The All Whites Have Qualified For The 2026 FIFA World Cup
And with that, the All Whites are going back to the FIFA World Cup. There was 1982, there was 2010, there will be 2026. The lads were comprehensive in a 7-0 win against Fiji in the semi-finals in Wellington. They were then a bit nervous and apprehensive in a 3-0 win against a very well-organised New Caledonia side in the final in Auckland... but they got the job done in the end, no dramas. The mission has been accomplished.
This was not the most difficult track we’ve ever travelled, no denying that, although this All Whites squad is good enough that they might have qualified through the old methods anyway. That they don’t have to, well, that’s down to the whims of FIFA. Those old mates are gonna do what they’re gonna do and the men’s football team of Aotearoa simply has to take care of its own business. In fairness, every other international team gets automatic entry via Oceania (Senior Women, U17s Men & Women, and U20s Men & Women) so this is merely catching up with the rest of the sport. Eh, who cares. It doesn’t matter. We’ve qualified.
Aotearoa follows Japan and the trio of happy hosts – USA, Canada, and Mexico – in having already booked their ticket to the 2026 event (Iran and Argentina have earned qualification since). The intercontinental playoffs that New Zealand usually has to go through happens right at the end of qualifiers to decide the last few entrants but this time the All Whites got there with months upon months to spare. We get to sit back and watch everyone else scrap it out now – including New Caledonia who’ll be representing Oceania in those playoffs.
With a 48-team event there aren’t going to be many big dogs who miss out (that’s kinda the point of the expanded tournament) but at least FIFA have kept the same general format. Initially there were whispers about preliminary rounds and whatnot. What they’ve settled on instead is the usual groups of four leading into knockouts – except there’ll be 12 groups instead of 8 groups and the knockouts will begin with a Round of 32 instead of Round of 16. Sadly, there will also be 8/12 third-placed teams advancing to the next round which is going to seriously inhibit the competitive spirit of the group stage, as we’ve seen in youth World Cups where this is the case. Granted, this does give the All Whites a much greater chance of playing knockout footy at a senior World Cup for the first time in any context, men or women. The diluted quality of the expanded tournament will also give the lads more of a chance of matching what the ladies did last time by winning a game at a FIFA World Cup.
Michael Boxall summed it up best afterwards when he referred to the feeling as “relief” and spoke of how the real test will be what they achieve at the tournament itself. Qualification was expected. This was an objective that the All Whites were supposed to achieve. After all, this team has not lost to an Oceania opponent for a decade. In fairness, New Caledonia are the only current OFC nation to have won a full international in New Zealand... but that was in 1968. The number one song on the New Zealand charts was Hey Jude by The Beatles (you may have heard of it). Let us update some numbers of Aotearoa dominance within the confederation...
The All Whites are on a 32-game unbeaten streak against OFC opponents (29 wins and 3 draws – one of those draws was the 2016 Nations Cup final which NZ won on pens, the other two were second leg away games after hefty first leg home wins)
Across those 32 games, New Zealand has scored 107 goals with 11 conceded and 24 clean sheets
Under Darren Bazeley’s coaching, the All Whites have won nine out of nine games in OFC, scoring 44 goals and conceding one
This next stat stretches so deep that it needs an asterisk because the OFC has changed a lot over the years and World Cup qualifying used to include countries like Chinese Taipei, Kuwait, and Israel... but against current OFC members, the All Whites have won 36 consecutive games on NZ soil dating back to a 1-1 draw with Tahiti in 1973
You get the idea. We can play up the romanticism of the underdogs and the unpredictability of sports but it would have taken a travesty for the All Whites not to progress from here – a travesty that Darren Bazeley was not prepared to risk. He picked his best eleven for both games with zero changes between the semi and final... and what’s more those players were equally motivated. Naturally, everybody wants to be there for the moment that New Zealand clinches its World Cup qualification, if you need proof of this then check out Finn Surman very strongly asserting his commitment despite not even being there. He took the mere suggestion that he may have rejected a call-up very personally, despite acknowledging why his coaches felt it was in his best interest to knuckle down in Portland and nail down his starting spot (which, happily, he appears to be doing).
