for a ticket to FIFA’s quadrennial powerflex, where they’ll join a quarter of the globes football playing countries. 

With the competition expanding to 48 teams, NZ ensures direct entry through Oceania success, with no intercontinental playoff malarkey to endure.  

This alters the landscape somewhat.  

Previously, All White qualification to the World Cup was hailed as a highlight of NZ’s sporting history. 1982 and 2010 are locked into our sporting pantheon, achievements that almost beggar belief for their remarkable and unlikely path through the maze of qualification. We all have stories around the impossible 1982 journey, the 2010 road which culminated in one of the biggest and loudest nights in Wellington’s history.  

Entry to the biggest stage in world sport, which should occur on Monday night in Auckland, will not be met with such enthusiasm, celebration or astonishment. The once rocky and treacherous path has been realigned and tar sealed, complete with an open road speed limit.  

This shouldn’t sully the destination, but it won’t be met with the joy and patriotic fervour of days gone by. The All Whites are doing what has been asked.  

The qualification celebration goal posts have been moved. They are now group stage celebrations. The gauge of success, the real challenge, the true reflection of triumph at the World Cup is the group stage.  

Getting through to the round of 32 becomes the new Holy Grail, only then will this team be spoken of in the same breath as the heroic 1982 and 2010 teams.