Sixteen years of waiting ended at Eden Park on Thursday when All Whites coach Darren Bazeley read out the 26 names heading to North America for next month’s FIFA World Cup, and at the top of the list was Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood, who will wear the captain’s armband when New Zealand line up against Iran in Los Angeles on 16 June.
Wood, the country’s all-time leading scorer with 45 goals from 88 caps, joins Steve Sumner and Ryan Nelsen as the only men to have captained New Zealand at a World Cup. The Premier League striker was an unused squad member at the 2010 finals in South Africa as a teenager and watched from the bench while Ricki Herbert’s side recorded three remarkable draws and returned home unbeaten.
Wood is one of only two players from that 2010 group still standing. Defender Tommy Smith, now 35 and playing club football for Braintree Town in the English fifth tier, has also been named, making the pair the first New Zealanders to feature in two men’s World Cups. Bazeley said Smith’s contribution would extend well beyond what shows up on the pitch.
“His leadership is great, you know, he’s going to be so important for the players, keeping everybody on track,” Bazeley told reporters at the announcement. He also described Smith as a “cultural architect” for the team.
The other emotional pick was Western Sydney Wanderers forward Kosta Barbarouses, who turns 36 in June and was the unfortunate seventh standby player for the 2010 tournament. He travelled to South Africa as a reserve but never made the matchday 23, and at the time looked likely to wait another four years rather than another sixteen.
Bazeley made plain how hard the final cuts were. Fifty-five players had been in contention through the qualification cycle and the warm-up window earlier this year, and several Wellington Phoenix regulars who featured in earlier camps missed out, including former captain Bill Tuiloma, striker Logan Rogerson and forward Andre de Jong.
“The players we’ve left out are very good players,” Bazeley said. “But we’ve landed on this squad of 26, really talented squad, exciting squad, experienced as well.” He added he was “really comfortable” that the squad would “go and get the job done for us”.
The squad blends Europe-based regulars with a strong Auckland FC contingent fresh off their domestic season. Wrexham left-back Liberato Cacace, Nottingham Forest defender Tyler Bindon, Swansea City midfielder Marko Stamenić, Viking midfielder Joe Bell and Saint-Étienne winger Ben Old give Bazeley a core of players competing every week in the top European leagues. Minnesota United defender Michael Boxall and Portland Timbers midfielder Finn Surman bring Major League Soccer experience.
From Auckland FC, the A-League side that has reshaped New Zealand domestic football in just two seasons, Bazeley has selected goalkeeper Michael Woud, full-back Callan Elliot, defender Nando Pijnaker, midfielder Jesse Randall and full-back Francis de Vries. Phoenix supply Sarpreet Singh, Alex Rufer and the experienced Tim Payne.
The least capped player in the squad is Newcastle Jets midfielder Lachlan Bayliss, who has only two senior appearances but earned the nod after a strong A-League season. Bournemouth-bound goalkeeper Alex Paulsen and Millwall’s Max Crocombe will be in the mix with Woud for the number one shirt.
Forward options behind Wood include Port Vale’s Ben Waine, Ben Old and Barbarouses. Silkeborg attacker Callum McCowatt, who has been on a strong scoring run in the Danish Superliga, also makes the cut.
New Zealand have been drawn in Group G alongside Iran, Egypt and Belgium. The All Whites open against Iran at the new Los Angeles Stadium on 16 June (NZT), then travel north to BC Place in Vancouver to face Egypt on 22 June and Belgium on 27 June. Belgium, with Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, will be heavy favourites in that final group fixture, but Iran and Egypt represent realistic targets for a side that has not lost a competitive match under Bazeley since the Oceania qualifying tournament began.
Before the tournament proper, the All Whites will spend three weeks based in Florida. Two warm-up fixtures have been scheduled in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa during the first week of June, with Haiti confirmed as the opponent on 3 June, giving Bazeley a final chance to settle his starting eleven and bed in the high-press shape that has carried the side through Oceania qualifying.
An expanded 48-team tournament means the All Whites need only a third-place group finish to be in serious contention for the round of 32, and a second-place finish would set up a far more winnable knockout tie than the 2010 group did. The squad arriving in Los Angeles will be older on average than Herbert’s 2010 group, but it is also more experienced at club level, with the bulk of the senior players holding down regular minutes in Europe.
For Wood, who turned professional in England as a 17-year-old and has spent the past two decades waiting for a second crack, the moment lands in the final years of his career. For Barbarouses, the wait has been even longer. New Zealand fly out on 28 May.
Full coverage of the announcement is available at RNZ and 1News.
Who in this squad will be New Zealand’s breakout player at the World Cup, and do you think the All Whites can get out of Group G? Leave a comment below and let us know.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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