Tommy Smith: The 'vital' All Whites World Cup selection who likely won't play a minute

Thursday, 14 May 2026

Tommy Smith’s inclusion was the big talking point when the All Whites’ squad for the FIFA World Cup was named on Thursday.

The veteran centre back last took the field for the team in September 2024, but has remained a regular squad member for what he brings off the field.

Coach Darren Bazeley said he was “vital to ensuring our environment is the best it can be at all times”.

Team-mate Alex Rufer said Smith was “a calming presence for the players”.

ANALYSIS: It’s possible the selection of the 26th player in a FIFA World Cup squad has never caused such consternation.

But everywhere you looked on Thursday, after All Whites coach Darren Bazeley shared his selections with the world, that was what was happening.

A small sampling of the reaction to the main talking point from the squad announcement, from the comments on the national men’s football team’s Facebook page.

“Tommy Smith. Really?”

“How is Tommy Smith in this squad, what sort of message does this send to every young Kiwi player.”

“Love Tommy but his place should go to someone else.”

It’s not always wise to give credence to social media comments, but it’s clear there’s a difference in perspective between the All Whites staff and players on the inside and many of those who will be cheering them on in North America next month on the outside with regard to this call.

At the same time, it’s highly likely Smith – a 36-year-old centre back who has spent the last season playing at Braintree Town in the English fifth-tier, two steps below any of his World Cup team-mates – won’t take the field and that there will be no reason to wonder what-if about any potential alternative.

Yet it’s worth unpacking what his coaches and team-mates have to say about why he has been included, with Bill Tuiloma – a centre back who can play right back – the player who could feel most aggrieved at missing out, even if it wasn’t a necessarily a call between him and Smith in the coaching staff’s eyes.

Smith hasn’t played for the All Whites since September 2024, when he started in a 3-0 loss to Mexico in California. They have played 17 matches since then, 13 of which he watched from the bench (he wasn’t in the squads for the other four).

He played a key role in Auckland FC’s Premiers’ Plate triumph last season, then put his family first by moving back to England, where he was born and has spent most of his adult life.

A move to Braintree Town was the best he could manage while staying close to Ipswich and it doesn’t help perceptions that they have self-mockingly embraced the slogan: “Just a pub team from Essex”. They now stand to receive a meaningful financial boost thanks to Smith’s selection, at the end of a season where they were relegated.

The fan opprobrium exists largely because there are other centre backs playing at higher levels: Tuiloma at the Wellington Phoenix and George Stanger at Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership who have been in squads in the last 12 months; Isaac Hughes at the Phoenix who hasn’t.

The case for Smith, made by Bazeley on Thursday morning, and backed up by squad members Alex Rufer and Kosta Barbarouses appears convincing enough – one rooted in internal contributions those watching in the stands and on TV don’t get to see.

As Bazeley put it, the first 23 places were for two options in each position plus the mandatory third goalkeeper, leaving three wildcards – two of which were a versatile midfielder (Bayliss) and a third forward (Barbarouses or Ben Waine).

After that: “We didn't feel like we had a major gap, but part of the selection criteria is, do you add value off the pitch? Do you add to the culture, to the leadership?

“Tommy's the best at that. He's a bit of a cultural architect. He's been doing that role for a number of years. He also takes a lot of weight off of the other leaders.

Bazeley came armed with figures to back his case that there was room to select someone for what they bring off the field – only 15 of the All Whites’ 23 players took the field in 2010 and only 15 of their 21 did so in 1982.

Here’s one more: The 16 teams that departed after the group stage at the last World Cup in 2022 used an average of 20 players out of a possible 26, in an era where there are now five subs instead of three.

Bazeley’s final remark was that having Smith present was “vital to ensuring our environment is the best it can be at all times”.

Barbarouses concurred: “Tommy is very vocal. He drives standards. He drives the sessions. It's a very tough gig, coming into camp and not playing and still being positive. He's done that for the last 18 months. In tournaments you need those guys and he's good enough to step in, if he’s needed to play. I'm really happy he's there”.

Rufer, said Smith was “a calming presence for the players – some that the younger players, especially, can lean on during tough times”.

Barbarouses concluded by saying: “He fully deserves to be there – although there's obviously going to be people who are very disappointed who miss out, as was the case for me [in 2010].”

Which brings us back to Tuiloma, who was once Bazeley’s captain, for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand in 2015.

By the end of the All Whites’ last failed qualifying campaign, in 2022, he had finally established himself as a regular starter, but since then the rise of young centre backs Tyler Bindon and Finn Surman and a stop-start club career – he has played more matches since joining the Wellington Phoenix in January (14) then he did in all of 2024 and 2025 at Charlotte FC in Major League Soccer (12) – have pushed him to the fringes.

He ended up being behind four centre backs, not including Smith, and two right backs – a position he moved away from being in contention for when he joined the Phoenix and became team-mates with All Whites starter Tim Payne.

Bazeley said on Thursday there was no comparison to be made between him and Smith off the field when it came to rounding out the squad.

News of Tuiloma’s omission was broken to him by the coach in person in Wellington on Wednesday. The other Phoenix players learned their fate at the same time, including Rufer, who said of his team-mate: “We’re hurting for him”.

“We spent some time with him. It's normal – you're going to be hurting when you don't make the team. But I think he's in a good head space, and he's still going to train and keep ticking over, because anything can happen. He's still got that mentality to keep ticking over and make sure that he's ready and available if need be.”