At that stage, Bazeley\u2019s fate was uncertain, though precarious. Contracted until December, as time stretched on without any word, he was more hopeful of a renewal. Then there were the recent games in China and Japan, with a brilliant win over China, an impressive draw with Panama and being edged by Japan<\/a>, in front of more than 70,000 in the Kirin Cup final.<\/p>\n \u201cThat match felt like a World Cup game,\u201d Bazeley says.<\/p>\n He was already planning for next year when the news came.<\/p>\n \u2018Results are key\u2019<\/p>\n Pragnell told the Herald the decision was about results. Specifically, the World Cup games but also in the preceding 12 months, along with the general \u201ctrajectory\u201d. There was a desire, Pragnell added, to take the team to the next level. Bazeley accepts the rationale \u2013 but questions the need for change at this time.<\/p>\n \u201cI know results are key \u2013 but results have been building and it takes time for those results to come,\u201d Bazeley says. \u201cI genuinely feel like the trajectory of the team is in a good place. The environment\u2019s great, the culture\u2019s great, the players are performing, we\u2019re scoring goals, we\u2019re playing possession football.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, we need to be better in certain moments, tidy up our transition, tidy up some defensive moments but everything is heading in the right direction. We know we need to be better. Does it need wholesale change? No. Is it me that\u2019s the problem? Time will tell.\u201d<\/p>\n Bazeley is particularly proud of the last 18 months, pointing to some impressive performances. One of the highlights was a 1-0 win over Ivory Coast<\/a> \u2013 then the African champions \u2013 in Toronto in June last year. They drew 1-1 with Norway in Oslo \u2013 \u201cthey were on a big winning streak\u201d and lost 1-0 to a strong Polish side in Warsaw.<\/p>\n One of the best displays was against Colombia<\/a>, then ranked 13th in the world, last November, in front of more than 25,000 passionate Colombian fans in Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a great team, they had everybody playing and we equalised in the 80th minute,\u201d Bazeley recalled. \u201cI remember we had a conversation on the sideline, \u2018What shall we do?\u2019 And we decided we could win it and made another attacking change.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately New Zealand were punished, conceding a \u201csucker punch\u201d goal in the dying stages, but for Bazeley, the point had been made in the 2-1 defeat.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us to be in that position, that was great strides.\u201d<\/p>\n Another big moment was the 4-1 win over Chile in March<\/a>, as New Zealand claimed their first victory against a South American nation in 20 attempts. <\/p>\n \u201cThat showed what we could do,\u201d Bazeley says.<\/p>\n There were disappointments too, particularly the 2025 series against Australia, with the 1-0 loss in Canberra – after a dominant display – then the humbling 3-1 defeat in Auckland, where the Socceroos tore New Zealand apart and could have scored a few more.<\/p>\n A killer blow<\/p>\n But everything came down to the World Cup. The All Whites turned heads and produced some brilliant passages of play at that rarefied level. They took the lead twice against Iran \u2013 with the Iranians\u2019 second equaliser a killer blow, in the 64th minute \u2013 while the New Zealand men also held a 1-0 advantage against Egypt early in the second half, before the Pharaohs, inspired by Mohammed Salah, came back to win 3-1.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople talk about the fact that we conceded leads three times,\u201d Bazeley says. \u201cWhy don\u2019t we also talk about that we took the lead three times at a World Cup, which is very rare for a New Zealand team? Against Egypt, Callum McCowatt has a chance at 1-nil where the keeper makes a great save. If we go 2-nil up, that\u2019s a different game. And we had other chances against Iran as well.\u201d<\/p>\n There were many Sliding Doors moments, from key midfielder Matt Garbett\u2019s injury on the eve of the tournament to the defensive lapse for Iran\u2019s second goal to the refereeing blunder at 1-1 in the Egypt match, which led to their go-ahead strike.<\/p>\n There were also some big selection calls and tough, debatable decisions around substitutions. <\/p>\n Overall, Bazeley was proud of the performances but took the exit hard, as he digested what might have been. Upon his return to New Zealand, he didn\u2019t leave home for two weeks, sitting in his study, going over every aspect of the campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want to go out,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t really want to talk to people. I felt disappointed that we didn\u2019t achieve our goal. It wasn\u2019t until I came out and I started talking to people on my walks that the pain around football started to change. I realised that a lot of people weren\u2019t feeling like that. I felt the hurt and the disappointment because we didn\u2019t achieve our internal goal. But other people didn\u2019t have the same goal. They were proud of the players and had loved watching them play.\u201d<\/p>\n NZF\u2019s widely publicised aim before the World Cup was to win a match and get out of the group. Bazeley signed on for that \u2013 and still believed it was possible \u2013 but argued it was also an \u201cambitious, lofty goal\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were playing against big football nations,\u201d Bazeley says. \u201cNobody expected us to win and we pushed them to the limit. Imagine how Egypt felt at halftime, they have Salah and [Omar] Marmoush, some of the best players in the world and they are losing to a team ranked 85. Iran are a good team \u2013 they drew with Egypt and Belgium. Egypt almost beat Argentina [Round of 16] and Belgium reached the quarter-finals.