Why Are World Cup Fans Cheering for 'All Whites'?

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In Sunday World Cup action, the unheralded New Zealand team—ranked 78th in the world—held heavily favored Italy to a 1-1 tie, a result that the Azzuri were lucky to escape with. While watching the match, I did a double-take when television shots of the crowd picked up signs reading "All Whites." It took a moment or two to compute that the Kiwi soccer team wears all white uniforms—to distinguish themselves I suppose from their far more renowned compatriots, the black-clad rugby squad universally known as the "All Blacks"—and that the signs were being waved by New Zealand supporters in reference to their team. But it certainly seemed like a geopolitically tone deaf way of proclaiming their allegiance in that setting. Or is that very insensitivity to history itself something of a sign of progress?