Alex Haley, the author of Roots, once said, 'history is written by the winners'.
It's not always the case because this morning, history was written by a team which neither won nor lost.
The All Whites' 0-0 draw with Iraq in their final match at the Confederations Cup this morning (NZT) was an historic moment. Never before had the national men's team won a point at a Fifa tournament and it was something for New Zealand football to cherish.
It is another milestone, and this country doesn't have that many to point to.
It's why coach Ricki Herbert and his assistant Brian Turner shared a moment in the centre circle of Ellis Park after the players had wandered off the field.
"I didn't see Brian Turner crying at the [1982] World Cup but he was crying tonight," Herbert said. "That's a nice touch from someone who had an amazing legacy in the game.
"The players left with a lot of strength and credibility from that performance. I am delighted. Tonight is a celebration.
"It is another milestone for the country. We proved a few doubters wrong. The team were magnificent tonight. We have never come to a tournament and got a point. We have never come to a tournament and dictated a game. I think at halftime tonight we were disappointed we weren't 2-0 or 3-0 up with the chances we had."
That's the only downside for the likes of skipper Tim Brown. The players celebrated what they had achieved, but they also had a sense it could have been so much better given the dominance they achieved in the first half.
"We should have won that game, there are no two ways about it," the straight-talking Brown said. "You go in the dressing room and the boys, while they are happy and they gave the crowd a clap and had a team photo because it's a little bit of history and we need to celebrate that, you talk to the boys and there's a sense we let one go.
"If you look back at the other games, we were a bit tentative. We were playing against the best teams in the world and suffered a bit of stage fright but tonight we had some belief, we had nothing to lose. We are frustrated we didn't do that before but I think we have earned some credibility.
"I believe we will qualify for [the World Cup] next year and when we do we want to show people we deserve to be at this level. I'm proud of the boys. It would have been an easy one to let go but we were up for it from the start, kept the ball and were positive.
"It's a platform [for us to build on]. There would have been nothing worse than going home with our heads down. We can go back with our heads held high because, while there were a couple of bad performances, there were a couple of good ones. I think we can build on that."
If they do, returning to South Africa in 12 months' time is not out of the question. They need to navigate their way past either Saudi Arabia or Bahrain in a home and away World Cup playoff in October and November but they will have nothing to fear now.
They were comfortable against a team who were the champions of Asia only two years ago.
"Confidence and self-belief are the key things we will take from this," midfielder Simon Elliott said. "The last couple of games, it's not so much that we lost but it was the performances we put in. Maybe we didn't win tonight but the performance was so much better and that gives us confidence for the future."
The thing about history is that it is constantly rewritten and updated. This All Whites side have a chance to write another chapter in four months' time.
For now, though, it's appropriate to celebrate the latest addition.
Michael Brown is in South Africa courtesy of Emirate, official airline of the 2010 World Cup.
