'Belgium are scary': Ryan Nelsen on NZ's World Cup chances

Ryan Nelsen, the man who led New Zealand in its last World Cup campaign 16 years ago, says the 2026 team has got a big target on its back.

"Three very tough teams and look, three points probably gets you through to the next round so you would have to say that New Zealand's got a big target on their back," he told 1News' Melissa Stokes.

"These three teams are probably targeting New Zealand to get potentially that win to get them through, so that's going to be even more difficult."

Nelsen said it's going to be a pressure cooker atmosphere for the team's first match against Iran in the Los Angeles Stadium on June 16.

"They're going to be wanting to prove a point to the US audience and the world," Nelsen said of Iran.

"It''ll be a hostile atmosphere because Los Angeles is pretty much Tehran in America. There's so many awesome Iranians there.. so it's going to be 95% Iranian."

He thinks the make up of the Egypt squad could help in the second game.

"When you look at Egypt up in Vancouver, we've done well against them in the past. Probably a wee bit of an older team. I like that one"

But he's got no doubt of the quality of Belguim.

"Belgium is scary. It's so scary. The second team could do well in the World Cup, right?

"But yeah, you never know"

Nelsen rates this crop of All Whites compared to the 2010 squad.

"This team is a lot more talented than most teams we've ever had, but as you know talent doesn't really get you that far a lot of the time. But at least it gives an opportunity to potentially get some really positive results."

"They've got some amazing players. Woodsy (striker Chris Wood), he's done incredibly well. Some great young players, great young talent. The expectation from the New Zealand public is probably we need to get through in this group. The reality is that it is extremely difficult. These three teams are ranked higher than us and are better on paper. But you tell that to most New Zealanders and that's a pretty good motivation."

Nelsen said the most important thing for our players will be not to let the game skip by.

"Obviously don't be scared of the arena because once you step in there, there's no turning back and the 90 minutes goes really quick.

"Sometimes if you look back and you go 'I could have done a bit more or I might have done that' generally the environment and the whole game has got the best of you, so you can't let that happen."

"You've got to concentrate and just make sure that every single minute you're concentrating, you're at your best. You're actually better than your best because that's what it's going to take.

NZ play England tomorrow in their final warm-up match. They lost 4-0 to Haiti on Wednesday.

See more from Ryan Nelsen on 1News at 6pm.

Watch the All Whites' FIFA World Cup and warmup matches live and free on TVNZ+