POLOKWANE, South Africa, (Reuters) – Paraguay eased  into the last 16 of the World Cup with an unadventurous draw  against a New Zealand team that exit the tournament undefeated  and with their heads held high.

Three draws, including a memorable 1-1 with world champions  Italy, were above and beyond expectations for the Kiwis and they  received an appreciative send off from their supporters at the  end.

A team of very limited international experience and modest  technical ability showed enough good organisation, discipline  and effort in just their second World Cup finals to finish above  the Italians in Group F.

“I think I need to pinch myself,” said New Zealand coach  Ricki Herbert. “If you are going to exit the World Cup there are  good ways of doing it.

“A lot of people thought we shouldn’t be here and that we  had amateurs who were not up to it. But I think that’s dead and  buried now.”

Paraguay created the better chances but, knowing a point was  enough for them to secure passage to the second round, they took  few risks and were rarely troubled by Herbert’s team who, for  all their graft, did not manage a single shot on goal.

The only real moment of panic for Paraguay came with six  minutes of regular time remaining when Shane Smeltz put a ball  across the face of the goal and 18-year-old substitute Chris  Wood, sliding in at the back post, almost reached it.