"But the Euro Eight's admirable deeds still conjure memories of the All Whites' three draws at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa where, but for a bit more ambition in their final pool game against Paraguay, they could also possibly have qualified for the round of 16 stage."
Is he still really running with the whole 'everything about the 2010 campaign was Ryan Nelson's doing, EXCEPT for the game against Paraguay, where Ricki Herbert decided he didn't want the team to score goals'? He must have been watching a completely different game to the one I remember, because the one I was watching we had about about 40% possession, and were completely outclassed. I don't think the managers ambition was what stopped us from going through there.
On his main point (and yours), you are completely right, it's such a surface level comparison that it is meaningless.
Edit: Wow, i missed the bit where he said Poland was only just more populous than New Zealand. That's just... wow.