The All Whites have been eliminated from the 2026 World Cup after finishing bottom of their group with two losses and one draw, ending with a 5-1 defeat to Belgium.
New Zealand entered the tournament as the lowest-ranked team in the expanded 48-team field, facing opponents ranked approximately 60 places higher. The team had held leads twice against Iran and once against Egypt during the group stage but failed to secure the points needed to advance.
Coach Darren Bazeley said the elimination was determined by those dropped points, not the Belgium result. "Our World Cup exit isn't really [against Belgium]. It was when we're leading twice against Iran and we're leading against Egypt. They were the points that we needed to qualify out of this group and we didn't do that and we left ourselves a tough task to beat Belgium," he said.
With all but two squad members experiencing their first World Cup—only captain Chris Wood and unused centre back Tommy Smith had previous tournament experience—Bazeley said the players would benefit from the exposure but must improve before 2030.
"Most of these guys will be back in four years' time and they will be better for it and they have to be better for it, if we're going to get to where we all want to, which is into those knockout games, we have to be better in moments," Bazeley said.
The coach emphasised the need for more New Zealand players to compete in top European leagues. "We need some of our players to now go to the next level and go and play alongside Woodsey in those levels. That will help us when we come to these games where we're competing against top players," he said.
Eli Just scored three goals during the tournament, with Bazeley saying the striker's performance should launch his club career at Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership.