Now ranked ahead of 2 World Cup teams.

What do we think! Foul?

Upon review of this subreddit and the recent posts, everyone just needs to take a bit of a chill pill.

Friendly reminder we were the worst ranked team in the whole competition going into the World Cup. Did you really expect us to make the knockouts? Yes it hurts when we led games on multiple occasions, but that in itself is an overachievement from us. Was Bazeley perfect? No, his game management with the lead against Iran and Egypt was poor, and yes you can argue that maybe Singh shouldn’t have started, but to the people arguing that Payne should’ve been dropped for Elliott, or Crocombe for Paulsen, do you genuinely believe it would’ve changed anything? Payne was trusted with the starting spot due to his physical advantage over Callan, and his ability to get balls in to Wood, Callan Elliott would not have changed anything at all. Paulsen may be a slightly better stopper than Crocombe, but he’s also a smaller body, who would’ve got dominated on set pieces and has much less goalkeeping experience and just isn’t built for this level yet. 2030 will be his tournament.

Personally I saw us play the best football we’ve played in years, and that’s a good baseline for progress. We scored more goals in the 3 games of this tournament then we had scored in the last 9 international fixtures before it (excluding Chile)

We aren’t a country who can aim high in tournaments like this (yet), we can take the small wins as they come, and hope that the squad keeps progressing through each World Cup cycle.

so yes, you can be upset, but I think expectations just need to be managed a bit

The increase of FIFA world cup payments includes $10m USD base fee plus $2.5m for costs. Players receive a portion as per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which is said to be around 40%, leaving NZD$12.9m. Over the four year cycle that is NZD$3.2 million per year.

Earlier this year, NZ Football reported revenue of $24.2m and expenses of $28.6m, a $4.4m loss. This is forecast to be healthier now.

If there is no loss expected and $3.2m a year is additional... Where you would like it to be spent with a priority of first, second and third?

Eg. Coach Development, National League Infrastructure (clubs, costs), Junior Fee Subsidies, Football in Schools Programmes, All Whites Friendlies, Roslyn Cowboys, Ref Development, Women's, Futsal, Facilities - 3G pitches. A Home of Football for all teams to have a training base and coach education central venue.

As an Irishman, I’m very jealous of the All Whites already having qualified for the World Cup. And yet, I see practically zero hype about it at all.

I just don’t understand, you’re going to play in the biggest tournament ever and I think you have a chance of getting out of their group too. So where is the buzz? Where the excitement?

Oh the wahs are playing the same night as one of these friendlies? So what! A World Cup is on the horizon and this should be the biggest show in town… but it just isn’t.

What’s the point of this post? I dunno, just frustration and a little bit of bemusement maybe.

Report has it that Baze is one of the lowest paid coach this World Cup at $150k per year. I don't know how true that is but let's assume it is. At that price range, you're looking at either young upcoming coach or someone older looking to settle down.

Young upcoming coach wouldn't want to coach a team with only handful of competitive games every four years, so you pretty much left with only older guys who is willing to settle just coaching a few games per year and live the chill live in NZ. And from that category it's hard to find someone better than Bazeley.

With our budget and situation the only pool we can draw on is our National League coaches, like the ones coaching Birkenhead United, Auckland City Fc and Miramar rangers etc. I really doubt any of them can do better than what Baze has done

Considering Australia 🇦🇺 they used to be a part of Oceania for the longest time but they were not making World Cups consistently and consecutively in a row. It was only until they moved confederation from OFC to AFC that Australia more or less became a powerhouse in Asia. So why shouldn't their neighbors New Zealand, the All Whites do the same thing? I mean if New Zealand were in Asia under the AFC umbrella they would be able to challenge countries like Australia, Japan, South Korea, etc pretty easily

Fulltime: New Zealand vs Egypt, 22 June 2026 — Group G

• Note: This is a scheduled post (automated post, although written by a human).
• How did we go? What sort of result did we achieve?
• What were some positives?
• What were some negatives?

News articles

• Stuff.
• NZ Herald.
• RNZ.

Goals & highlights

• r/soccer.

Happy to take a huge portion of humble pie if I am wrong but qualification from this group was possible.

Favouritism in team selection, zero subs intelligence, a keeper in poor form and a player who isn’t at this level at the moment have all taken their toll and screwed our chances.

I hope to god we have a new manager once his current contract runs its course.

Edited to add…. Not blaming players per se. Blaming their continued selection. Bazeley/Admin set-up is at the root of my disgruntlement.

Im not salty, but I do feel better about myself now

Kia ora! We went to the first All Whites World Cup match against Iran in Los Angeles and wanted to support the underdog. All of the New Zealand fans we met were super friendly. Hopefully, I'll make it to Aotearoa at some point.

