KEY POINTS:
A place in the playoffs for the 32-team World Cup finals now confirmed, the All Whites will this week pay tribute to the man who sparked New Zealand's only other venture to the competition.
The return match with New Caledonia at North Harbour Stadium on Wednesday night will
be dedicated to the memory of Oceania patriarch Charlie Dempsey, who died in June.
"The players initially wanted to wear black armbands in Saturday's game in Noumea but quickly agreed with our suggestion that Wednesday's game would be a more appropriate time to acknowledge Charlie's contribution to New Zealand and Oceania football," said New Zealand Football chairman Frank van Hattum. "This is the chance to honour him and his efforts for our game in this part of the world.
"We will observe a minute's silence before the game. We have invited Charlie's widow, Annie, and his daughters Josephine and Alice as our guests."
The team, wearing black, will don white armbands.
Half of the players in the All Whites squad were not born when New Zealand beat China 2-1 in Singapore on January 10, 1982, to qualify for the World Cup in Spain later that year.
Left-back Tony Lochhead was born two days after that epic encounter which, with Dempsey leading the charge, catapulted the All Whites on to the world stage.
"It is great the team did all they had to in winning in Noumea," said van Hattum.
"Now we want them to enjoy the occasion as they look forward to playing in the Confederations Cup.
"Beyond that, the focus will all be on the home and away playoffs with the fifth team from Asia. At this stage no decision has been made on where the home game will be played. For that reason we are hoping a good crowd will turn out for Wednesday's game.
"We want to make it a football occasion. We will introduce the players from our under-17 women's team who will play their world championship here later this year.
"This is a call to action and the chance for Aucklanders to show their support and convince us we should play the All Whites here in future."
In their last home international, the Oceania Nations Cup clash with Vanuatu, a disappointing crowd turned out in Wellington.
Of Saturday night's game at Stade Numa Daly, van Hattum admitted to having been "a bit nervous" at 1-1 but felt that after an hour the players had settled down and, once back in front, played their best football.
"We now have six to eight months of football in Asia to watch with interest to find out who we will play," said van Hattum. "It is something to look forward to as we plan how we can give the All Whites the best possible preparation for both the Confederations Cup and those World Cup qualifiers."
The All Whites began tentatively against New Caledonia but helped settle those early nerves when Ben Sigmund, in his sixth international, opened the scoring in the 15th minute when, from their third corner _ played in by Simon Elliott to Ryan Nelsen who headed back _ Sigmund poked the ball home.
Rather than go all out to seal it, the All Whites became tentative. They forced more corners but apart from half chances to debutant Allan Pearce and Jarrod Smith, they rarely threatened to add to Sigmund's early strike.
The home side went close to equalising three minutes into the second half. The All Whites were saved by a despairing goalmouth clearance by Luther Wahnyamalla, who got his foot to a loose ball after goalkeeper Gen Moss failed to gather.
Seven minutes later the hosts did score when the All Whites' defence was again caught napping and the ever-likely Michale Hmae scored.
It was the wake-up call the visitors needed. Their game lifted and despite the difficulties of playing in the 30C-plus temperatures, they sealed the game with two goals in a nine-minute period.
A quick Lochhead throw found Smith, who played long. The ball was back-headed on to Shane Smeltz, who scored from close range.
Smeltz completed the scoring in the 76th minute when Lochhead played the ball in and Smeltz, on the edge of the penalty area, turned and blasted home to continue his amazing scoring run with the national side.
He scored two first-up in the campaign against Vanuatu and followed that with one against Fiji and another against Vanuatu before the two on Saturday night.
Coach Ricki Herbert was understandably happy to put the difficult away assignment behind him. "There was a hell of a lot riding on this group tonight," he said. "It [the win] gives a real focus to our planning."
In the other Nations Cup match, Fiji beat Vanuatu 2-0 in Ba to confirm they will finish third in the group.