All Whites vs Colombia/Ecuador: The Reaction
We got what we should have expected from these games. The All Whites were competitive enough to hang around against two of South America’s current best, but not good enough – especially with half their starting eleven out injured – to withstand them the whole way through. The Colombia game was the more encouraging one. Against a team that left a little more scope for the All Whites to counter against (rather than the clean sheet machines of Ecuador), Ben Old’s goal seemed to have the New Zealanders on course for what would have been a fantastic draw... only to concede a silly one even later and lose. Then in the Ecuador game we hardly created anything of note going forward but did keep them out during the first half before they ultimately had a little too much in the tank as well. 2-1 loss to Colombia. 2-0 loss to Ecuador. Nothing disgraceful about either game, albeit nothing particularly enlightening either.
With that the All Whites conclude their 2025 activities. It began in March with the semi-final and final of Oceania World Cup qualifying: a 7-0 win against Fiji, then a 3-0 win against New Caledonia. In June the lads were back at it, beating Ivory Coast 1-0 before losing 2-1 to Ukraine, with both games played in Canada. September brought a two-game series against Australia with a 1-0 loss in Canberra and 3-1 loss in Auckland. October delivered a 1-0 loss to Poland and 1-1 draw with Norway. Now we’ve had these ones, held in the USA albeit with very targeted venues – playing Colombia in Miami and Ecuador in New Jersey meant the whole diaspora was there in support. Can’t find official crowd figures but the stadiums were both in the 20-25k capacity range and chocked with yellow jerseys.
That follows on from playing in front of some hectic crowds in Poland and Norway. Good turnouts in the Aussie series too, including 18k for the home game at Mt Smart (after 21k and 25k in the WCQs earlier in the year). Those are great experiences for the players to feel the significance of international football. Much more vibrant than the empty stadiums we had in Qatar for the previous (admittedly post-covid) World Cup cycle.
You can also see a clear strategy from NZF to prepare their lads for the main event next year by giving them a wide experience of different footballing styles. In the ten games played in 2025, we’ve faced opponents from Oceania (Fiji, New Caledonia), Africa (Ivory Coast), Europe (Ukraine, Poland, Norway), Asia (Australia), and South America (Colombia, Ecuador). All that’s missing is North America but we did play Mexico and USA in the September 2024 window... as well as four of the last eight matches being hosted in Canada and the USA (who along with Mexico are co-hosting the 2026 World Cup). That all seems like good preparation.
Less ideal is that the All Whites have lost six of their last seven games. Since confirming World Cup qualification, they have an overall record of one win, one draw, and six defeats... with five goals scored and 12 conceded. But that’s not actually as bad as it looks. Aotearoa was a strong underdog in every single one of those matches and underdogs usually lose. The thing about these All Whites, though, is that they may lose but they never lose by much. Only two of those defeats were by multiple goals and only once have they conceded more than two (those pesky Aussies). Even just to say that we’ve scored in 5/8 games against higher-ranked opposition is progress, especially considering that the AWs have rarely been at full strength during these matches (Chris Wood has only started three of them, coming off the bench three times and missing this latest window altogether).
Taking that idea further, those five goals were scored by: Elijah Just (CIV), Marko Stamenic (UKR), Chris Wood (AUS), Finn Surman (NOR), and Ben Old (COL). This is no longer a team that relies on Chris Wood to do everything. Others are scoring alongside him now... and from an array of positions. You’ve got a central defender there, a midfielder, an inverted winger, and a more traditional winger. It was Ben Waine who scored the equaliser (off his face) against USA in 2024 and Matt Garbett who scored in the 1-1 draw with Ireland in late 2023. It’s not enough and we’re not going to win these games until we can score not just once but two or three times (otherwise it’s putting a crazy burden on the defence)... but you can’t deny this is better than it once was. Danny Hay’s tenure ended with a run of zero goals in five games against Peru, Oman, Costa Rica, and Australia x2.
