The All Whites, ranked 63 places below their opponents, have been labelled by many as one of the weakest teams at this year's World Cup in South Africa.

But they made a mockery of that tag as Smeltz, who spent a portion of his career playing non-league football in England, struck the only goal of the game after 22 minutes to down their more fancied opponents in Klagenfurt, Austria.

The result does not augur well for Serbia, who face Australia in Group D in South Africa, as well as Germany and Ghana.

New Zealand are in Group F with Italy, Paraguay and Slovakia.

The Serbians represent the best scalp New Zealand has gained since FIFA introduced its rankings 18 years ago.

But coach Ricki Herbert was not allowing the side to get ahead of itself.

"It's always been about performance for us, but a win like this over a top-class nation like Serbia is a great bonus," he said.

The win was only the second in Europe for New Zealand.

The win also meant that Herbert has been left with some interesting selection questions to ponder.

"We made four changes and I thought Tommy Smith and Winston Reid, who only have three caps between them, did extremely well at the back alongside the captain [Ryan Nelsen]. Jeremy Christie came into midfield and did well and Chris Wood in his first start against a big team was outstanding," Herbert said.

The game was marred by crowd disruptions with objects thrown onto the pitch and a handful of Serbian fans getting past pitch security.

Serbian captain Vidic had to calm the errant section of the crowd in order for the game to complete the last few minutes.

Goal-scorer Smeltz said the team believed it was capable of results against top teams and it was now focused on its World Cup opener on June 15 against Slovakia.

"It's great to get a win over a nation like Serbia who some are saying are dark horses for the World Cup," he said.

"We'll take some confidence from it obviously, but we won't be getting carried away."

The team moves to Bad Waltersdorf on Sunday (local time) where it will be based ahead of Friday's game with Slovenia.