In 2022, Danny Hay resigned after NZF decided to go to the market, while Antony Hudson stepped away after the Peru series in 2017 to pursue an MLS opportunity. Ken Dugdale (1998-2002) had four years, while Mick Waitt (2002-2004) only had around 24 months in charge. <\/p>\n
Bazeley made it clear immediately after the Belgium game<\/a> \u2013 and in another interview the following morning \u2013 that he wants another shot. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to continue – for sure,\u201d Bazeley said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a great campaign. I\u2019ve loved every minute of it and the experience here at a World Cup<\/a> has been amazing. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had some moments where we\u2019ve started to show the type of team we can be. We haven\u2019t got the win that we wanted, but it was always going to be tough.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019m proud of the football we have played. To be able to say there\u2019s a New Zealand team playing that style of football, which was really important to the players, they wanted to play a certain style. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot of work in the last year, around, \u2018okay, that style needs to be result-orientated\u2019 and we\u2019ve got close in a few games.\u201d<\/p>\n The All Whites made progress in North America \u2013 decent progress \u2013 but without the big leap forward to truly define this generation. They played sparkling football \u2013 and thrilled the nation \u2013 but had costly lapses and never gave an impression of complete defensive solidity, despite long periods of determined effort without the ball. But Bazeley maintains the team were good enough to make the knockout stages, even if they ultimately fell short. <\/p>\n \u201cThe lads gave it a real go,\u201d said Bazeley. \u201cThere\u2019s certain things we need to be better at; we need to be more ruthless, more clinical, we need to have that battle-hardened mentality defensively at times but it\u2019s still a pretty young squad.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked for his biggest regret, Bazeley said it was the failure to make more of the first two matches, particularly the Iran clash when they had the lead twice. <\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t get knocked out by this [Belgium] game,\u201d Bazeley said. \u201cWe were leading against Iran twice and we were leading against Egypt and they\u2019re the moments where the points are at stake. We should have been coming into [the Belgium] game probably on four points and this result doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n The All Whites had their final dinner on Friday night (local time), with a few speeches from various players and staff. Around half the squad then decamped on Saturday morning, with the remainder of the players and all the staff returning to their San Diego base camp on Saturday afternoon, ahead of the flight back to New Zealand from Los Angeles on Sunday night. <\/p>\n The pain was still raw, especially with the realisation that this playing squad may not be together again.<\/p>\n \u201cEnd of tournaments are horrible,\u201d Bazeley said. \u201cAs soon as it happens, people are starting to look at their next steps and getting flights sorted and [some] players have already left to get back to different places.\u201d<\/p>\n Bazeley is tormented by what-ifs, given the fine margins involved in New Zealand\u2019s campaign, where some better defensive decisions in Los Angeles against Iran, in particular, could have seen them planning for a match in Dallas or Vancouver next week. <\/p>\n \u201cI mean, hindsight is a great thing,\u201d Bazeley said. \u201cYou\u2019ll never know and it goes through my head all the time. I\u2019m in that stage of bargaining with myself around this whole thing \u2013 \u2018what if I\u2019ve done that, what if we\u2019ve done that\u2019. There are so many scenarios but you don\u2019t know what the outcome would have been? It definitely lingers in my head; selections, decisions, substitutions, tactics, everything that goes into the whole process. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were very close to it working out perfectly and then there are these moments. Ultimately, football is all about moments. We need to defend a set play. We need to defend a cross. Had we done that in certain moments of this tournament, we would probably be going to Dallas.\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>\nDarren Bazeley with his team. Photo\/Photosport. <\/p>\n