It’s also true that those stats would look a lot better if the All Whites had held on for draws against Australia and Colombia. We’re talking about an 87th minute Max Balard winner and an 88th minute Johan Carbonero winner here. Very late concessions (each in the first game of a window) to spoil what should have been great results. It’s happened twice in the space of a few months... and it can’t happen again. You only have to look at the recent Men’s U20 World Cup to see how a late defeat like that can derail everything because it was that 90+7th minute goal the NZers conceded against Chile (after Nathan Walker had levelled up from the penalty spot on 85’) which turned out to be the difference between them making the knockouts and going home early. A senior World Cup group stage will be no less ruthless.
There were a few reasons why the Colombia game was more productive for the kiwis. The main one was just that Colombia’s more attacking tendencies allowed for a bit of counter-attacking room which they weren’t as proficient at shutting down as Ecuador was. Colombia had 22 shots with eight on target. Ecuador had 24 shots with eight on target. Both scored two goals. Very similar output in that regard... however, Ecuador had nearly ten percent more possession (73% vs 64%) which was just about enough to leave the All Whites something to work with against Colombia. But also the line-up was stronger in that match. Tyler Bindon in for Michael Boxall didn’t change too much but Alex Rufer replacing Joe Bell, Ben Old replacing Matthew Garbett, and Ben Waine replacing Kosta Barbarouses all led to a slightly less effective team.
Might also just take this moment to mention that Colombia beat Australia 3-0 in their second game of the window. All three goals came in the last fifteen minutes but it was a dominant display throughout, as detailed by the 1.98 to 0.11 xG differential (it was 1.99 to 1.01 against NZ... while the Ecuador game was 2.66 to 0.57). Ecuador drew 0-0 with Canada in their other match. Ecuador are now on a 15 game undefeated streak (6 wins, 9 draws), while Colombia are nine games unbeaten themselves (5 wins, 4 draws). Gotta stress that these were the two most difficult games of the Bazeley Era, in fact you could argue the All Whites haven’t played a team of this calibre since losing 4-0 to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal at the 2017 Confederations Cup.
A few standout players from these two matches...
Joe Bell was fantastic against Colombia, absolutely bossing the midfield with that wonderful anticipation of his to always be where those clearances land to recycle those NZ attacks. He was then rested for the second game. Darren Bazeley said something about hamstring fatigue but that’s nothing serious... this was about not overstressing him ahead of the two biggest club games of his life as Viking FK chase their first Norwegian league title in more than three decades. Similar situation with Michael Boxall sitting out game two ahead of his ongoing MLS playoff journey with Minnesota United.
Sarpreet Singh extended his run of starts to ten matches in a row (the next longest active streak is Francis De Vries with six and that won’t last one second beyond Libby Cacace’s return). Singh looked great in these games, setting up the goal for Ben Old, showing a lot of strength to hold onto the ball, and also doing plenty of defensive work too.
Finn Surman, good lord, what a player to have when he’s just hurling himself in front of everything. The Portland Timbers are already talking about trying to get him on a new contract after he led the entire MLS in defensive clearances for 2025 as a bloke who not too many American fans had even heard of before he took their league by storm. Timbers fans are bracing themselves for the inevitable day he leaves. At the very least, Surman has the same potential to be a starting player in the English Championship as Cacace, Stamenic, and Crocombe have become.
Also Max Crocombe did his GK Tahi chances no harm with some excellent saves against Ecuador in particular, although not sure if performances are really what matter at this stage. Alex Paulsen played great in the previous window too. They’re both super consistent, reliable keepers so it’s potentially more about which profile is preferred: the bigger frame and traditional qualities of Crocombe or the silkier touch and more proactive style of Paulsen. Crocombe is a notoriously bad distributor but he understands his game well enough that it’s not often a drama (just expect a lot of long balls to nobody – not that AP’s long passing is anywhere near as flash as his short stuff)... although dunno if that second Ecuador goal, where Marko Stamenic was tackled after collecting a pass from Crocs, would have happened with Paulsen in goal.
There’s no wrong answer here – the real debate is whether Kees Sims did enough in the background to claim GK3 status. If he gets to playing regularly in the Swedish top flight next year, and Europa Conference League qualifiers could mean more rotation for him at GAIS, then it’d be impossible to deny him. Even if he’s not then he still puts forward a strong case. Having gotten into the environment now, it’s a lot easier to continue picking him (same as has happened with George Stanger and Andre de Jong)... in fact being a backup for his club might even help him to stay available.
