{"id":425898,"date":"2026-05-13T17:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/425898\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T17:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:05:11","slug":"all-whites-world-cup-squad-who-makes-coach-darren-bazeleys-final-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/425898\/","title":{"rendered":"All Whites World Cup squad: Who makes coach Darren Bazeley\u2019s final 26?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The payday adds another layer to the borderline calls that Bazeley will have to make and will deepen the hurt for those who miss out. But those who are there can only look forward, to what could be the trip of a lifetime, with games in Los Angeles on June 16 (Iran), then Vancouver on June 22 and 27 (Egypt, then Belgium)<\/a> before a possible second-round match in either New York, Dallas or Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe All Whites made it all the way to the World Cup in Spain in 1982. Photo \/ NZ Herald<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a slice of history. Twenty-two players went to the 1982 carnival in Spain under John Adshead, with a further 23 in South Africa in 2010 under Ricki Herbert<\/a>. That World Cup roll of honour will extend to almost 70 names now. As reported in Tuesday\u2019s Herald, there won\u2019t be too many surprises in the squad<\/a>, because Bazeley has clearly signalled his intentions over the past 12 months or so.<\/p>\n

But there is competition for the last spot in some areas, particularly goalkeeper, central defence, right full back, central midfield and wing. Michael Woud has probably done enough for Auckland FC<\/a> to edge out the other contenders for the third goalkeeper role, while Newcastle\u2019s Lachlan Bayliss appears to have the edge over Owen Parker-Price and Cam Howieson in the middle of the park. Callan Elliot should get the nod at right back, ahead of Storm Roux and other alternatives.<\/p>\n

The most contentious call could be at centre back, with Tommy Smith and Bill Tuiloma seemingly in direct competition for the last spot. The Herald expects Smith will get the call, which will raise eyebrows for many<\/a>, given he hasn\u2019t featured in any of the past 17 games for the All Whites and is currently playing in the fifth tier of English football with Braintree Town.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe All Whites starting XI who faced Colombia in November 2025. <\/p>\n

New Zealand will be one of the first nations to confirm their final tournament squad<\/a>, only preceded by Sweden and Bosnia-Herzegovina, with 45 other countries still to come. Most will be named by next week but some, including Argentina, Colombia, United States and Australia, will finalise their squads days before the deadline of June 2, with the Socceroos waiting until June 1.<\/p>\n

Bazeley was never going to take that approach. He felt it was unnecessary, because New Zealand doesn\u2019t have the depth of other nations, but also possibly unfair. \u201cWe leave on the 25th May, so it is getting pretty close,” Bazeley told the Herald last month. He pointed out that a lot of clubs finish training in early May, including A-League (non-playoff), Championship and League One.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome players will be thinking, \u2018Do I carry on training or should I go on holiday?\u201d, said Bazeley. \u201cI feel like that is quite a hard waiting time. I would rather let them know.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Zealand lodged a 55-player longlist with Fifa last month, before the 26 names are revealed on Thursday. However, it is also expected that Bazeley will name up to six standby players, who could be called up in case of serious injury or illness. Countries are allowed to replace players up to 24 hours before their first match, with no alterations permitted after that time.<\/p>\n

Herald\u2019s All Whites predicted 2026 Fifa World Cup squad<\/p>\n

Goalkeepers: Max Crocombe, Alex Paulsen, Michael Woud.<\/p>\n

Defenders: Tyler Bindon, Michael Boxall, Libby Cacace, Francis de Vries, Callan Elliot, Tim Payne, Nando Pijnaker, Tommy Smith, Finn Surman.<\/p>\n

Midfielders: Lachlan Bayliss, Joe Bell, Matt Garbett, Ben Old, Alex Rufer, Sarpreet Singh, Marko Stamenic, Ryan Thomas.<\/p>\n

Forwards: Kosta Barbarouses, Eli Just, Callum McCowatt, Jesse Randall, Ben Waine, Chris Wood.<\/p>\n

Michael Burgess<\/a> has been a sports journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America\u2019s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The payday adds another layer to the borderline calls that Bazeley will have to make and will deepen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[23283,5263,218378,1320,10542,79800,5904,63616,35090,5338,4505,111,139,69,213,1557,28050,5264,1299,1533,377,80],"class_list":["post-425898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-23283","tag-all","tag-bazeleys","tag-coach","tag-cup","tag-darren","tag-final","tag-footballers","tag-lifechanging","tag-makes","tag-moment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports","tag-squad","tag-thursday","tag-whites","tag-who","tag-will","tag-world","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425898","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=425898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}