All Whites at the 2026 FIFA World Cup: Warm-Ups vs Haiti
This All Whites team has been trying to turn potential into results throughout these last few years and they haven’t really done it yet. We’re long since past the stage where good performances carry much weight, these days the task is to score goals and win games. So when the lads shrugged off an eight-game winless streak to absolutely whallop Chile 4-1 at Eden Park in March the hope was they’d finally turned a corner. It turns out they hadn’t. Getting tonked 4-0 by Haiti in their first of two warm-up games before the World Cup was a harsh reminder of what they’re actually up against, thrashed by the only team they’ll meet during this North American trip that’s ranked anywhere near them. Though, realistically, it was always a bit much to expect one great result to have solved every issue.
There’s not a lot to defend about that performance (just as there wasn’t a lot of defending within that performance) but the question we’ve gotta ask ourselves is: how much of of this do we take seriously... and how much do we toss in the bin and never think about again? That depends on what you’re looking for. As a standalone game, this was as bad as anything we’ve seen during the Darren Bazeley Era. But... it wasn’t a standalone game. It was a warm-up for the World Cup and much of what happened will have no bearing whatsoever on what’s to follow. Like, if we ever see a Matt Garbett/Lachlan Bayliss midfield pivot again then something must have gone terribly, terribly wrong.
Reasons Not To Overreact To That Nonsense
This Was Only A Warm-Up Game
Nothing that happens in any warm-up game, whether it’s Haiti beating New Zealand 4-0 or Scotland beating Curaçao 4-1 or DR Congo drawing 0-0 with Denmark or whatever it happens to be... nothing that happens in those games matters anywhere near as much as what happens after. They’re practice games. Tune-ups for the main event. It’s nice to win them but there’s a bigger picture that has to be prioritised.
Darren Bazeley Made 11 Substitutions
You can blame FIFA for this because earlier this year the International Football Association Board (IFAB) approved a law tweak that allows eight substitutions in international friendlies with that number increased to eleven if both teams agree beforehand. Obviously this was a case of the latter because Baze replaced six of his starters at half-time, another four after an hour, and the last bloke with fifteen mins to go. He rotated his entire team and of course that’s going to cause disjointedness and discombobulation. Plus the more subs that were made, the more the team strayed from its best combinations (it wasn’t a full-on first eleven that started but it was much closer to that than the team that finished the game). Yes, Haiti also made eleven substitutions... but they did so from a winning position and also, maybe, with their heavy French diaspora, they might just have a better quality of bench player than us.
Match Fitness Was The Main Priority
You only make that many subs if you’re trying to share the minutes around, ensuring everyone’s had some sort of a dash in case they’re needed during the World Cup. Two players were rested with injuries which means the only two available players who didn’t feature vs Haiti were: Michael Woud and Tommy Smith. The third-choice goalkeeper and Matua Smithy who was picked for his off-field influence. Everybody else got something and that’s pretty valuable considering that quite a few of them haven’t played much at all recently. This was Libby Cacace’s first game since February. Same goes for Max Crocombe, though at least he was fit all that time. Francis de Vries, Ben Old, Michael Boxall, and Sarpreet Singh are only recently back from injuries. Guys like Kosta Barbarouses, Matt Garbett, and Ben Waine had their club seasons finish a month ago. Getting back to that bigger picture, the purpose of these games is to get the team and its players in the best shape possible to face Iran, Egypt, and Belgium. If this helps us to do that then it served its purpose.
Two Of Our Best Players Weren’t Available
You take Joe Bell and Ryan Thomas out of the team and that team gets worse. Admittedly, Bell’s Viking have kept grinding out wins over the last month while he’s been nursing a calf complaint... but he was a key figure in their Norwegian championship last year so they know what a baller he is. And it’s even more obvious for Ryan Thomas at PEC Zwolle where the Eredivisie club tended to lose all control whenever Thommo was missing. He’s been working through a few little muscle twinges dating back to before the last international window - the awkward consequence of not being injured any more is that he’s just had his busiest club workload for eight years and now he’s going straight into a World Cup. Both of them will be fine but there’s no reason to risk them in a game like this. But without them NZ’s quality is going to recede some (particularly in a few main areas where Haiti had success: defensive transition, shielding the back four, and progressive passing).
The First Half Was Actually Quite Good
It was! The first dozen minutes were a bit slow as the kiwis conceded a soft early goal, but they responded strongly to that set-back with a dominant spell that saw Randall, Wood, Stamenić, and Singh all have good chances amidst a plethora of corner kicks and some solid attacking possession. They were unlucky to be 1-0 down at the break... although we have to admit that’s a common theme with this team, conceding a soft goal and failing to convert their own chances to put themselves in losing positions when they’re otherwise playing quite well. But at that stage things were decent. It was only in the second stanza that things went fully awry as the substitutions injected some sloppiness into the backline and the difference between starting calibre players and reserve calibre players (which could also be frames as: Overseas players vs A-League players) was put into perspective. Some of the players who were on the pitch as NZ conceded that fourth goal might not be seen again on this tour. Only the first half reflects anything like what we’ll see at the World Cup – and even then they were down two midfielders and might make as many as three other changes to an ideal eleven (goalkeeper, centre-back, and left-wing are all still up for grabs).
