After their first win in months the All Whites say they have set a standard, now the challenge is to back it up.
The All Whites have not won back-to-back games against opposition outside of Oceania since 2021.
That year New Zealand won every game they played. A trio of victories over Curacao, Bahrain and The Gambia in the Middle East as they returned to international football after nearly two years off due to a pandemic enforced break.
Now in an expanded FIFA international window, the All Whites have a draw against Palestine, a win against China, and an opportunity to extend the unbeaten run against Panama, a side that has not won since early June.
Panama are currently ranked 46th in the world compared to the All Whites’ 85th ranking which went up during this window, however both countries have had a similar 2026.
Both attended the Football World Cup and exited at the group stage. Panama lost all games and did not score a goal at the global tournament whereas the New Zealanders scored four goals and had a draw and two losses.
Of the 11 games Panama played so far in the calendar year the side has had two wins, four draws and five losses. By comparison the All Whites played nine games for two wins, two draws and five losses.
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley said the win over China on Monday resembled “good steps” for his side.
“I look at the last year and we’ve played a lot of good teams, a lot of highly ranked teams so it has been difficult but we challenged the group to start winning games to start keeping those clean sheets and we did exactly that [against China],” Bazeley said.
“The level of opposition is getting tougher [at the Kirin Cup]. So the challenge is to maintain and progress again for this performance.
“We’ve set a standard now in the China game with some of the things that we did in the aspects of some of the style of play, which was really pleasing.”
The match against Panama on Thursday night is the All Whites’ first in the Kirin Cup in Japan and Bazeley said the game was a “different challenge”.
“It was exactly what we asked for, can we get more competitive games where they are not international friendlies, there’s a little bit more on them with points.”
All Whites Eli Just and Chris Wood.
Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Captain Chris Wood is back for the Kirin Cup after missing the first two matches of the international window in China to manage his playing load.
Wood has had limited involvement with his club side Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League this season. In five games played he has come off the bench four times for a total of 62 minutes.
While Wood has been away the All Whites have had four different goal scorers in this window.
“It’s fantastic that we’ve been able to score five goals in those two games and the challenges to now go and score five more in the next couple of games would be lovely. It’ll put us in great stead to do well in this competition,” the striker said.
Bazeley has made changes to starting sides across the opening two games and will make further changes with Wood’s return.
He sees the off field connections the players have built on over the longer extended window flowing on to the pitch.
“When you look at the last goal that we scored against China, you’ve got Dane Ingham, Stipe Ukich, Moses Dyer and then Owen Parker-Price involved in the goal there’s four players that haven’t really been involved in the last 12 months, all connecting together to score for New Zealand so it adds little bits of depth,” Bazeley said.
Defender Finn Surman and has picked up an injury with his Major League Soccer club so will not be joining the squad, instead Michael Boxall has been called up to replace him.
Forward Moses Dyer, who was added to the squad for the games in China, will now stay with the team for the remaining two games of the international window against Panama and Ecuador or Japan on Monday.