Darren Bazeley’s All Whites task: Turning ‘credible performances’ into wins come next year’s FIFA World Cup
Friday, 21 November 2025
After the All Whites lost to Colombia in Florida last weekend – conceding a winner in the 87th minute, shortly after Ben Old looked to have secured them an impressive draw – they had a VIP visitor to their dressing room.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino was among those watching at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale – the usual home of Inter Miami and football superstar Lionel Messi – and according to New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley, he was impressed by what he saw.
“We didn't know he was going to be there. He just appeared at the game. He came into the changing room afterwards and spoke to the players and spoke very nicely about the performance and how excited he was.
“I think he was surprised as well, that we were a good team and that we competed against Colombia and gave them a bit of a shock. He was very, very complimentary, which was nice.”
Compliments from the FIFA president are one thing. What Bazeley and his men want is to receive compliments from the football world more widely by leaving a mark on next year's World Cup, to be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The All Whites did that the last time they qualified, in South Africa in 2010, by finishing undefeated after drawing with Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay – an impressive set of results that nevertheless left them eliminated after the group stage.
This time around a win – or wins – and a knockout fixture will be the aim, but after playing eight matches since June against seven teams that will finish the year between 13th and 42nd in the FIFA rankings, 86th-ranked New Zealand know precisely how tough that will be.
They began with a 1-0 win over world No 42 Ivory Coast in June, then lost 2-1 to No 28 Ukraine the same month. In September, they dominated No 26 Australia in Canberra but lost 1-0 after conceding late-on, then were beaten 3-1 in Auckland. In September, they lost 1-0 to No 31 Poland, then drew 1-1 with No 29 Norway. After losing to No 13 Colombia, they finished the year by losing 2-0 to No 23 Ecuador in New Jersey on Wednesday (NZ time).
Across those eight matches, the All Whites' base level of performance – their floor – has looked consistently higher than it appeared to be when they were playing teams outside Oceania in 2023 and 2024, in the first 18 months of Bazeley's tenure. It may not appear obvious from the stats – five goals for, 12 goals against – but they have been better at creating chances and better at denying their opponents. Opta figures show they have had nine ‘big chances’ to their opponents six across their last six matches (numbers for June weren't readily available).
At the same time, they need to be better at both ends of the pitch. And there are two big questions looking ahead to the World Cup: Will they be able to lift when the intensity goes up a notch from friendlies and will they be able to press their opponents the way they want to in the heat of a North American summer?
An answer to the second question will have to wait, but Bazeley felt his players will have learnt a lot from their matches this month, played in front of “super loud, super passionate” crowds supporting South American sides that never take any match lightly: “It's a shame that other players didn't have that learning experience of playing against South American teams in that type of environment”.
Pointing to Colombia’s third-minute opener, he said: “That’s a moment where we could have folded. With the big crowd, with (star forward) Luis Díaz running us with the ball, it could have been a moment where we went into our shells. There could have been a few goals, but the mindset was great. They stuck together. They regrouped, stayed in the game, then grew into the game, had possession, and eventually we equalized. That’s a good thing that we’re starting to build. We haven’t really ever folded in a game.”
Looking more broadly, Bazeley knows there is plenty work on: “We still need to be better in possession. We still need to create more goalscoring chances. We need to create those clear-cut chances. We've defended our box really well. But we do need to start turning what I would call credible performances into results“.
“What we’ve learned,” he added, “is for us to compete in these games, every player on the pitch needs to be at their best and fully fit for 90 minutes for us to be able to compete. Because if they’re not, these teams can hurt you.”
Injuries have played their part
The biggest difference between the All Whites that have gone 1-1-6 since June and the All Whites that will be chasing a first World Cup win next June will be the personnel. Bazeley has more professional players at his disposal than any coach before him, but there are still a select few that comprise the highest echelons.
First-choice left back Liberato Cacace has missed the last six matches and the two he did play in before that were two of the four first-choice right back has Tim Payne missed since June. The upshot? The All Whites have not had their first-choice back four in any of their last eight matches.
Ryan Thomas' return after almost six years away was set to come in front of Joe Bell and Marko Stamenić at the point of a fluid midfield trio. Injuries have forced one of those three out of each of the last six matches and that combination is still yet to be seen.
The All Whites' captain and leading goalscorer, English Premier League striker Chris Wood, has only started three of the last eight matches, playing a total of 216 minutes across six appearances. It is no coincidence that the three matches he started – the draw with Norway and the losses to Australia – were the three where his side looked their best.
None of the injuries that have forced those players to miss a total of 22 potential starts are set to keep them from being involved next June, but they have shown how much a knock or two can change things.
“We've not had a window (since qualifying) where we have had everybody fit and available,” Bazeley said when those figures were put to him by Stuff. “I won't use that as an excuse, because people come in and it's their opportunity to do well and we'll go with what we've got.
“It's nothing against what anybody's done recently, but suddenly we could look a different team. We play with what we've got available to us, but I also think there's more to come.“
Who is in the first-choice XI?
England coach Thomas Tuchel said this week he knows eight of his 11 World Cup starters.
Bazeley declined to give a figure when asked, but has tipped his hand with consistent selections to the point where he quipped: “You could probably name them”.
Seven can be written down in marker pen in Stuff’s estimation: The aforementioned Payne, Cacace, Bell, Stamenić, Thomas and Wood, plus Sarpreet Singh, the only ever-present player this year, who looks set to start on the right.
Michael Boxall and Finn Surman have the edge on Tyler Bindon at centre back, though that could change with their club fortunes, while Max Crocombe and Alex Paulsen are in hot contest to start in goal.
That leaves left attacking midfield as the one role that is well and truly up for grabs, with Eli Just, Matt Garbett, Ben Old and Callum McCowatt all having started there this year.
Jesse Randall looks like being another contender by March – Bazeley indicated his stocks had risen more than his 25 minutes of playing time off the bench might suggest – while there is also the left-field possibility of playing left back Francis de Vries there, given how he has emerged as a strong source of service for Wood – and for others at set-piece time – while deputising for Cacace.
Depending on the calls in goal and on the left, the All Whites’ top XI would have somewhere in the range of 372 to 421 caps between them if they took the field tomorrow. The XI that took the field against Slovakia in 2010 had 332.
World Cup draw a fortnight away
The All Whites were in camp for 27 days out of 79 from the start of September until they dispersed on Wednesday – in five different countries on four different continents – but now have a 124-day wait until the next international window at the end of March.
Selection decisions therefore won’t be at the forefront of Bazeley’s mind until the new year.
First and foremost, he can’t wait for the next 15 days to pass, and for the World Cup draw in Washington, DC, on December 6 (NZ time) to take place, so they can know who they will be facing, as the lowest-ranked of the 42 teams to have booked their spots to date.
“Everybody keeps saying, ‘Oh, who do you want?’ and I go ‘I haven't really got a choice’,' Bazeley said. “There are no easy draws. We'll be in pot four, so as far as everybody else is concerned, we're the easy game, and I don't mind them thinking that.
“We don't think that. We're going there to compete and to win games of football and get out of our group, but if other teams want to look at us like that, then that's fine.”
Once the draw is done, NZ Football will be busy finalising fixtures for March and June. Chief executive Andrew Pragnell has stated his desire for the All Whites to play at home at least once if possible, but has also said the high-performance needs of the team will be paramount.
Bazeley said there were “a lot of options on the table,” but that they would wait for the draw and try to play teams with a similar style, or failing that, teams from the same region as their World Cup opponents: “I'm sure they are going to be really good games in March. Where they'll be and who they'll be against is yet to be confirmed.”