New Zealand qualified for the 2010 Men’s World Cup with a 1-0 win over Bahrain in the second leg of the AFC/​OFC playoff final. The first leg in Manama had ended goalless, giving Bahrain a slight advantage as the teams entered Wellington. But Rory FALLON put the All Whites in front with a header from Leo BERTOS’s corner just before halftime. Five minutes after the break, Bahrain’s Abdulla OMAR was pulled down in the area – the resulting penalty by Sayed ADNAN was saved by Mark PASTON. New Zealand held on to win 1-0 on aggregate and reach the Men’s World Cup for the second time in their history, having previously qualified in 1982.