The aghast faces in the Italian contingent in the Nelspruit crowd could not believe they were watching a side which went all the way four years ago while New Zealand supporters were in dreamland as the bench jumped for delight at fulltime.
The Azzurri, average in their opening 1-1 draw with Paraguay, hardly got in behind New Zealand's stout defence once and when they should have really pushed on in the second half the verve just was not there.
Another laboured point for Italy at Johannesburg's Ellis Park on Thursday could equally spell doom if New Zealand manage a result against Paraguay and stun the soccer fraternity.
Ricki Herbert's side, who drew 1-1 with Slovakia first up, again proved the doubters wrong by playing to their strength in the air, setting their stall out and never wavering in the face of albeit half-hearted Italian pressure.
Italy had been warned about their difficulty defending free kicks into the box in Monday's draw with Paraguay where floundering centre back Fabio Cannavaro failed to jump as Antolin Alcaraz headed in.
Six days on and 36-year-old captain Cannavaro made a similar howler, this time connecting with the ball into the box but just letting it drop for New Zealand's Shane Smeltz to prod into the net on seven minutes.
A slight brush of a New Zealand head as the freekick came in could have prompted an offside flag but the fact the All Whites managed to cause bedlam in the Italy box so early showed the Azzurri had not fully heeded Marcello Lippi's words.
Italian pundits will again question Lippi's reliance on Cannavaro, who won the world player of the year award for leading his side to 2006 glory but is struggling badly now in the twilight of his career as a lack of height is exposed.
