I know you guys are feeling in the dumps, and I hate to pile on, but in all sincerity, I am not sure if the All Whites would have made it into the final round of qualifying (the hex) if you were in Concacaf. If you had, I suspect you would have gone the route of Jamaica. While most of the US fans would have loved to have seen Mexico implode even further, most never seriously thought that they wouldn't make it through to Brazil.
Don't worry about piling it on. Nothing you said was unfair, even if Jamaica had been the 4th team we would have probably still been underdogs against them (although had a much better chance than Mexico). I would only add that the real advantage in being in a bigger qualifying group is that there are so many more meaningful games to help raise the standard. Our preparation this cycle has been pretty bad.
Did we actually have a build up? I hope your not referring to that waste of time trip to the USA? The NZF knew how important this play off was going to be, despite whom the opponents were. Yet, as per normal they did fuck all. Nothing was learned from the Bahrain games. We got lucky there. I don't buy the argument that none of the big countries would ever consider playing us in a friendly. Some would as it gives them a chance to try things with their own squads.
So Frank Van Freeloader, what bollox can you use as an excuse for such a non build up? You're the big man in charge, time to earn you're dosh. I bet you are going to Brazil at Fifas expence. Lucky for some.