"Anything is possible," says New Zealand coach Ricky Herbert after his rank underdog team shocked Italy in a 1-1 draw at the World Cup.

The 78th-ranked All Whites are the talk of tournament, having followed the 1-1 draw with Slovakia which yielded their first ever World Cup point by embarrassing the defending champions.

They're proof of what a positive attitude can achieve, sticking with their attacking team formation against one of the world most celebrated teams.

And Herbert isn't about to put any limits on his All Whites as they dare to dream of advancing from group F to the round of 16.

Level on two points with Italy, they next meet top-placed Paraguay on Thursday while the Italians play bottom-placed Slovakia.

The All Whites opened the scoring against Italy in Nelspruit with a goal from A-League star Shane Smeltz goal in the seventh minute.

Italy could only draw level through a penalty in the 29th minute taken by Vincenzo Iaquinta, although they heaped on plenty of pressure.

New Zealand goalkeeper Mark Paston was virtually flawless, preserving the draw with a leaping save on a long, powerful effort from Montolivo in the 70th.

At the final whistle, white-clad supporters in the stands were left shouting for joy while their Italian counterparts sat stunned.

"I think that has stopped our nation of four million people," said Herbert.

"It's an incredible result and it's way above anything we have achieved before against the stature of our competitors.

"Anything is possible and we're doing okay for a team who some say shouldn't be playing at this World Cup."

New Zealand soccer boss Frank van Hattum said the win adds to the country's growing profile in the sport.

"One of the things they've been saying is that they are proud of the way New Zealand has started to improve its performance on the world stage, because there's a lot of pressure from the world media: 'should we be there at (ranking) 78? Should Oceania have a place?'.

"That monkey's off our back. Two points in a World Cup, absolutely sensational stuff."

John Adshead, the man who coached the All Whites to their only other World Cup finals campaign in 1982, lambasted Italy's "theatrics".

Italy's penalty, which came about when Tommy Smith was booked for tugging the shirt of Daniele De Rossi, who tumbled in the box, was questioned by the New Zealand camp.

Adshead said while the penalty could not be disputed, the "notorious theatrics" of the European team contributed to it being called.

"After watching the game for about 12 minutes, I wrote down, 'The referee is being influenced by the Italian defenders and will give penalty at the first opportunity', and he did," said Adshead.

"If a New Zealand attacker got within three or four metres they were holding their heads and falling down."

Adshead said the drama was nothing new for the side.

"The Italians are past masters of the theatrical. They go down like they've been pole-axed and when you look at it in slow motion they've been touched by a finger or whatever," he said.

"I would love to see these people feigning injury, falling down when nobody's touched them, going down under a banner of seeking to gain an unfair advantage, be punished accordingly, even after the game."

Italy coach Marcello Lippi was devastated.

"Once again the opponent scored on their first chance," Marcello Lippi said.

"We were able to control the game after that, but this was a match we should have won."

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