Not content with earning the first point in their modest World Cup history, New Zealand's All Whites are now eyeing a spot in the knockout rounds.

Inspirational skipper Ryan Nelsen insists his team can surprise further after shocking highly-rated Slovakia with a stoppage time equaliser to claim a 1-1 draw in their opening match in Rustenburg on Tuesday.

Clearly out-matched for skill and pace, the All Whites stuck to their structure and attacking plan and were rewarded against the odds when young defender Winston Read headed in the goal which sent his team and small nation into raptures.

"What this has done is given us something to play for in the next two games," said Nelsen.

"Now we need a win. If we can get a win, whether it's against Italy or Paraguay, you never know, we could go through.

"I said to the boys before that it is a 90-minute game but it only takes a few seconds to etch your name in history. Those few seconds came in the 93rd minute but it is a fantastic feeling."

Nelsen, the Blackburn defender, said New Zealand had done more than enough to earn a point in their first World Cup appearance since suffering defeats by Scotland, Brazil and the Soviet Union in Spain in their only previous finals appearance, in 1982.

"One hundred percent I think it is down to spirit," Nelsen said. "You're playing at altitude, it's windy, it's sunny (in the eyes) and you are playing a really well organised team.

"In those circumstances, to create two chances in the last two minutes; you only do it by chancing your arm, by fighting, by giving it everything and the boys did that."

The jubilant celebrations of the New Zealand players after the last gasp equaliser made it clear how much the draw meant to a squad that has been widely derided as possibly the weakest in the tournament.

"I knew we would never give up and we never did," Nelsen added. "The goal just topped off a fantastic day.

"We actually had a bit of a celebration planned if we were to score but that obviously went out the window."

Nelsen would not be drawn on what the players had in store.

"You will have to wait and see. Hopefully there will be another goal and we can do it then," he said.

Nelsen added: "It is just great because everyone out there was looking at New Zealand and thinking we were just making up the numbers.

"It really annoyed everybody because we are a pretty good team. Now to get a result against a team that qualified from a group that included Poland, the Czechs and Slovenia, is very positive."

Nelsen paid tribute to the fortitude of Reid, who had been at fault when Robert Vittek headed Slovakia into the lead but bounced back to claim the winner, vindicating his decision to pledge his allegiance to the country of his birth having spent his teenage years in Denmark, for whom he won 10 under-21 caps.

The captain said: "Winston is just a young kid, a young man and that is what you have to do in top international sport.

"You have to keep your confidence and try to affect the game. It only takes a couple of seconds to do something special and he did that."

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