The 18-year-old – who almost stole a win for New Zealand in the dying stages with a header which flew inches wide – turned in a strong effort in front of a sold out North Harbour Stadium crowd.
Brotherton says given the opposition on Saturday, a draw is a decent result.
“It’s the first game and we got a result so we can’t ask for too much more than that,” Brotherton said.
“We had chances to win the game but at the end of the day the fact that we’re disappointed we didn’t win says a lot. We’re happy to get a point on the board.”
Brotherton said Saturday’s FIFA U-20 World Cup opener was a great experience for the whole team as the 25,000 strong crowd roared the team on in the final stages.
“It was a really special day and it was great to have a sell out and at the end of the game when we were pushing for that goal to get the win you could tell the crowd was really behind us and the boys had a bit of extra momentum.”
Brotherton echoed the thoughts of his coach Darren Bazeley post-match in acknowledging the clean sheet kept by his side and says they will use the solid defensive display as platform to build into their next outing against the United States at the same venue on Tuesday night.
“As New Zealand we haven’t kept too many clean sheets in recent times so it’s really great for the boys to get one under our belt and it can give our defensive unit a lot of confidence going into the rest of the tournament.
“We will go back to the drawing board and see what we can improve on and also keep building and maintain what we did. It’s another important game.”
For more on the FIFA U-20 World Cup visit FIFA.com