But Bazeley was able to pick full-strength squads all throughout qualifying. These guys all came back in October and they all came back in November. Check out the scenes after the final whistle against New Caledonia and you’ll see a bunch of mates who enjoy each other’s company (for example: Tommy Smith guffawing at Kosta Barbarouses snapping the cork off in the bottle while trying to pop some champagne). They also believe in what the team is building. They have that inkling that they might be part of something special. More gruelling challenges of Bazeley’s tactical acumen will follow but you have to give him immense credit for the culture that he’s instilled in this team.
We’ve also got new knowledge about the hierarchy of the squad after Baze tipped his hand regarding his top-choice eleven. What’s funky about that is how glaringly different it is to the starting team that Danny Hay picked for his do-or-die game against Costa Rica just three years ago...
Chris Wood, Matt Garbett, Joe Bell, and Liberato Cacace. They’re the only four starters in common. Michael Boxall was in that squad but Winston Reid and Bill Tuiloma blocked his path. Callum McCowatt was also an unused sub, while Kosta Barbarouses, Tim Payne, and Marko Stamenic featured off the bench (Kosta getting a red card). The reason this is such a jarring comparison is because that Danny Hay Era ushered in this era of All Whites footy, built around the 2019 U20 World Cup and 2021 Olympic U23s squads... yet the squad has continued to evolve in exciting ways since then.
Look at those two teams side to side and ask yourself which positions have been improved. The correct answer is: all of them, except for the maestro Winston Reid. The four players in common have gotten better: Cacace’s become a Serie A regular, Garbett was mostly playing youth football with Torino at that time, Bell’s been to Denmark and back to Norway, and you don’t even need reminding that Chris Wood’s having the finest season of his illustrious career. Fair play to Nando Pijnaker who has been in great touch not only for Auckland FC but for Sligo Rovers before that too... but Tyler Bindon is a superstar so that’s an improvement. Other than that, well, Oli Sail is barely hanging onto his spot in the squads and Alex Greive, Niko Kirwan, Bill Tuiloma, and Clayton Lewis are long gone. Tui could maybe work his way back with a transfer, the others it’s much harder to see earning their spots back. That doesn’t reflect amazingly on Danny Hay but it does reflect amazingly on the footballing talent in this country. Talent which is soon to be unleashed upon another World Cup.
New Zealand 7-0 Fiji
There was tension in the final... there was no tension in the semi-final. Despite spending several weeks in camp in Aotearoa, winning friendly games against National League opponents, giving an extended squad an extended chance to build and prepare, Fiji’s defence was immediately unlocked by the All Whites who found space out wide and hurled in dangerous crosses which the Fijians could not handle. It didn’t take six minutes before a delicious dinky cross from Sarpreet Singh was nodded into the net by Chris Wood. Singh then scored a second on 16’ after combining with Marko Stamenic. That one came from a cut-back. In the 23rd minute, an own goal arrived from a Tim Payne free kick. Fair play to Tyler Bindon for celebrating like he’d scored but that one’s into the record books as a OG. Oddly enough, there was an own goal in the Vanuatu game where Bindon was closest as well. So while he’s technically only got one international goal, there are some unserious folks out there claiming he’s got three.
Three goals became four after 33 mins when Payne smashed one home. McCowatt got to the byline on the left, cut the ball back for Singh, who delicately squared it to T-Payne at the back stick. Crosses and cut-backs wreaking absolute havoc... with Sarpreet Singh heavily involved. Singh was playing out of his skin in that first half hour. He then climbed back into his skin as the All Whites softened at 4-0, trying a little too hard to score beautiful intricate goals instead of the more direct plan that had worked so well to begin with. Singh does have a tendency to become too unselfish at times. But hey they’d earned that right by putting the result so quickly beyond doubt.
Hence it wasn’t until the 56th minute that the fifth goal was scored – go on and take a wild guess as to how it came about. Tim Payne with space on the right, early cross lofted towards Chris Wood, guided header on target, keeper got a hand to it but couldn’t keep it out. Four minutes later, Payne curled another cross into the middle where Wood touched it home from very close range. Three headed goals from The Woodsman for his second hat-trick of the qualifying campaign and the third of his international career. Crosses to the big man, sometimes that’s all it takes. Darren Bazeley knows this and Nuno Espirito Santo knows this.
This was a rough day for the Fijians. Even when they created their best chance of the match, Christopher Wasasala whipping one off the inside of the far post (he was already peeling away with his arms out in celebration when he realised the ball had bounced back out), the All Whites swiftly countered and 21 seconds later Kosta Barbarouses had flipped in a seventh goal via a Francis De Vries cross. Smooth as silk. During those 21 seconds, the ball went through Payne, Just, Cacace, McCowatt, Bell, back to Cacace, to FDV, to Kosta.
