The All Whites drew 1-1 with the Solomon Islands in their final Oceania Nations Cup pool game in Honiara today and will now take on New Caledonia in Friday's semifinal.
The result saw Ricki Herbert's side top their group with seven points and the Solomons will also progress and play Tahiti who won all three games in the other group.
A match-up with New Caledonia will be a tricky assignment for the All Whites but all matches except those involving Samoa are tricky in this tournament.
Herbert will be satisfied with today's results, especially given he rested most of his first-choice side to give them more chance to recover from what is a punishing schedule and environment. But they have shown their vulnerabilities in this tournament and nothing can be assured - they want to win to secure qualification for next year's Confederations Cup.
Today's match followed much the same template as their first two. They scored early through Chris Wood when he chested down and volleyed a Leo Bertos cross in the 14th minute, had a handful of decent chances to extend the advantage and then came under considerable pressure.
Benjamin Totori, who has played extensively in New Zealand, lashed in a 57th minute equaliser that was the least the Solomon Islands deserved.
They play an entertaining style of football, like most island teams, as they played a quick, short passing game and it brought a packed and excitable Lawson Tama Stadium into the equation.
The Bonitos have never beaten the All Whites - they had lost all five but today came close. The only criticism that could be levelled at them is that too often they try to walk the ball into the net rather than letting fly with a shot.
The game was played in considerably more tolerable conditions than their first two and the brief rain that arrived at the start of the match would have been a welcome sight for the All Whites.
The heat was one of the principal reasons coach Ricki Herbert decided to rest nearly his entire first XI and five players - Ben Sigmund, Ivan Vicelich, Shane Smeltz, Michael McGlinchey and Chris Killen - didn't even suit up.
It gave others the chance to press a claim for a starting spot in the semifinals and it is expected Bertos will start in that match after being benched for the second game against Papua New Guinea.
Almost everything New Zealand did well in the attacking third came through Bertos, who made a number of tasty crosses that could have netted at least another couple of goals.
Rory Fallon had a header cleared off the line and then hit an overhead moments later just wide and Tim Payne slashed across the face of goal and didn't really connect with another Bertos cross.
Bertos can run hot and cold. His delivery in the first match against Fiji was poor but it was excellent today before he was substituted on the hour.
The Solomons Islands nearly grabbed a late winner through Totori who shot across the face of goal _ that would really have set the crowd off - but both sides will be reasonably happy with the result. Now the real business starts.
New Zealand 1 (Chris Wood 14) Solomon Islands 1 (Benjamin Totori 57). HT: 1-0.
