A day after picking up their first win at an Under-20 World Cup the Junior All Whites made more history yesterday by qualifying for the round of 16.
New Zealand's place in the second stage of their home tournament was confirmed without kicking a ball, after Senegal came from behindto beat Qatar 2-1 and guarantee the hosts would be one of the best third-placed sides once pool play concludes.
It's likely they will play Portugal in Hamilton on Thursday.
Portugal won all three games in convincing fashion (3-0 against Senegal, 4-0 over Qatar and 3-1 against Colombia) and would be overwhelming favourites against the Junior All Whites, who have never beaten a European team at this level.
Coach Darren Bazeley was confident of progressing after their win over Myanmar, which left them on four points from three games, and he was glad the squad didn't have to endure a prolonged wait to book their place in the knockout phase.
"Funnily enough, we didn't have to wait long after our result last night," Bazeley said. "We looked at all the other groups and where they were standing and who was playing who, and we were pretty confident that we'd done enough to get through. We're very, very pleased.
"From what we've been told, it could be Portugal in Hamilton or Ghana in Wellington.
"Both would be great games to play and we've not really got a favourite. Either of those, once we find out, we'll start looking at how we can try and beat them.
"It's pretty satisfying to do what we set out to do, but now we need to go and try and do another thing and this next step would be a real history-making one."