Also, Ben Waine missed a penalty near the end so it could have been worse. It’s always a wonder who’ll take the pens whenever The Best Penalty Taker On The Planet is off the pitch (in this case, Chris Wood wasn’t merely off the pitch... he was in the crowd). There have been four penalties awarded to NZ during the Bazeley Era. Wood scored against Congo. Singh missed against Tunisia. Waine scored against Samoa and missed against Fiji. There was also a penalty shootout against Tunisia in which Waine and Eli Just both missed (while Barbarouses and Rufer scored). Waine won this spot kick which is probably why he got to take it but he’s low on form and match fitness and he sprayed it wide. No damage done (except maybe to Waine’s struggling aura).
It was a routine victory. The All Whites piled on the goals early and cruised from there. There were a few rough tackles throughout, with Marko Stamenic getting particularly annoyed at the treatment he was getting in midfield, but to be honest that wasn’t anything dirty from Fiji. They just couldn’t handle the speed that NZ was able to move the ball at. Nah, no worries. Onwards to Eden Park where New Caledonia awaited, having beaten Tahiti 3-0 in the first semi-final thanks to a pair of spectacular goals from Georges Gope-Fenepej.
New Zealand 3-0 New Caledonia
The Fiji game was on a Friday night, the New Caledonia game was on a Monday night. Quick turnaround to be picking the same eleven (NCL made three changes to their side)... but fatigue wasn’t a factor in why the All Whites were held scoreless for the first hour of this football match. The main factor was how awesome New Caledonia were defensively. They numbered up at the back and they competed as well as they could in the air. Goalkeeper Rocky Nyikeine made a few banger saves (albeit unorthodox ones). Crucially, they also made the tactical tweak that Fiji didn’t by dragging their wingers back out of possession and doubling up wide to prevent those crosses and overlaps.
Without that outlet, things got a quite scrappy for the All Whites. There wasn’t enough room to play through the middle yet they couldn’t find space out wide either. It was very defensive from NCL and that was exactly what it needed to be. New Zealand scored early against Fiji to ease any nerves but they weren’t able to do so here and the longer it remained nil-all the more tense this game became. That’ll be a lesson to these All Whites, most of whom have enough big-game experience to have handled this better... although perhaps they’re more used to being the underdogs in such situations.
Patience was the operative word. Things may not have been going to plan but the All Whites were never troubled at the back so one goal was all they ever needed. Eventually it was going to happen for them because, no matter how cluttered things got, the All Whites always had one supreme outlet: corner kicks. They literally felt like they could score from every single one of them. Libby Cacace from the right and Tim Payne from the left. In-swingers into a crowded six-yard-box. The deliveries were magnificent and it was only the sloppy finishing of guys like Wood, Boxall, and Stamenic that prevented them from capitalising earlier.
Bazeley took notice and decided to simplify things at half-time by introducing Elijah Just and Francis De Vries off the bench, with Cacace going into an attacking role. No messing about with lots of quality crossers on the pitch: just whip that ball towards the big man up top and see what happens. Unfortunately, Chris Wood fell hard on his hip trying to hit a half-volley from an offside position and had to be substituted, with the much smaller Kosta Barbarouses on in his place. But that was okay because Francis De Vries curled in another stunner corner kick and this time Michael Boxall put it in the net. His first All Whites goal and it only took him 55 matches. Kosta Barbarouses then repaid the faith by running in behind onto a very early Tim Payne ball to double the lead (that Wellington Phoenix connection) before setting one up for Eli Just later on. All three goals were either scored or assisted by a substitute... that’s the benefit of squad depth.