Those deeper selection shuffles are where we learned the most during this window. We didn’t learn much about the team – they did what they usually do. 4-2-3-1 formation with good work rate across the board and some rugged defence, keeping the games close against much more pedigreed opposition, but still working on how to capitalise in the final third. Same thing as could have been said about all of their windows since WC qualification. But with injuries to a bunch of key players, there were suddenly significant minutes available for the back-ups to jostle for position in the depth chart, recognising that there will have to be cuts when it comes to selecting a World Cup squad.
The third-choice goalkeeping spot is one of those and Kees Sims being selected ahead of the likes of Nik Tzanev, Michael Woud, Oli Sail, and whoever else would appear to tell us that he’s nudged ahead – but we won’t know for sure until the next squad is named in March. Sims should be the guy, though. Nobody else is doing what he’s doing. Tzanev and Sail are reserves at club level. Woud has had a tidy but well-protected start to AFC number one duties (but hadn’t been a starter for several years prior). Hard to count Sims’ back-up status in a much stronger league against him when you look at it in that light. Arguably the next most talented keeper is Henry Gray but he’s still very inexperienced and his only senior pro footy has come in the lower leagues of England. Compare that to Sims who has made over 60 professional appearances including 16 in the Allsvenskan. Lots may change before March but this should be cut and dried for now.
Each of the six absent starters left a selection battle behind them. That’s the Alex Paulsen one covered. Callum McCowatt’s is less dramatic because of how fluid those attacking midfielder spots can be... but note that Jesse Randall and Owen Parker-Price got minutes off the bench whereas Andre de Jong did not. Ryan Thomas being out of the midfield only served to give Alex Rufer go. OPP was on standby for Stamenic and then became Thomas’ injury replacement instead but his actual minutes came further forward. That versatility will help his cause though.
Left-back also feels very safe given that Francis de Vries has started all six matches that Cacace has missed over the past few months. FDV looked very solid in these games. He could have been targeted for his slower feet and recovery pace but he wasn’t, not really. Franny held his own (remember he’s played Allsvenskan too... seems like people forget he didn’t just appear out of nowhere with Auckland FC one day). There’s a significant drop from Cacace to De Vries... but there’s also a drop from FDV to anyone else. James McGarry did make substitute appearances in both games though, so he’s ahead of guys like Lukas Kelly-Heald and Sam Sutton who weren’t in this squad at all. Still think Dalton Wilkins could make a surge but we’re going to have to forget about that guy until he can stay fit for long enough to boil an egg. It is what it is.
Shifting the lens towards right-back, selections here have shown that Bill Tuiloma has the edge as Tim Payne’s right-back deputy. Tui started both games while Storm Roux came off the bench in both games. There you go. Tuiloma’s best position is centre-back but he’s not gonna make the All Whites in that position, particularly since he’s barely played there for two years at club level. Charlotte FC used him as a right-back on the rare occasions that they used him this year. To put it bluntly, Tuiloma is not a very dynamic fullback and he doesn’t even look particularly fit (as is to be expected having only played 629 minutes of MLS football since July 2023). But he’s smart and experienced and even though both opponents seemed to want to target him (especially Ecuador), only one of the four goals conceded this tour happened with Tuiloma on the pitch. He was getting a fair bit of help from Surman/Rufer/Bell... but that’s just normal defensive cover. Same as with FDV, we saw nothing to suggest that Tim Payne’s spot is under threat but we did see enough to suggest that Tuiloma has found some daylight as his deputy.
Francis de Vries and Bill Tuiloma also add an x-factor that other candidates don’t have: set pieces. FDV with his wicked deliveries, Tuiloma with his aerial threat on the end of them. Those are really valuable things to have in a squad. It’s just that with Tui, there’s also a heavy drag when it comes to his fitness. He didn’t even make it to half-time against Ecuador before limping off. If Bazeley came out and said that he was simply exhausted after having Nilson Angulo running past him for 42 minutes then it’d be perfectly believable. Even more believable would be that this was a genuine muscle injury because he’s had a few of those lately. It was a hamstring strain that ended his brief run of starts for Charlotte FC a few months back. 21 consecutive games as an unused substitute then six starts in a row, of course he was going to get injured.
