{"id":498479,"date":"2026-06-27T16:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/498479\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T16:59:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:59:18","slug":"fifa-world-cup-all-whites-veteran-ryan-thomas-ready-for-belgium-and-defining-career-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/498479\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifa World Cup: All Whites veteran Ryan Thomas ready for Belgium and defining career moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a big moment \u2013 but also a step into the unknown. Thomas was 18 years old<\/a> and had never travelled overseas by himself. He didn\u2019t know anyone there and had an early hiccup when there was no one to meet him at the airport in Amsterdam, before a few calls were made. Thomas knew he had to impress quickly \u2013 as New Zealand wasn\u2019t exactly renowned for football exports back then, even though a handful of All Whites had played in the Dutch top tier. <\/p>\n

\u201cBack then if you were to say, \u2018yeah, I\u2019m a footballer from New Zealand<\/a>‘ in Holland, they might say \u2018what are you doing here?\u201d Thomas told the Herald. \u201cIt\u2019s still similar now \u2013 it\u2019s not like we are household names \u2013 but we are getting to a point where people are figuring out that New Zealand can be on the world stage<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Thomas prospered quickly, making his mark in a trial match on his fifth day, before agreeing a deal soon afterwards. He had been mostly under the radar in New Zealand \u2013 though identified as a prospect \u2013 but that was the moment he realised professional football was going to be his life. <\/p>\n

His early years at PEC Zwolle were wonderful, highlighted by the 5-1 win over Ajax in the 2014 Dutch Cup final, with the New Zealander scoring a brace. <\/p>\n

\"RyanRyan Thomas in All Whites mode in 2017. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

He quickly became a fixture in the All Whites and was the best player across the two legs in the 2017 intercontinental playoff against Peru, where the South Americans prevailed 2-0 on aggregate. A series of crushing injuries then ruined most of the next six or seven years for Thomas, a period where he seriously contemplated giving up the sport. But he returned, for his club and then, memorably, country, returning to the All Whites fold last September against Australia. <\/p>\n

And now \u2013 after a hamstring niggle disrupted his World Cup preparations \u2013 he could start a World Cup match for the first time,<\/a> after getting a total of 36 minutes in second-half cameos against Iran and Egypt. His experience will be vital, along with his ability to read the play, navigate tight spaces and link teammates together. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf I am starting off or I\u2019m not starting, it\u2019s just about making sure I\u2019m there for the boys,\u201d Thomas explained. \u201cIt\u2019s making sure with the experience I\u2019ve got, to try and help them in every situation they find themselves. Hopefully, I get the nod, but we\u2019ll have to wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n

If he does start, Thomas would be employed as an attacking midfielder, in front of Joe Bell and Marko Stamenic. Sarpreet Singh was in the role for the first two matches but was less prominent against Egypt after some positive moments in the Iran clash. It would be a different scenario for Thomas \u2013 who has mainly been used as a defensive midfielder for his club in recent times \u2013 but not completely unknown, as he played in an advanced role in his first stint at PEC Zwolle and at PSV Eindhoven. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good challenge, something that I don\u2019t do at club level now,\u201d Thomas told the Herald earlier on this tour. \u201cIt\u2019s less space but exciting. It will be interesting to see how I can benefit the team. I used to play as more of an attacking midfielder so it\u2019s not foreign to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The All Whites face an imposing task, against a team ranked more than 70 places higher by Fifa and with plenty of global names. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re up against it a little bit but we know what we have to do and maybe that\u2019s a good thing for us,\u201d said Thomas. \u201cWe\u2019re going to throw everything at the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas understands the Belgian style well \u2013 having played across the border for his entire European career \u2013 and characterises it as \u201chard-working, aggressive and physical.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he hopes Belgium will feel the pressure, as they have flattered to deceive so far and will have the weight of expectation as overwhelming favourites against the Oceania nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve underperformed in the first two games and they know that,\u201d Thomas said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve also been outspoken about that in the media. When you\u2019ve got so many good players and they\u2019re sitting on two points in what you could say was an easy group for them … they\u2019re not going to be happy. So there\u2019s going to be a lot of pressure on them and we just need to make sure we make it even harder.\u201d<\/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

Go all in to unlock every Fifa World Cup 2026 match with a TVNZ+ Event Pass<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a big moment \u2013 but also a step into the unknown. Thomas was 18 years old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5263,95,23299,2880,2046,10542,110924,36862,2082,5494,4505,111,139,69,34592,5128,213,113,41621,9347,5264,377],"class_list":["post-498479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all","tag-and","tag-belgium","tag-burgess","tag-career","tag-cup","tag-defining","tag-fifa","tag-for","tag-michael","tag-moment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ready","tag-ryan","tag-sports","tag-thomas","tag-vancouver","tag-veteran","tag-whites","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498479","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=498479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}