The All Whites rose to the occasion in their FIFA World Cup opener. Now they have an even bigger match against Egypt
Monday, 22 June 2026
The All Whites had 450 days to prepare for their FIFA World Cup opener.
They drew 2-2 with Iran at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles last Monday.
Since then, they have had five days to prepare to face Egypt at BC Place in Vancouver in their second match.
Given what’s at stake, it is arguably the biggest match New Zealand’s national men’s football team has ever played.
ANALYSIS: The All Whites had 450 days to prepare for their FIFA World Cup opener, where they rose to the occasion and turned heads with the way they played on their way to drawing 2-2 with Iran.
They’ve had just five to prepare for their second match – arguably the biggest they have ever played in their 104-year history.
World No 28 Egypt are world No 83 New Zealand’s next opponents at BC Place in Vancouver at 6pm on Sunday local time (1pm Monday NZ time).
The 52,000-capacity domed waterfront venue has already been host to history this week, when co-hosts Canada thumped nine-man Qatar 6-0 to register their first World Cup win at the eighth time of trying.
More will be in store if there is a winner on Sunday. The All Whites will be playing their eighth World Cup match, having managed four draws and three losses previously. Egypt – who first took part in the second edition of the tournament in 1934 – will be playing their ninth, having managed three draws and five losses.
The seven-time African champions possess two dangerous attackers in the form of English Premier League stars Mo Salah and Omar Marmoush, not to mention Emam Ashour, the scorer in their opening 1-1 draw with Belgium in Seattle on Monday.
It was absolutely worth basking in the positives from the All Whites’ draw with Iran later the same day, where two fantastic goals from Eli Just in each half were cancelled out by a pair of equalisers – the first 25 minutes later, the second just nine minutes later.
The way the team rose to the occasion of a World Cup, after subsisting on a diet of friendlies since qualifying last March, was impressive, especially the way they strung together attacking moves, most notably in the lead-up to Just’s two strikes.
The sense of uncertainty as to whether they would make the step up wasn’t just an external creation – captain Chris Wood gave voice to it the afternoon before the match, then described it as “the big what-if” immediately afterwards.
But the further the Iran match has receded into the rearview mirror, another what-if has replaced it.
What if that was the best chance the All Whites are going to get for a win at this World Cup?
From coach Darren Bazeley on down, the team immediately acknowledged they let an opportunity slip by twice relinquishing the lead at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
They’ve said all along they have to get better as the group stage unfolds – and as their opponents get tougher – and they appear to be in an ideal place mentally – not getting too carried away, but not letting anxiety foster either.
World No 10 Belgium lie in wait in their final group G fixture, which will also be played in Vancouver, on Friday night (8pm Saturday NZ time).
The All Whites have only managed two draws alongside 10 defeats in their 12 meetings with top-10 sides since the FIFA rankings were introduced in 1993.
If the draw with Iran has elevated the Egypt match and put pressure on the All Whites to make an even bigger step up from the past, the Belgium match is doing the same from the future.
Sixteen years ago, the team went into the final group match of their last World Cup appearance, against Paraguay in Polokwane, knowing a win would put them through to the knockout stage.
That was a more black-and-white scenario than the one they are faced with here, where a win will only put them very close – very, very close if Belgium beat Iran in Los Angeles earlier in the day (kickoff 12pm NZ time).
But the way they played against Iran and the fact they’re facing an opponent also chasing their first win probably combine to push this one over the top into being the biggest All Whites match ever.
The team spent the first day after the Iran draw recovering and reviewing what went right and what went wrong. The second was a day off. The last three – two in San Diego and one in Vancouver, where they will be based for the next week – have been spent preparing for Egypt.
Bazeley is not a tinkerer and it will be a surprise if doesn’t run it back with the same starting XI he put out against Iran.
He has placed so much importance in the power of cohesion as head coach and it would go against that not to have faith in the players who impressed together, especially as Ryan Thomas, the most notable omission, is likely still considered not fit enough to start.
But if there is any sense any of them are slipping, he must be quicker to make changes than he was in the second half at SoFi Stadium, where the introductions of Callan Elliot for Tim Payne at right back and Jesse Randall for a tiring Sarpreet Singh in attack could have been made much earlier than they were.
Wood was at his selfless best against Iran and will have a big part to play in setting the tone against Egypt. The same goes for centre backs Michael Boxall and Finn Surman at the other end of the pitch. An early goal would be a massive nerve-settler for the second match in a row, but that can’t be counted upon.
During the week, assistant coach Simon Elliot responded to a question about stopping Salah by saying: “If we have the ball, it makes it difficult, right?”
The 2026 All Whites are more of a possession-based team than any of their predecessors, but Egypt should test their credentials more than Iran did.
For all they impressed with the ball in their first outing at this World Cup, it was their lapses without it that ultimately proved costly, and they must tighten things up significantly in that regard.
When Salah and Marmoush are on the ball, they will have to be tracked extremely closely indeed, but you can be sure Egypt are saying the same thing about Wood and Just after the way they combined against Iran.
International football matches aren’t won on reputations from club football. They are won by who shows up best on the day and strange things can happen, as we’ve already seen plenty at this tournament.
The All Whites have already turned up and stepped up once.
Do so again – and play a little bit better – and they might just write a special chapter in New Zealand sporting history.