Rory Fallon faced the heavens with closed eyes, index fingers pointed skywards and openly prayed as both sides went through the lottery of a penalty shootout before the Kiwis emerged winners on the account of a 4-2 result after the sides were locked nil-all in added time.
But you would think even the football deities must have their limitations.
It boggles the mind that New Zealand, blessed with professionals scattered throughout the world, made such hard work of trying to put away predominantly players who have learned their craft in humble surroundings and remain amateurs.
For the record, it wasn't just in the final but throughout the tournament that the All Whites were exposed.
They didn't look too crash hot in defence. In fact, Wellington Phoenix striker Roy Krishna and his fellow foragers from Fiji ran rings around the Beefeaters at will despite losing 3-1 in the cup opener.
Goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic, without doubt, was the standout player at the tourney - as Bay-born Mark Paston had been in 2010 - and his two saves in the penalty shootout prevented another full-scale inquisition post-PNG stint.
The blokes at the coalface were equally found wanting, needing a killer instinct to finish or lacking the patience to thread the crucial passes to find a position where depositing the ball in the net would have become elementary.
And don't get me started on the penalty kicks. Great guy Jeremy Brockie but he'll need to exorcise his demons in order to boost his All Whites tally of one goal from 47 games.
The number of times the All Whites gifted possession to their cup rivals in Port Moresby through unforced errors beggars belief.
Chris Wood's 60th-minute penalty against Fiji also lacked conviction as much as Hudson's explanation as to why he was included in his equation when the striker wasn't fully committed.
Hey, family always comes first but would Wood have taken a similar stance of a no-show if Leeds United were entering a crucial phase of their competition?
I doubt it. Besides, anyone's sister would have given careful consideration on dates before putting their brother's career in jeopardy.
Why not simply pick another player, preferably from New Zealand, such as Hamish Watson, to make a contribution.
Just as his team did throughout the tourney, Hudson is sitting deep in the defensive zone behind a flimsy portfolio - that is, to eke out wins no matter how the All Whites go about it.
Does that sound like the mantra of Ricki Herbert and Cristiano Ronaldo's frustration?
It's the cult of long-ball merchants and resorting to physicality to negate the razzle dazzle of an opposition when it becomes too overwhelming.
The sad reality is that type of approach will only take a team so far. You have to question a game plan that virtually took out some of the adroit players in the squad.
Playmakers such as Phoenix-bound Kosta Barbarouses and Marco Rojas, of the VfB Stuttgart fame, were reduced to customers at the self-service counters at supermarkets, waiting impatiently to complete transactions once the machines stopped nagging about imaginery unknown items.
To keep alive hopes of making the World Cup, via the Confederations Cup in Russia in a year, is commendable but it isn't the bigger picture when it comes to footing it with more soccer-savvy nations.
The passage to qualifying must be the envy of the rest of the world, thanks to Sepp Blatter, but for the All Whites to command respect on the world's biggest stage for teams' sport, it's imperative they embrace a culture of excellence that will make them worthy contenders rather than an impoverished part of the globe that warrants a subsidised entry.