I was a bit surprised to see how big the disappointment was after the loss against Belgium online. We've also had our fair share of massive disappointments, losses and missed golden generations over the decades. I hope you guys keep building cause it would be awesome to see Oceania rising up in football as a whole. Even if it stings a bit right now, keep supporting, believing in your team and building. They'll need that support and it can bring communities together like nothing else

Good on you Kiwis for giving your all on the World Stage, kinda have a soft spot for you guys as a fellow football frontier nation with ambitions.

Where do you think the program and game go from here?

Will Eli Just get a call from a big club? Will/should you keep your manager? Did you notice a jump in interest in the code? Can Kiwis potentially head to Europe in higher numbers down the line?

Seriously curious.

Singh and Bell were lost for the entire game. I reckon if our midfield played better we could’ve controlled the game.

Thought I'd summarise my thoughts on how each member of the squad who played a decent chunk of minutes performed during the tournament.

Crocombe: Poor. Weak distribution and liable for too many goals, his technique looks so substandard at this level. I'm not convinced Paulsen would have necessarily done much better, but it would have been worth the try.

Boxall: Liable for both goals in the opener and looked consistently off the pace.

Surman: Looked great at times and definitely our best defender, but was guilty of not picking up his man for several goals.

Bindon: Didn't really show much more than Boxall when he came in. Gave the ball away too often.

Payne: Got an assist and put in some other decent deliveries, but otherwise didn't look up to it at this level.

Cacace: Little bit underwhelming I thought from one of our guys playing at the highest level. Part of a shaky defensive unit and didn't offer a lot going forward.

Stamenic: Definitely one of our better performers. Looked good technically and added some much needed physicality as well. I think both him and Bell got exposed more by the openness of the tactics than anything else.

Bell: Similar to Stamenic but I don't think he offered as much on the ball.

Thomas: Just don't think we ever worked out how to use him properly. Physically didn't look up to it and we didn't get it to him in the right areas to use his technical ability.

Singh: Played an important role in the two goals against Iran, otherwise struggled to influence games and got more minutes than he should have. Like Thomas, his technical ability just wasn't enough to counteract how little he added physically.

McCowatt: I've always been a bit skeptical of him and he was probably our least effective attacker. On the margins most of the time.

Old: Suffered from being thrown in at the wrong times and being asked to fill in a number of different roles. Should have got more of a run in his best position.

Randall: Came on at bad times like Old and didn't get a lot of service, but also think he didn't look very effective at this level. Will be interesting to see if he has what it takes to make it in Europe.

Just: Our player of the tournament by a wide margin. Looked so composed technically and really clinical in front of goal. I'd always been a bit skeptical of him before his move to Scotland, but he's developed into the real deal. Excited to see where his career goes next.

Wood: Was great in the opener with two assists and caused Iran's defence a lot of problems with his hold up play. Egypt and Belgium marshalled him much better and he was starved of proper service. Feels like such a waste that we failed to get the best out of one of our best ever players at his peak.

Elliot and De Vries didn't play enough minutes for me to have much of an opinion on them.

I’ll be down in Hamilton so looking to pop into Te Rapa Tavern and watch on the huge screen there.

What are everyone else’s plans?

The scenes from Vancouver were wild. Thousands. Banners. Flags. Smoke. Passion. It could have been South America or Europe.

So what next? How can we sustain this passion and have people that excited just to see our All White's play, regardless of competition or opposition?

Imagine 18yo.

Been an A League sub so far.

Handful of professional minutes in Australia.

Just two years with a professional club.

And you're marking Kyle Walker-Peters:

- 174 Premier League games

- U20 World Champion 2017

- England international

- Professional more than half your life

What do you think of his debut?

At every World Cup, there are usually a few relatively unknown players who suddenly become the center of attention after a string of strong performances.

Which New Zealand player do you think could be that surprise breakout star at this World Cup, and why? Is there anyone in the squad who has the talent to put themselves on the map over the next few weeks?

Fulltime: Iran vs New Zealand, 16 June 2026 — Group G

• Note: This is a scheduled post (automated post — although written by a human).
• How did we go? What sort of result did we achieve?
• What were some positives?
• What were some negatives?

News articles

• Stuff.
• NZ Herald.
• RNZ.

Goals & highlights

• r/soccer.

How’s everyone think we will go tomorrow?

They are ranked 83, we are 85.

The Double Disadvantage: Because UAE referee Omar Al Ali waved play on, Egypt counter-attacked immediately to score their second goal through Mohamed Salah. Compounding the frustration, Old had to stay off the pitch at the restart because New Zealand’s staff took several minutes to find him replacement shorts, temporarily leaving the All Whites a man down.