Notes & Reaction
Some stats from the five-game qualifying campaign (ranked by most minutes played)...
| MINUTES | GOALS | ASSISTS | G+A | GA/90 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marko Stamenic | 422 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0.64 |
| Max Crocombe | 360 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Tyler Bindon | 360 | 1 | 1 | 0.25 | |
| Matt Garbett | 358 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1.51 |
| Liberato Cacace | 345 | 2 | 2 | 0.52 | |
| Chris Wood | 331 | 9 | 9 | 2.45 | |
| Joe Bell | 298 | 1 | 1 | 0.30 | |
| Michael Boxall | 270 | 1 | 1 | 0.33 | |
| Tim Payne | 242 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1.86 |
| Elijah Just | 238 | 4 | 4 | 1.51 | |
| Sarpreet Singh | 233 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1.93 |
| Alex Rufer | 201 | 3 | 3 | 1.34 | |
| Callum McCowatt | 195 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1.38 |
| Storm Roux | 182 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Nando Pijnaker | 180 | 1 | 1 | 0.50 | |
| Francis De Vries | 153 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2.35 |
| Ben Waine | 96 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2.81 |
| Kosta Barbarouses | 95 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2.84 |
| Alex Paulsen | 90 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Finn Surman | 90 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Logan Rogerson | 81 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Ben Old | 72 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Liam Gillion | 32 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Sam Sutton | 26 | 1 | 1 | 3.46 |
Marko Stamenic, Matt Garbett, and Chris Wood were the only players to start all five games. Liberato Cacace and Elijah Just also join them in having played in all five.
Sorted by goals and assists per ninety minutes, and discounting Sam Sutton for his one assist in 26 mins played, the leaders there were: Kosta Barbarouses (2.84), Ben Waine (2.81), Chris Wood (2.45), Francis De Vries (2.35), and Sarpreet Singh (1.93).
Chris Wood didn’t break the consecutive scoring streak. He got to five games in a row with his hatty against Fiji but he needed another one to match what Keith Nelson and Shane Smeltz did by each scoring in six consecutive internationals for New Zealand. He should have gotten there, given the quality of some of those corner kicks vs NCL... and potentially he would have if he hadn’t gotten injured. Ah well, so it goes. Hard to argue with a bloke who scored nine times in five qualifiers. It wasn’t very long ago that he broke Vaughan Coveny’s record for All Whites goals yet somehow Wood is now 15 goals clear of VC. He’s also only six caps shy of Ivan Vicelich’s appearance record and it’s not impossible that he might break that record at the World Cup itself... although we should play enough games beforehand for him to have already gotten there. There are already games scheduled against Ivory Coast and Ukraine in June and against Norway in October. Poland has also claimed we’ll be playing them in October.
As good as NZ’s record is against Oceania nations, it’s probably a fair moment to point out that the All Whites have only won two of their last 18 matches outside the confederation. There was a 4-0 win over Malaysia most recently and also a 2-1 win over China two years ago (both were home games). They’ve only scored 11 goals in those 18 games and four of those came in the second half of that Malaysia fixture – great commentary team for that match, by the way, they should bring those guys back. This team is experienced enough that youth shouldn’t be an excuse – guys like Garbett, Stamenic, Cacace, Just, Bell... they’re averaging out to around 30 caps each at this point. This is a fantastic squad which doesn’t really have any major scalps yet. Merely offering some balance at this time of celebration, ya dig? The risk of automatic WC qualification is that they get stuck in the same void that the Football Ferns have been caught in where they’re way too good for the confederation, leaving them underprepared for major tournaments. But there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic about the trajectories of both these teams – remember the Fernies did win a game at the last World Cup.
It took a 36-year-old and a 35-year-old to finally get things ticking over against New Caledonia – all that was missing was a Tommy Smith goal off the bench, but alas that wasn’t to be. Nevertheless, Smith does now have the chance to join Chris Wood as the only players from NZ’s 2010 squad who’ll still be there in 2026.
For a long time, Kosta Barbarouses had a pretty awful scoring record in international football but he’s scored five goals in his last 11 caps including goals off the bench in both the semi and final of World Cup qualifying. That’ll means more to Kosta than most because of course he was harshly overlooked for the 2010 World Cup squad – an exclusion he’s often claimed was down to Ricki Herbert holding a grudge after his move from Wellington Phoenix to Brisbane Roar. Ricki has denied this. As Barbarouses said afterwards, this was his fifth WCQ cycle... he’s still got to maintain his standards for another year if he’s going to be selected but he’s on track to finally right that wrong all these years later. As for his goals, he’s now up to 9 from 67 caps. That means he scored 4 goals in his first 56 games, tracked by 5 in his last 11. All against OFC teams... but it’s not like he wasn’t playing against those countries before.
