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

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.

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)

The last time we saw the All Whites, they were busy qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Now that they’ve booked their tickets for that event it’s time to start preparing for it.