But the problem is, until he’s playing regularly at club level that’s always going to be an issue. Same with his inability to last ninety minutes - something he didn’t do in any of those six MLS starts (the only two times he even went past 75 minutes in a game this year, for club or country, were in a couple of US Open Cup fixtures where he played centre-back). Can Darren Bazeley tolerate a right-back incapable of playing ninety minutes? This is where Callan Elliot ought to be shouting from the rooftops... because Storm Roux looked just as vulnerable as Tuiloma without any of the upside. The good news for Tuiloma is that his contract with Charlotte FC expires in a month so he’s got a very important decision to make about what comes next. If he finds a starting right-back role somewhere, even if it’s in the A-League, and manages to stay fit then a World Cup boarding pass should have his name on it.
And then we come to the Chris Wood situation. First thing to know here is that while Woodsy always seems to be in cotton wool during international windows, he’s still usually available. He’s started 10 of the last 16 All Whites games and come off the bench in four others. These were the first games he’s missed since a rotated squad was taken to the OFC Nations Cup in June 2024. He’s our equal record holder for men’s international caps after all, only a dozen away from joining the centurion club (he could do that as soon as next year), and when it comes to a World Cup group stage this brother is playing all 270 minutes unless he breaks a bone.
Second thing to know is that Kosta Barbarouses is currently clearing the competition with ease as Wood’s back-up. He and Ben Waine shared a start each on this tour, same as they did the last time we went to North America (when Wood only played off the bench). Kosta was decent against Colombia, involved in a couple chances, though you never really feel like he’s going to score in these games. He never does (9 goals in 72 caps is stark... with his only non-OFC goal coming against El Salvador in 2012).
However, the team seems to play better when he’s out there compared to Ben Waine. Old mate Waine-o delivers the exact same performance every single time: lots of energy, tries to muscle up against bigger defenders, runs his arse off, snaps a couple of shots that get blocked, and gets dispossessed a bunch. Ben Waine’s non-OFC starts as the number nine (he’s had a couple on the wing) have been in a 4-1 loss to Sweden, a 4-0 win against Malaysia in which he didn’t score, a 2-1 loss to Ukraine, a 1-0 loss to Poland, and a 2-0 loss to Ecuador. He’s bloody lucky to even be in this squad given that he’s so completely out of the picture at Port Vale that - fully fit and he’s not even made a League One matchday squad for the nearly three months. It’d be easier to be lenient with him (as Bazeley was with Matt Garbett earlier in the year – a guy who also has a far better track record with the national team) if this wasn’t the third different club that he’s flunked out with since he moved to England. This doesn’t mean he needs to come crawling back to the A-League with his tail between his legs... but, you know, maybe try Scandinavia next? This lower league English stuff simply isn’t working for him.
Kosta Barbarouses has started the 0-0 draw with Tunisia, the 1-0 win against Ivory Coast, and the 2-1 loss to Colombia that should have been a draw. Those were all really good All Whites performances. Meanwhile, Ben Waine has been at the tip of the arrow for a bunch of defeats and an easy win against a lower-ranked Malaysia team where we looked much better after he was replaced (admittedly by Chris Wood). Kosta probably would have started against Norway if he’d been in the squad – that was the one when the A-League dudes were rested (apart from Payne and FDV). At this rate, if there’s a challenger to Barbarouses it’s more likely to be Jesse Randall who at least looks confident out there.