Lots of things there that inhibited New Zealand’s likelihood of getting a result and yet they did those things anyway, which tells us that the result wasn’t priority number one. It doesn’t mean they weren’t trying to win, it just means they weren’t only trying to win. And if the All Whites didn’t treat the result as priority number one then we shouldn’t either. There’s no way this would have ended 4-0 if Baze had kept the starters on for longer and only made 3-5 subs instead of eleven.
Nevertheless they did lose 4-0 and there isn’t really any justification for a result like that. There were some very messy goals conceded, mostly from poor positioning, and nobody at any stage was able to stick one in the back of the Haitian net despite decent attacking moments the whole way through – every incarnation of the team that was out there, from the starters to the half-and-half side that began the second half, to the completely rotated team that ended it, created chances that could have been put away. Haiti put theirs away. The All Whites did not. Statistically there was nothing much between them...
Shot totals don’t say much about the quality of the chances, though Haiti only slightly edged the xG figures by 1.61 to 1.36. Touches in the opposition box were very similar. New Zealand did a bit more crossing, Haiti did a bit more dribbling. New Zealand shaded the first half whereas Haiti were quite a lot better in the second half. So it goes. Ultimately, you’ve gotta be clinical at this level. That’s what it all comes down to.
One thing about this All Whites team is that they don’t often seem to put consecutive good performances together. Last window they were crap against Finland but incredible against Chile. Before that they lost to both Colombia and Ecuador, not much to say about that (the Colombia game was in the same stadium as this one). But before that a 1-0 loss to Poland was bettered by a 1-1 draw vs Norway straight after. They were good in a 1-0 loss to Aussie in Canberra before being bad in a 3-1 loss in Auckland in the follow-up. 1-0 vs Ivory Coast chased by 1-2 vs Ukraine. Going back a little further, they had a shocker losing 3-0 to Mexico yet followed that up with a 1-1 draw vs USA in a much improved outing. Results are always going to be scarce for a small nation regularly competing against much larger ones but there does seem to be an alternating pattern there. Could be because this is still a relatively young and inexperienced team in a lot of areas, though that excuse becomes less relevant every window. It’s a weird one.
That does give us reason to think they’ll be much more competitive against England on Sunday morning. It’d be delusional to expect them to win (although the Footy Ferns once beat England in a pre-World Cup friendly, shout out Sarah Gregorius)... but a more cohesive display would be fitting. Even if Bazeley was hoping to continue his rotations for that game, that ship has sailed now after what happened vs Haiti. Although with Baze hailing from England and a large portion of the squad also having ties to that country – either through their own heritage or from playing there or even just from supporting an English club as a kid – they probably always had that one circled on the calendar.
A lot of the negativity around the Haiti result stems from the perspective that if we just got smoked by a similarly ranked team then what unholy carnage is coming against much higher ranked teams? But there’s another angle to that. This game didn’t actually have that much in common with what the All Whites will face against those stronger opponents. Possession was evenly distributed. Haiti sat quite deep in that first half and allowed NZ to advance. A lot of their goals came from countering against an unstructured kiwi backline. None of that is going to happen against Iran or Egypt or Belgium and most definitely not England. It’s the England fixture that has way more in common with the Group G platter than this Haiti match.
On the same note, Haiti might genuinely be a whole lot better than what their ranking suggests... and they sure had a lot of fun playing in Miami in front of a stadium packed out with Haitians. Civil unrest means they haven’t played a game in Haiti since March 2023 with most of their ‘home’ games during qualifying taking place in Curaçao instead. Given the proximity of Florida to their homeland and the huge immigrant population there, this was the closest thing to a full home crowd that they’ve had since then. Though let’s also be realistic and say that them beating New Zealand may not be particularly relevant ahead of a World Cup group that contains Brazil, Morocco, and Scotland. Let’s see which of these two nations, Haiti and New Zealand, gets more points during the group phase. It might still be them... but if so then it won’t be because they ran three second half goals past New Zealand’s back-ups.
Stray Thoughts
Lost in amongst it all is that Chris Wood earned his 89th international cap in that game to move past Ivan Vicelich and claim the All Whites record outright. His knee surgery meant he’d been stranded on 88 since October 2025 so this was an overdue milestone. Very little doubt that he’ll soon enough become the first kiwi bloke to reach triple-figures, joining the 13 Football Ferns centurions. Wood is already the record goalscorer for the AWs. With 89 caps and 45 goals, the race is on to see whether he gets to 100 caps or 50 goals first.
There were lightning strikes in the area that cause kickoff to be delayed by 35 minutes. Dunno if that was much of a factor in the performance but it was getting pretty late by the time that second half wrapped up. They also had drinks breaks with around fifteen minutes left in each half. The temperature was in the high twenties even at night-time... although with so many substitutions the drinks breaks may have been a tad excessive.