Look, everybody loves the Francis De Vries career resurgence tale and there’s no denying that his crossing has reached pinpoint capabilities. In both of these games, FDV was chucked on with Cacace moving further forward and FDV responded by setting up goals with those outstanding deliveries on each occasion. That’s his job in this All Whites team. So many people seem to be clamouring for him to start games but that’s just not gonna happen. First of all, there are many great crossers in this AWs squad, it’s not like he’s the only one. Second of all, Cacace might have gained some attacking experience this season but he’s way more effective making those runs from deeper positions so you’d be lessening the impact of a more valuable player. Third, this was against New Caledonia. Full credit for how well they played but it’s tiers below what’ll be awaiting at the World Cup and FDV simply doesn’t have the juice to stick with the calibre of wingers he’ll need to defend in those games (whereas Cacace handles Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Napoli, et cetera for his day job). De Vries is a useful Plan B. He’s definitely not Plan A. No need to get carried away here.
The same applies to anyone who thinks Nando Pijnaker should be starting ahead of Tyler Bindon – this is what the doctors call A-League Derangement Syndrome. Pijnaker has been excellent for Auckland FC and for Sligo Rovers before that so no shade on him. He’s had some fine outings in the white jersey too. Let’s be realistic here though: Tyler Bindon just got signed by Nottingham Forest. He could be playing Champions League next season. In fact, how’s this for a take: Tyler Bindon is New Zealand’s best central defender. Forget about “potential” and “promise”... he’s number one already.
Also, while it’s true that Libby Cacace has played a lot of footy in an attacking role for Empoli this season, it’s not true that he’s been doing so recently. Most of his appearances over the last two months have been at centre-back on the left side of a three. Basically, Empoli’s been ravaged by injuries so he’s having to fit in wherever he can in order to keep up the numbers... and he’s still been one of their better, more consistent players throughout a difficult campaign.
A theory was purported by Brother Seamus in the commentary box about Max Crocombe’s scrupulous motivations for going down injured after 13 minutes of the NCL game. That theory was correct. The “Goalkeeper’s Timeout” is an increasingly common one because goalies don’t have to leave the field after getting medical attention. Vic Esson did it a few times at the Women’s World Cup. Crocombe bought his team a few minutes to huddle up and recalibrate and then he promptly shrugged off his undetermined injury to play the rest of the match without incident. Looking closer, it seems like Joe Bell might have changed his boots during the pause...
Both the Wellington and Auckland games involved very damp and slick playing surfaces due to overwatering... perhaps the sprinklers were still on rugby settings. That would appear to be why Crocombe took a knee so early. Timely reminder here that gamesmanship tactics are one of Crocombe’s ultimate strengths... he didn’t have to dip into his time-wasting bag for these games but suffice to say he’s as good at milking the clock late in games as Chris Wood is at taking penalties. World class stoppage time management. You’ve never seen a keeper more susceptible to cramping up at the most convenient moments than this legend.
There was a crowd of 20,947 at Sky Stadium in Wellington and a crowd of 25,132 at Eden Park in Auckland. Kinda felt like maybe a sold out 25k at Mount Smart would have been cooler than a half-filled Eden Park but whatevs. Two very big crowds for weekday matches. This is following a trio of 25k+ crowds for the three NZ A-League derbies plus gargantuan numbers at the Women’s World Cup.
Players who were used during the 2022 WCQs who haven’t featured during this run:
Oli Sail, Jamie Searle, Stefan Marinovic, Winston Reid, Nikko Boxall, Bill Tuiloma, Tommy Smith. Dane Ingham, Niko Kirwan, Dalton Wilkins, Cam Howieson, Clayton Lewis, Andre De Jong, Joe Champness, Alex Greive
Players used during these 2026 WCQs who weren’t used last time:
Max Crocombe, Alex Paulsen, Michael Boxall. Tyler Bindon, Finn Surman, Storm Roux, Sam Sutton, Alex Rufer, Sarpreet Singh, Liam Gillion
Finally, despite all the yapping about Chris Wood’s yellow card for climbing into the crowd, that does seem like a reasonable response from the referee. Can’t find anything in the rulebook that specifically addresses this (subs are allowed to warm up outside the technical area, substituted players are allowed to go down the tunnel, so it’s not like it’s an explicit thing). But a cheeky booking is probably warranted for his pitch-invasion-in-reverse. And you know what? Chris Wood would probably do it all over again for the same punishment. It’s only a yellow, who cares? Worth it. If anything, the booking makes the yarn even cooler.
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