All Whites v England: NZ coach Darren Bazeley reflects on Fifa World Cup warm-up loss to Three Lions
After falling behind on the stroke of halftime in their Fifa World Cup warm-up clash against England, All Whites coach Darren Bazeley had a question for his team.
At No 85 in the world, the New Zealand side are the lowest-ranked team to qualify for this year’s World Cup and, against world No 4 England, few would have predicted them to be quite so competitive in Tampa, Florida.
But after a 4-0 loss to Haiti earlier in the week, the Kiwi side gave a more assured performance against England, defending well and having some decent moments on attack – most of which came in the first 45 minutes.
But after English captain Harry Kane was able to shed his defender and head home the game’s opening – and ultimately only – goal in added time of the first half, it was a deflating way to end what had been a good period for the New Zealand side.
However, speaking after the game, Bazeley said he reminded his team of the occasion and what lies ahead over the coming weeks.
“I think during the first half, they felt that they were in that game and they were at that level defensively and in possession with moments. So at halftime we did, we talked about, we’re 1-nil against a team ranked four in the world, potential World Cup favourites – one of the favourites – and we’re in this game and when will you ever get another chance to have this?” the coach said.
“It’s hard, you know. The players worked so hard today in really hot conditions, you know, especially some of our positions. [Matt] Garbett and Eli [Just] having to initiate our press at times was tough. But yeah, we will look back and wonder, could we have created that one moment?
“A couple of times, we got into crossing positions and weren’t quite good enough. We had those few in the first half that flashed across the box. I think it’s given us enough to go, against a very, very good team with very good players, we can be compact and we can be difficult to break down, and we’ve got enough good players to keep our possession and get into good areas and then we need players to have that moment.”
The All Whites took a big step towards their World Cup proper from the loss to Haiti with their performance, particularly at the back, where they were punished on several occasions by the Caribbean nation.
Centre back Finn Surman, who had some forgettable moments against Haiti, bounced back well when tasked with marking Kane, though Bazeley admitted the 22-year-old was disappointed to have let the England captain get away in the lead-up to the goal.
Joining the starting XI for the match, Garbett played well in the midfield and got a good strike away to force English goalkeeper Jordan Pickford into action, while Just created some opportunities and goalkeeper Max Crocombe put in a strong 84-minute shift.
“We looked more solid, more compact than our previous game,” Bazeley said.
“England [are] obviously a very good team, had some good possession but didn’t overly hurt us at times. We had some moments in possession where we got into some pretty good areas [in the] first half on the counter, and for us, it was disappointing to concede the goal ... we just have to be better in the moments when we get forward possession to have moments of quality where we can score goals.”
The All Whites will now move their operation to the west coast and settle in San Diego for their final preparations before their World Cup tournament starts against Iran on Tuesday June 16 [NZT] at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.