Race for All Whites World Cup places heats up after 'unsettling' transfer window

Monday, 18 August 2025

Nineteen players called up by Darren Bazeley during his time in charge of the All Whites are at different clubs to where they finished last season.

The national men’s team coach will name his squad for next month’s Soccer Ashes on Tuesday.

The All Whites will play Australia’s Socceroos in Canberra and Auckland in early September.

The first time the All Whites qualified for the FIFA World Cup, in 1982, the same 22-man squad that got them there was backed in for the tournament by coach John Adshead just days after they won their all-or-nothing playoff against China.

When they qualified for a second time, in 2010, some 28 years later, players had six months and one international friendly to make their case to coach Ricki Herbert, whose final squad of 23 ultimately didn't include one of the players that were present on the night they beat Bahrain – unused substitute Aaron Scott.

Now, as the All Whites prepare for a third World Cup appearance, in North America next June, players have already had five months to impress coach Darren Bazeley, with nine more still to come, in which time the team will play a total of 10 friendlies, the majority of them against teams ranked inside the world's top 50.

Bazeley has hardly been sitting on his hands since returning from Toronto in mid-June, after overseeing a 1-0 win over Ivory Coast – the team's best result in 15 years – and a 2-1 loss to Ukraine, but things have certainly got a lot busier in recent weeks, as European seasons have kicked off in earnest, giving him a feast of football to devour.

With Chris Wood and Nottingham Forest getting their English Premier League campaign started with a 3-1 win on Sunday (Monday NZ time), featuring two goals for their Kiwi star, only Niko Kirwan’s FC Trapani 1905 in the Italian third-tier and several players’ clubs in A-League Men, which doesn’t begin until October, are yet to get going for the 2025-26 season.

Nineteen players who have been called up for the All Whites under Bazeley are at different clubs to where they finished last season and there is still time for that number to grow, with transfer windows in Europe open until the end of the month or early September and Australia's transfer window not closing until September 15.

Players moving to new clubs – and settling in at new clubs – wasn't on the cards in 1982, where the All Whites' qualified a tick over five months before the tournament began, or in 2010, where the tournament began a little under six months after New Zealand's place was confirmed.

Bazeley has described all the transfer activity as “a little bit unsettling for everybody,” noting that “until the seasons start everywhere, we don’t know if they’ve been good moves or not”. He has also indicated that he and his staff are “tracking 64 players” – almost three times as many as they will be able to call on next June.

Players needing to find their feet in new environments is one reason why the All Whites squad to be named on Tuesday for next month’s Soccer Ashes could be missing several regulars.

Forward Ben Waine, midfielder Matt Garbett and goalkeeper Nik Tzanev have all landed in English League One and Two, where international windows aren’t observed and clubs need to have three away on national team duty to have fixtures postponed.

Bazeley has already reaped rewards from focusing on the bigger picture with centre back Finn Surman, who missed All Whites duty last October and in March to bed in at Portland Timbers, then turned his club form into a coming-of-age outing against Ivory Coast two months ago.

Speaking before Garbett’s move to Peterborough – teed up by former Wellington Phoenix visa player David Ball – was confirmed on Thursday, Bazeley told Stuff he felt for the 23-year-old, who had been unwanted at his previous club since the start of the year and had remained unsigned deep into the European summer.

“We have to remember this is his job and his life, and right now it’s on hold.”

Tommy Smith, who has landed in the fifth-tier national league with Braintree Town after leaving Auckland FC, is in the same boat as Waine, Garbett and Tzanev when it comes to international windows, but his stature at his new club should mean he can leave and return without fearing for his place.

Having kept Smith in the All Whites set-up as a fifth-choice centre back for his experience and leadership, even as he now gone nine matches without playing, Bazeley doesn’t see the low level he is now playing at as a barrier to picking him.

“I don’t think it rules him out,” he said. “It’s a professional club. It’s a professional league. It isn’t as high as he wanted, or we wanted, but when I look at Tommy, he does bring different things.

“He’s still got to be selected as a player. But when we go through our selection criteria, there are certain things that we look at. Do they add value off the pitch? Do they add value to our values and our leadership and our learning environment? Tommy has been very strong in that space.”

Another factor in Tuesday’s squad naming will be injuries, with left back Liberato Cacace and versatile defender Bill Tuiloma both missing their clubs’ matches at the weekend.

Cacace’s absence was said to be due to hamstring tightness, so he could be okay to travel in two weeks’ time, but Tuiloma’s was said to be due to a hamstring strain, so he looks to be in doubt, which would be a shame given his resurgence at club level of late.

Nando Pijnaker also looks unlikely to feature, as he is sidelined with an ankle injury, but Alex Rufer looks good to go as he is set to make his first appearance of the season with the Wellington Phoenix in the Australia Cup on Tuesday night.

Right back Tim Payne is set to return after missing June’s matches while awaiting the birth of his first child, while striker Max Mata is definitely out injured and will have to continue to wait for his first call-up since June last year.

Others eyeing potential returns will be forwards Jesse Randall and Logan Rogerson, midfielder Cam Howieson, right back Storm Roux, and goalkeepers Oli Sail and Michael Woud.

If a new centre back is needed, Oly White George Stanger, who has moved to Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premier League this season, would be the leading contender, with Isaac Hughes at the Phoenix another option.

Lachlan Bayliss would be the leading uncapped contender in midfield, while his Newcastle Jets team-mate Ben Gibson could be a potential new face up front.

The next window in October, where there are matches in Poland and Norway, remains the most likely point of return for Ryan Thomas, who last played for the All Whites in November 2019, but has started the new season strong with PEC Zwolle in the Dutch Eredivisie.

“64 players”

Stuff's best guess as to who is on Darren Bazeley's All Whites long list

Goalkeepers (10): Max Crocombe, Henry Gray, Alby Kelly-Heald, Scott Morris, Alex Paulsen, Oli Sail, Kees Sims, Nik Tzanev, Joe Wallis, Michael Woud

Right backs (7): Callan Elliot, Dane Ingham, Niko Kirwan, Xuan Loke, Tim Payne, Storm Roux, Bill Tuiloma

Centre backs (9): Kyle Adams, Tyler Bindon, Michael Boxall, Isaac Hughes, Nando Pijnaker, Corban Piper, Tommy Smith, George Stanger, Finn Surman

Left backs (7): Liberato Cacace, Francis de Vries, Lukas Kelly-Heald, James McGarry, Sam Sutton, Dalton Wilkins, Deklan Wynne

Midfielders (15): Lachlan Bayliss, Joe Bell, Jacob Borgnis, Matt Dibley-Dias, Elijah Just, Matt Garbett, Jay Herdman, Cam Howieson, Ben Old, Fin Roa Conchie, Alex Rufer, Matt Sheridan, Sarpreet Singh, Marko Stamenić, Ryan Thomas

Forwards (16): Kosta Barbarouses, Riley Bidois, Luke Brooke-Smith, Andre de Jong, Moses Dyer, Ben Gibson, Liam Gillion, Alex Greive, Max Mata, Callum McCowatt, Jesse Randall, Logan Rogerson, Oskar van Hattum, Ben Waine, Nathan Walker, Chris Wood