{"id":170427,"date":"2025-12-06T02:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T02:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/170427\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T02:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T02:16:08","slug":"all-whites-coach-darren-bazeley-believes-new-zealand-can-capitalise-on-fifa-world-cup-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/170427\/","title":{"rendered":"All Whites coach Darren Bazeley believes New Zealand can capitalise on Fifa World Cup draw"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe knew whatever group we landed in was going to be tough,\u201d Bazeley said. \u201cWhen you look across some of the other groups, it could have been a bit worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a challenge, we\u2019re the lowest-ranked team in the whole tournament, but if everyone is fit and available and we perform on the day, we\u2019re not scared of playing anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we need now is to put that together over 90 minutes, be more ruthless with our final ball, our finishing and defend with the steel and determination we\u2019ve shown recently. We know it\u2019ll be tough, but the plan is to go there and get out of the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another boost for the All Whites, they will be based on the west coast with matches in Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver. <\/p>\n

\"CanadianCanadian ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky draws out the card of New Zealand during the Fifa World Cup draw. Photo \/ Getty<\/p>\n

Exact dates and timings will be confirmed on Sunday, but with direct flights between New Zealand and Los Angeles and Vancouver, it will make it easier for fans to make the trip across, while the climate will be less of a challenge, compared to playing matches in Texas or Mexico.<\/p>\n

The All Whites have never played Belgium and only faced Iran twice, with their last meeting being in 2003 when they lost 3-0. Egypt edged New Zealand 1-0 in a friendly two years ago, one of three meetings between the two nations, when both sides were missing several star players.<\/p>\n

The increase to 48 teams at the World Cup means the eight best third-ranked teams will advance to the round of 32.<\/p>\n

With all of that in mind, Bazeley said he and the players are hopeful the pieces of the jigsaw will come together when the World Cup rolls around.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still going to be a really tough challenge,\u201d Bazeley said. \u201dWe\u2019ve not played a team in the top 10 for a while.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s an exciting group, and one we\u2019re not scared of and we\u2019ll prepare properly for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve not been at full strength in the last three years. So, the key for us now is getting to the World Cup and having everybody fit and available, and then we need to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Francis<\/a> is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe knew whatever group we landed in was going to be tough,\u201d Bazeley said. \u201cWhen you look across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9331,5263,110260,1558,29385,198,110261,1320,10542,79800,40671,36862,20733,29888,305,22946,117,111,43,139,69,90,15400,6102,15412,57438,18835,1361,2846,5264,377,80],"class_list":["post-170427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-chance","tag-all","tag-bazeley","tag-been","tag-believes","tag-can","tag-capitalise","tag-coach","tag-cup","tag-darren","tag-draw","tag-fifa","tag-gives","tag-handed","tag-have","tag-knockout","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-push","tag-side","tag-spot","tag-stages","tag-strong","tag-that","tag-them","tag-whites","tag-world","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}