Football: All Whites learning to hold their own against top opposition

RNZ News

a day ago

Yegor Nazaryna of Ukraine and Marko Stamenic of New Zealand
Photo:
Kevin Sousa / www.photosport.nz
The All Whites won one and lost one against higher-ranked opposition at the Canadian Shield, but coach Darren Bazeley says they now know what it is like to be in the fight.
Beating Côte d'Ivoire to kick off their involvement in the inaugural four-team invitational tournament in Toronto on Sunday was
not a shock
to the All Whites, despite the African champions being ranked 45 places higher than them in the FIFA rankings.
Not being able to back it up against the even higher ranked world number 25
Ukraine
three days later was "disappointing" for Bazeley.
"They know the next step is being better in possession and trying to create more goal scoring opportunities, but we lived in the game for quite a while and it was a disappointing finish," Bazeley said of the 2-1 loss.
Playing teams that they had never faced at senior international level before and from different confederations was the type of preparation Bazeley and the players wanted ahead of
next year's Football World Cup
.
"These games are great for us because we haven't been in enough fights, we haven't been in enough games like this for our team and our players to really feel that, and these last two games I feel like they've felt it.
"They felt the level that's needed. They've competed pretty well across the two games and now we can move forward knowing that there's some things to get better at but there's some things that we did really well across the two games."
As one of the first teams qualified for the World Cup, the All Whites have planned out what they want to achieve before the tournament co-hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico.
Bazeley said since he first took the head coaching role on a
permanent basis
in mid 2023 he had seen the players improve individually and in units.
New Zealand's goal-scorer against Ukraine, Marko Stamenic agreed with the team's improvement.
"I think tour by tour we've slowly gotten better and evolved both as individuals and as a team, so I think we're definitely going in the right direction.
"We still have time and a lot to improve on before the
big stage
."
The All Whites played the majority of both games at the Canadian Shield without captain and leading goal-scorer Chris Wood. Wood was on managed minutes after a long season with Nottingham Forest.
"We're a better team if Wood plays longer and if he starts, but he's had a massive season and he's had a few injuries that he's still managing," Bazeley said.
"He's played so much football this year, but he wants to help, he wants to be on the pitch but we were managing his minutes which is why he played a certain amount of time."
Wood wanted to be at the World Cup, which would be his second pinnacle global tournament, but he knew nothing was guaranteed in football.
"I think we've got to prepare for everything come the world cup time, we never know who's going to be available, who's fit, and how football is," Wood said.
"So if there's a chance I'm not involved in the World Cup and things like that, for whatever reason, we need someone that's ready and capable to step up and produce and we've got more than enough players in this dressing room to do that, but it's about giving them more time and experience to be able to do that at the same time."
The upcoming FIFA international windows are in September, October and November when every country can play two matches.
New Zealand Football are yet to announce games for September or November but have announced a game against world number 38
Norway
in Oslo on 15 October.
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