So with that in mind, let’s have a think about what a World Cup squad will look like now that we’ve answered, at least temporarily, a few of those deeper selection questions. We can start by looking at the appearance stats from the ten games played this year...
| Start | Sub | Total | Goals | Start | Sub | Total | Goals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarpeet Singh | 10 | 10 | 1 | Ben Waine | 3 | 3 | 6 | ||
| Francis De Vries | 6 | 3 | 9 | Bill Tuiloma | 3 | 2 | 5 | ||
| Max Crocombe | 8 | 8 | Alex Rufer | 1 | 4 | 5 | |||
| Marko Stamenic | 8 | 8 | 1 | Liberato Cacace | 4 | 4 | |||
| Tyler Bindon | 7 | 1 | 8 | Ryan Thomas | 4 | 4 | |||
| Michael Boxall | 7 | 1 | 8 | 1 | Callan Elliot | 4 | 4 | ||
| Finn Surman | 7 | 1 | 8 | 1 | James McGarry | 4 | 4 | ||
| Elijah Just | 6 | 2 | 8 | 2 | Storm Roux | 3 | 3 | ||
| Matthew Garbett | 6 | 2 | 8 | Jesse Randall | 3 | 3 | |||
| Chris Wood | 5 | 3 | 8 | 4 | Owen Parker-Price | 3 | 3 | ||
| Ben Old | 3 | 5 | 8 | 1 | Alex Paulsen | 2 | 2 | ||
| Joe Bell | 7 | 7 | Logan Rogerson | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Callum McCowatt | 5 | 2 | 7 | Lukas Kelly-Heald | 2 | 2 | |||
| Kosta Barbarouses | 2 | 5 | 7 | 2 | Andre De Jong | 1 | 1 | ||
| Tim Payne | 6 | 6 | 1 | Luke Brooke-Smith | 1 | 1 |
Players who’ve been in squads in 2025 but not taken the pitch:
Kees Sims, Nik Tzanev, George Stanger, Tommy Smith, Oli Sail, Dalton Wilkins & Nando PIjnaker
Sarpreet Singh was the only player to feature in every game and he started them all, how about that? Lovely to see him back as fit and strong as he’s ever looked. He does have a situation at his Serbian club TSC, with coach Darije Kalezic having been sacked, so that could derail his opportunities there. We shall see. But anyone who thinks Singh isn’t first eleven for NZ isn’t paying attention.
Anyway, we can safely proclaim that everybody in the left column will be in the World Cup squad. That’s 15 players. Add to them Alex Paulsen plus a third goalkeeper. Liberato Cacace and Ryan Thomas for sure. Probably Bill Tuiloma as well. That takes us to 20 players. We don’t yet know how big the squad sizes will be. Usually it’s 23 players but they expanded it to 26 last time because of covid and the fact that it was held in Qatar in November rather than the usual offseason window of June-July. There’s been talk of keeping the 26-player squads (despite FIFA rejecting that for the 2023 Women’s World Cup). There’s even been chat about maybe expanding it to 30 players.
Okay so which three additional players would go along in that case? Another centre-back for sure, at this stage George Stanger although Nando Pijnaker might reclaim his spot once he’s returned to starting fitness for AFC. Could even take both. Alex Rufer is a high chance, though not a certainty, to be there. And you’d imagine another forward since those are the positions that get the most substitute action... that’s where Ben Waine, Jesse Randall, Owen Parker-Price, Logan Rogerson, et cetera are all competing. And let’s not forget Matua Tommy Smith (with an ‘I’).
Here’s a prediction as of November 2025 (and subject to change):
GK: Alex Paulsen, Max Crocombe, Kees Sims
DEF: Tim Payne, Finn Surman, Michael Boxall, Liberato Cacace, Bill Tuiloma, Michael Boxall, George Stanger, Francis de Vries
MID: Marko Stamenic, Joe Bell, Ryan Thomas, Alex Rufer, Owen Parker-Price
FWD: Elijah Just, Sarpreet Singh, Matthew Garbett, Callum McCowatt, Ben Old
STR: Chris Wood, Kosta Barbarouses
26-man Squad: Nando Pijnaker, Jesse Randall, Callan Elliot
30-man Squad: Luke Brooke-Smith, James McGarry, Ben Waine... Tommy Smith
That’s just a guess... but it does feel like the top 23 is pretty much sorted now outside of a little bit of debate around GK3 and the back-up RB plus whether to take Parker-Price as the 23rd man or an extra forward such as Waine or Randall. Outside of the 23, it’s really just personal preference. And don’t forget that plenty can change between now and March. The draw for the World Cup will be held in early December. The World Cup begins in June. There’s not that long to go.
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