\u201d<\/p>\n Overall, there are different ways to assess Bazeley\u2019s tenure. He wasn\u2019t the first pick for the role and had never been a head coach at club level – a rare situation – but grew into the job. He inherited a strong base from Danny Hay, then developed further talent, with 17 players given their debuts. There were impressive performances but wins over non-Oceania opposition were often hard to come by, as they always are for New Zealand. The All Whites played a stack of games \u2013 with more opportunities and resources than ever \u2013 though also faced an unprecedented number of top-50 teams. <\/p>\n Bazeley had a golden generation of talent, who produced some wonderful football under his watch and enjoyed special moments but lacked the ruthless edge of the 2010 team, especially defensively. And it was undoubtedly a tough scenario at the World Cup, especially with several key players lacking full fitness, but Group G was seen as accessible and less foreboding than many others. <\/p>\n A life in football<\/p>\n Bazeley\u2019s entire life has been football. It started back in 1988, as a 16-year-old apprentice at Watford. He was paid \u00a328 a week, along with a bus pass to get to and from training.<\/p>\n \u201cI was in digs, so all the meals were provided as well,\u201d Bazeley says. \u201cI was living, breathing football. It was brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n It was also a different world, as they had to clean the changing rooms and baths and were each allocated the boots of three first-team players. At one stage, the apprentices helped paint the terraces. He still remembers his senior debut away to Hull \u2013 coming on and setting up a goal with his first touch, along with the \u00a3150 win bonus.<\/p>\n \u201cThat felt like so much money,\u201d Bazeley laughs.<\/p>\n Bazeley was a confident teenager and one day \u201cnutmegged\u201d one of their star players at training, who had previously won the European Cup in the early 1980s at another club.<\/p>\n \u201cHe grabbed me later, turned around and said \u2018if you do that again, I\u2019ll kill you\u2019,\u201d Bazeley laughs. \u201cI was probably a bit cocky.\u201d<\/p>\n Bazeley spent 16 years in the professional game in England \u2013 with Watford, Wolves and Walsall \u2013 before coming here to play for the New Zealand Knights in 2005. And he has never left, aside from spells as an assistant at the Colorado Rapids (under Anthony Hudson) and the Newcastle Jets.<\/p>\n His first New Zealand role was as an assistant with the Under-17 team at their 2009 World Cup and he has been on the sidelines for more than 150 international matches since then, from age group to senior, either as head coach or assistant.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me this doesn\u2019t feel like just the end to a three-year job,\u201d Bazeley explains. \u201cIt\u2019s like the end to a 15-year journey. I had Joe Bell and Alex Rufer in the Under-17s in 2012, Tim Payne at the 2011 Under-17 World Cup. I scouted Callum McCowatt when he was 11. I had the Under-20s, the Olympics, the All Whites under Neil [Emblem], under Anthony, under Danny [Hay]. So much of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018I want to stay in football\u2019<\/p>\n Bazeley will be in charge for the final time next month, when the All Whites take on India in Auckland (November 12) and Christchurch (November 15). When asked by Pragnell and Hansen if he wanted to continue \u2013 despite the news \u2013 he didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n \u201cI jumped at it,\u201d Bazeley says.<\/p>\n He doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s next but is resigned to moving overseas, at least for a period.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to stay in football,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s all I\u2019ve known since I was 16 and I\u2019m 54 now. But the thing about football is, roles are rarely advertised. You wait until something comes up.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t really explored too much. I\u2019m not one of those people that have been hedging my bets, thinking, \u2018Okay if need to leave, I can go there\u2019. I\u2019ve only ever thought about this job. Even the last few months, I had already planned for next year and the next cycle, what changes are we going to make, who are we going to bring in to help.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been working on that rather than making sure that I\u2019ve got a plan B. Maybe it\u2019s a little bit na\u00efve. But I was fully focused on this job. I love these guys, I love this team. I\u2019ll miss working with them so much. I really hope they go on to fulfil their potential and it\u2019s just disappointing that I won\u2019t be involved.\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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bazeley says he didn\u2019t see it coming. Even a week later \u2013 as he sits down to talk…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[30687,5263,95,110260,218378,1320,79800,14134,35702,54573,692,106,2944,685,6096,1304,117,111,139,69,1118,16792,19764,213,427,3258,223,61,1680,5264,4276,80],"class_list":["post-645393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-accept","tag-all","tag-and","tag-bazeley","tag-bazeleys","tag-coach","tag-darren","tag-decision","tag-exit","tag-footballs","tag-he","tag-head","tag-inside","tag-last","tag-message","tag-morning","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-phone","tag-received","tag-sports","tag-story","tag-struggles","tag-the","tag-to","tag-wednesday","tag-whites","tag-why","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645393","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=645393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}New Zealand head coach Darren Bazeley with his team. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
The All Whites celebrate a goal against Chile. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Eli Just scores for the All Whites against Iran at the World Cup. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Finn Surman celebrates his World Cup goal against Egypt. Photo \/ Photosport <\/p>\n
Darren Bazeley (right) with former All Whites coach Anthony Hudson. Photo \/ Photosport <\/p>\n