All Whites suffer worst loss in nine years in first FIFA World Cup warm-up match

Wednesday, 3 June 2026

The All Whites lost 4-0 to Haiti in their first World Cup warm-up match in Florida.

It was their heaviest defeat since losing 4-0 to Portugal at the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia.

They now face England in their second and final warm-up match on Saturday (kickoff 8am Sunday NZ time).

Their World Cup campaign begins against Iran in Los Angeles on June 15 (June 16 NZ time).

At Chase Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Haiti 4 (Ruben Providence 12’, Lenny Joseph 51’, Frantzdy Pierrot 62’, Duke Lacroix 87’) All Whites 0. HT: 1-0

The All Whites' preparations for their first FIFA World Cup appearance since 2010 were rocked on Tuesday night in Florida (Wednesday afternoon in New Zealand) as they suffered their worst defeat in nine years, losing 4-0 to Haiti at Inter Miami Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.

Thirteen days out from his side's tournament opener against Iran in Los Angeles on June 15 (June 16 NZ time), coach Darren Bazeley now faces the biggest challenge of his three-year tenure – lifting his players up from this low point and getting them ready for the biggest match of their lives.

A task made harder by the fact that their only match between now and then is against title contenders England in Tampa on Saturday (kickoff 8am Sunday NZ time). Not exactly the fixture you want four days after being dealt a 'harsh lesson,' as Bazeley put it, in a match that started 35 minutes late due to lightning in the area.

The All Whites are unlikely to get the time on the ball there that they fashioned so little with here, and they will have to be far, far better defensively than they were in conceding four goals for the first time since their 4-0 loss to Portugal at the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia.

'It's disappointing,' Bazeley said, in something of an understatement. 'We came into the game with good preparation. We have been here in Florida for a week. We worked hard, but we lacked quality in moments.

'When you look at the game, possession was fairly even and chances were fairly even, but Haiti were very clinical and very ruthless in those moments and it's a real harsh lesson for us, especially with tough games coming up. We have England coming up and the World Cup games coming up.

'The boys in the changing room are very disappointed.'

Bazeley has selection questions he needs to settle on that he won't have got answers to on a night where no-one stood out, but where there was also a clear drop-off from the starting XI to the XI that had replaced them wholesale by the final whistle. Those changes that were signalled in advance as part of an effort to get minutes in everyone's legs in case they are needed in the weeks to come, and an effort to ease some players up to 90-minute workloads.

After such a shellacking, it now seems clear around a quarter of the squad probably won't be seen on the field again unless injuries strike, apart from potentially in the closing stages against England, if there isn't a famous result still there to be played for – a prospect that looked incredibly faint, if not utterly laughable, at the final whistle against Haiti.

That there were no injuries, at a time when other teams have had players suffer heartbreaking blows, was the only silver lining on a night that left the team chastened from captain Chris Wood on down.

'It's not what we came here for,' he said after his record-breaking 89th cap was marked with a result he won't want to remember. 'We're nowhere near where we wanted to be. We've got a lot of work to do in a short space of time.

'It's time for us to show our character and bounce back,' Wood added. 'It's disappointing. There's no getting away from it. We weren't good enough on the night.'

Haiti's first goal came in the 12th minute when Ruben Providence beat Finn Surman in the box on the left, then dinked the ball past Alex Paulsen in goal, sending the roughly 16,000-strong crowd that was almost entirely supporting them into raptures.

The All Whites' best two chances to reply while at their strongest in the first half came when Chris Wood bicycle kicked a corner straight into the hands of Haiti goalkeeper Johny Placide with Jesse Randall nearby, potentially better-placed to attempt a header, and when Marko Stamenić forced Placide to tip a header over from a free kick.

New Zealand want to be a threat from set-pieces, but they failed to make the most of a succession of corners they won, while Haiti consistently posted a threat on the counter.

Once the subs began – and Haiti made some too, although nowhere near as many at halftime – the All Whites were shakier.

Lenny Joseph, one of the new introductions, received the ball in between Michael Boxall and Francis de Vries, then finished coolly past second-half goalkeeper Max Crocombe with his left foot seven minutes after coming on.

Frantzdy Pierrot headed home after being left free at the back post to meet a cross from the right just after the hour mark, while Duke Lacroix curled home a fourth late on to put an exclamation mark on proceedings for a team heading to their first World Cup in 52 years.

Going from the high of putting four goals against 10-man Chile at Eden Park in March to this low will have been quite the whiplash for a group of players who have lost more than they have won against teams outside Oceania, but also haven't been second best to such an extent for almost two years, since their 3-0 loss to Mexico in Los Angeles in September 2024.

'It's not nice,' Bazeley said. 'I don't think it was something we expected. We've had a pretty good run of performances and results over the last few years and we came with the intention to really be building towards the World Cup, so this is not the result we wanted.

'We have to give credit to Haiti. I thought they played very well and they were very ruthless and clinical in certain moments of the game. They're a very athletic team, they counter attack and they're exciting.'

As for his charges, all but two of whom – Wood and Tommy Smith, who didn't play – are at their first World Cup and won't have been part of anything on the scale of it before: 'They're down. They're disappointed. Nobody likes losing. They're professional players. 4-0 is a bad scoreline for us.

'The boys are down. We need to pick them up. We've got some tough games coming. Maybe this is a really good lesson for us, really early in this campaign, that we're going to need to be better and going to need to be really good in every moment of the game.'

Bazeley isn't the only person who will have a part to play in the turnaround that's now required of this team, who would have been hoping to kickstart their North American campaign with a win over an opponent only ranked two places higher than them by FIFA (83rd to 85th). England, 81 places higher in fourth, now lie in wait.

But he sounded up for the challenge as he left for the team bus.

'We're at the biggest tournament in the world and we've got England coming up in four days, but on our day. when everyone performs to their best, we're a good team. We haven't shown that tonight and that's disappointing. We'll recover, we'll get ourselves back and we'll go again.'

The All Whites are set to bus northwest across Florida to Tampa on Wednesday local time, then will have two days of training before facing England on Saturday afternoon (kickoff 8am Sunday NZ time).