Elijah Just was used on the right-wing throughout. Sarpreet Singh started at CAM but when he was subbed off it was Callum McCowatt who went there with Just remaining wide right. Seems like a clue that he’s going to be starting at RW when the full strength eleven is finally rolled out. Just alternated all along the forward line for Motherwell this season so no stress from his perspective... but with Ryan Thomas likely to be picked as a third midfielder for the World Cup games, it means that CAM spot isn’t necessarily going to be there from the start.
Commiserations to all the Argentinians who got excited about New Zealand over an internet meme and then watched that filth...
Chris Wood got fouled every time the AWs won a corner kick in that first half and didn’t hear a single whistle in his favour. He was pretty frustrated by it too. Perhaps in a game with VAR that might be something to watch because as the lone Premier League player in this squad he’s going to be getting that kind of attention in every game. All the more reason why it’s important our other forwards make use of that by attacking the space created by that uber-focus on the Woodsman. Eli Just seems like an especially crucial weapon there. Also might help if Chris Wood practices some of those Sam Cosgrove antics and sells the shirt-tugs and rugby-tackles some more. He’s the world’s greatest penalty taker so the rewards would be substantial if he gets away with it.
In light of all the many contextual points discussed above, not sure that we should read too much into that starting eleven. Bell and Thomas weren’t playing. Alex Paulsen and Max Crocombe got half a game each. As did Michael Boxall and Tyler Bindon. Jesse Randall started on the left. It might be that Bazeley is leaning towards something resembling that eleven but it might also be that he hasn’t made his mind up and wants to give guys as much audition room as possible. We don’t know so we can’t jump to conclusions.
The Starting Eleven:
Alex Paulsen; Tim Payne, Finn Surman, Tyler Bindon, Liberato Cacace; Alex Rufer, Marko Stamenić; Elijah Just, Sarpreet Singh, Jesse Randall; Chris Wood
The Half-And-Half Eleven:
Max Crocombe; Callan Elliot, Finn Surman, Michael Boxall, Francis de Vries; Alex Rufer, Marko Stamenić; Elijah Just, Callum McCowatt, Matt Garbett; Chris Wood
The Finishers:
Max Crocombe; Callan Elliot, Michael Boxall, Nando Pijnaker, Francis de Vries; Lachlan Bayliss, Matt Garbett; Callum McCowatt, Ben Old; Ben Waine, Kosta Barbarouses
Hypothetically, let’s say that the starting eleven here is what is unveiled to face Iran. Put Bell in for Rufer and put Thomas in for Singh. Probably McCowatt for Randall as well, although that could be a spot that changes depending on the match-up. Like, if the fullback lacks pace then Old or Randall might get the jump. If more defensive cover is required then Old jumps the queue for sure with his left-back abilities. If superior finishing and playmaking is the go then McCowatt is the guy. Or Singh. Or Garbett. But we’ll leave Randall there for this thought experiment because that would leave a bench with these options: Callum McCowatt, Sarpreet Singh, Ben Old, Matthew Garbett, Michael Boxall, Francis de Vries, Kosta Barbarouses, Ben Waine, Lachlan Bayliss... and a few others. You can only use five subs so no need to go all the way down the line.
If Thomas is the CAM, you can always sub him off for a more attacking option in the last twenty mins. The wingers will definitely be chopped and changes when substitutions time comes around. Chris Wood won’t ever be subbed if the game is in the balance, not in a World Cup (that’s the biggest difference between these upcoming games and literally every other time we ever play). Garbett and Bayliss can give a jolt to the midfield in short spurts. FDV could see time for his crossing speciality. Or if there’s a lead to protect, pray that we should find ourselves in such a situation, then Michael Boxall (or whichever CB of the Big Three doesn’t start) can step into a back three. That’s a wicked bench that we’re going to have and those guys will be critical to New Zealand’s chances. The bench unit didn’t cover itself in glory against Haiti... but that’s only because we used the entire damn thing. Restrict that to five subs and bring back Bell and Thomas and that’s where the gold gets discovered.
Darren Bazeley has coached the All Whites in five games held in the USA for the following results:
L 0-3 vs Mexico (Los Angeles in Sep 24)
D 1-1 vs USA (Cincinnati in Sep 24)
L 1-2 vs Colombia (Fort Lauderdale in Nov 25)
L 0-2 vs Ecuador (New Jersey in Nov 25)
L 0-4 vs Haiti (Fort Lauderdale in Jun 26)
As he prepares to become the first coach in history to have taken charge at an U17 World Cup, an U20 World Cup, the Olympic Games (U23), and the senior World Cup (all with Aotearoa, of course)... might also just mention that he’s coached against USA at three separate U20 World Cups for three heavy defeats: 0-4 in 2015, 0-6 in 2017, 0-4 in 2023. Something about that country doesn’t seem to sit well with him. Fortunately, only the Iran game is in America with the other two in Canada (which is where we beat Ivory Coast that time, albeit on the opposite side of the country).
By a funny coincidence, or perhaps just very pleasant negotiations, the Football Ferns are also playing Haiti on Saturday morning. There’s a preview of that series over here. Doubt they’ll be able to overturn a four-goal deficit after the first leg hole that the men have dug us into but we’ll see how it goes. The All Whites then face England at 8am on Sunday morning.
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