Tagged with: All Whites
Four games in one window is a lot to digest. Marko Stamenić and Elijah Just got more minutes during this window than they did at the World Cup... which Swansea City’s sports scientists will no doubt be stoked about
One World Cup cycle ends and another one begins. For some players, the 2026 World Cup appearance was the culmination of their career but for others it was merely a taster for the next one
The All Whites turned up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup with two stated intentions: to win a game and to progress to the knockout stages. They did neither of those things.
For a while there, we had room to dream. The All Whites made it to their third game still in with a chance of making the knockout rounds, all it would have needed was the greatest result in the history of football in Aotearoa.
It was all going swell at half-time. Finn Surman’s towering (unmarked) header and another intense, energetic performance from the All Whites, full of clever interplay and sturdy defence, had the lads leading 1-0 at the break against Mo Salah and his Pharaohs
In 1982, the objective was simply to get to a first World Cup amidst an absolute odyssey in qualifying. In 2010, it was time to show that New Zealand belonged at that level by grinding out some results. In 2026, it’s not only about getting back to the World Cup, it’s not only about getting results…
The loss against Haiti was rubbish from the All Whites but at least it was misleading rubbish. Most of the damage was done after Darren Bazeley began making wholesale changes, sharing the minutes around to get his whole squad moving.
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.
Most of Darren Bazeley’s World Cup squad has been a foregone conclusion for a long time. At least 15-20 players have been as good as guaranteed, fitness permitting, since the moment that the team confirmed their qualification
Game by game, window by window, this All Whites team has been trying to figure out how to win. They’ve gotten to where they can consistently competing against more fancied nations but haven’t often been able to turn those performances into results
In an ideal world, Darren Bazeley would have picked a shadow version of his intended World Cup squad for these games so that he could chase some serious results against Finland and Chile.
If there’s one thing that this country never seems to lack, it’s goalkeepers. There’s been a goalkeeping debate every time that the All Whites have made it to the FIFA World Cup. Never lacking for glovemen.
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
Next up for the All Whites, in their final tour of 2025, is a trip to the United States of America where they’ll meet Colombia and Ecuador on neutral soil. And guess what? The All Whites have never won against a South American nation.
It shouldn’t really need to be said but this was a successful window for the All Whites. A narrow loss to Poland in which our two best players weren’t involved aside from ten minutes at the end for Chris Wood?
This is the part of the year where the international games come thick and fast. We had two matches against Australia in September. Now we’ve got Poland and Norway in October. In November we’ll have Colombia and Ecuador on the cards
We managed to get one of the curses lifted. The All Whites lost both games against the Socceroos, beaten in Canberra and beaten in Auckland, but at least Chris Wood’s goal at Mt Smart Stadium meant we avoided a sixth consecutive game without even scoring against those jokers.
As we prepare for a couple more meetings between the All Whites and the Socceroos, it’s worth remembering that these teams went 11 years without playing each other between 2011 and 2022. They’ll have played five times in three years once the 2025 Soccer Ashes are through.
Getting over that initial barrier and proving you can get results against top sides is one thing, but a World Cup group stage involves three matches in a short space of time and one good result usually doesn’t cut the mustard.
This two-game trip to Canada marks a new phase for the All Whites, going from qualifying for the World Cup (by beating lower-ranked nations) to preparing for the World Cup (with games against much higher-ranked nations)