Play with style to attract the fans or guts out draws to protect their world ranking? Michael Burgess looks at how the All Whites might approach their next matches.
Steve Sumner is looking for substance over style. Fred De Jong sees it as a delicate balance. Will the All Whites stay a defence-based side or is it time to adapt a more attacking, possession-based strategy?
Former All White and current commentator De Jong is calling for a change in
outlook.
"I don't think playing like we did against Paraguay [in the World Cup, drawn 0-0] would be a fantastic event," says De Jong. "We need to show more going forward. Attitude-wise we have to start thinking about winning - rather than not losing - games. I think that was the eventual approach in South Africa; it didn't start out as the mentality but it ended up like that: let's not lose rather than let's win the game."
De Jong adds that the sporting public can accept a defeat if it comes after a good performance, citing the 2-1 loss to Australia in May as an example.
"If you show you are an attacking force and get to that sort of level, then the result is of lesser importance than the performance. Fundamentally we need to push on from what we have done and, at home, people are expecting us to take the game to the opposition."
For 1982 All Whites captain Sumner victory is of paramount importance: "It is about being effective," he says, "it is not about playing pretty, attractive football. A winning game is entertaining enough anyway. Look at the Bahrain match - it wasn't pretty but it was effective and thrilled the crowd."
Nevertheless Sumner, who is confident the All Whites can win "one if not both" of the friendly internationals against the world No17 and 52, expects Ryan Nelsen and his team to take the game to the visitors.
"They will come out and have a go at home. The crowd will drive them on."
But does New Zealand have the talent to adopt a more attractive and possession-based style of play?
Sumner and De Jong are optimistic, with reservations. "If you are asking New Zealand to play like Brazil, then don't," says Sumner. "Ask them to do what they do well. We need to be a team that is full of energy, shuts the other side down and take their chances when they come. We should be brimming with confidence after the success in South Africa."
Sumner points out that the All Whites passed well "in patches" during the World Cup campaign but maintains we still lack a genuine playmaker. He sees Michael McGlinchey, unwanted in South Africa, as having great potential and Aaron Clapham as a talented but raw creative option. The return of Tim Brown, whose late runs into the box provide a goalscoring option from midfield is another plus.
De Jong says: "We still lack midfielders that can hold the ball. If we adopt a passing-based style, you wonder who the outlet guy will be."
But he adds they should be able to play with more composure in big matches, after the South African success and experience against highly-rated teams such as Mexico, Australia, Serbia this year.
"Players know what to expect from these type of teams - it's a different mindset now. Hopefully they can think more constructively about the matches rather than worrying and thinking, 'I hope I don't screw this up."'
It is a conundrum for Ricki Herbert and New Zealand football. After working so hard to gain credibility over the last 12 months, a free-wheeling approach and heavy losses to Honduras or Paraguay could see it start to evaporate.
Results and rankings are the barometer on Planet Fifa; when seeking potential opponents that, apart from the appearance fee, is the only currency that matters. The All Whites currently sit 49th in the world, close to their all-time high of 47th and light years away from the 156th position that they occupied just two years ago.
The only way they can continue to develop and possibly prosper in 2014 in Brazil is through international friendlies against quality opposition. Their next matches are likely to be away from home so New Zealand will be negotiating the match fees. Remaining in the top 50 means they can command a greater price.
For lessons on how best to build on an unlikely World Cup adventure, perhaps some comparisons can be drawn with Norway and the Republic of Ireland. Both are countries of a similar population to New Zealand and neither have football as the national sport.
Norway spent decades in the shadow of Denmark and Sweden before achieving unprecedented success in the 1990s. They qualified for the 1994 World Cup, their first since 1938; later briefly hit the giddy heights of No2 in the world and then returned to the Fifa's biggest show in 1998, making the second round.
Their football renaissance was based on a slavish devotion to a long ball game and fans, starved of any success, were willing to accept it as a means to an end. Norsk football puffed out their chest and their clubs began to gain some great results in European football. Norway have re-installed Egil Olsen, the architect of that success.
It was a similar tale for the Irish; competitive for years but in the tournament wilderness before Jack Charlton led the men in emerald green back on to the world stage in 1990 and 1994 with a no-frills, sometimes ugly, game based on stout defending and thumping free kicks into the box.
Those achievements gave them respect, confidence and credibility, as well as inspiring a new generation of players and they are now constant contenders in the footballing hotbed of Europe.
