All Whites vs Colombia | Sun 16th Nov | 1:00pm (NZT) | Chase Stadium (Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA)

Marto

Ninja

Disappointing, but a good effort. We have a very good team, some of our players should be playing in top leagues imo (I.e. Garbett, Just, maybe even Randall eventually). 

I think we need to be a bit more ruthless with our selections though. I don’t like to name names, but I think some players need better club form before playing. 

Why not name names? 

There were at least 3 players out there today who shouldn't have been in the squad, let alone on the field.

Who?

I think the criticism of Billy T is unjustified. Yes, he had great support from Just but he was up against one of the best wingers in the world with a tonne of pace and wasn’t being constantly blitzed.

He held his own as good as Payne would have done. 

While some were better than others  I don’t think any starting All White had a bad game today. All players who started are good enough to be in this squad.

A couple of the subs I hope will be challenged to make it.

Think Tuiloma is underrated here. Ideally he wouldn’t be first choice but with Payne out it’s not like there was anyone obviously better. He did alright all things considered but I do wish he can find a new club that gives him more games, he can offer a lot more imo.

Skyzaid

Think Tuiloma is underrated here. Ideally he wouldn’t be first choice but with Payne out it’s not like there was anyone obviously better. He did alright all things considered but I do wish he can find a new club that gives him more games, he can offer a lot more imo.

For all that the older guys were not zippy, we could see the difference on defense when Roux and McGarry came on.

Albeit we were a little more direct on attack!  And a really nice lay off by Roux for Singh. 

Tuiloma was as good as I have ever seen him defensively today, and I know he has strengths going forward, but he simply doesn't look fit enough to deliver at this level. You certainly can't expect him to deliver a 90 minute performance. 

Understand he is a free agent now. Hope he gets a good move to somewhere where he plays regularly and gets a lot fitter. 

Agree with Oi Oi Edgecumbe that Singh was great today. Had been sceptical in recent times but I think he now must be in our World Cup starting team. Serbia seems to have been good for him. 

i expect us to win the world cup. and i will not tolerate a single mistake along the way. this loss makes me want to vomit.

a few points on players.

boxall improves with every game. but it's taking too long and i'm getting annoyed that he's not prime sergio ramos yet. how long boxey? 2034?

it was frustrating to watch their right back deal with matt garbett better than bill tuiloma dealt with luis diaz. i mean, bill did ok and all, but garbett has clearly spent too much time in bali. you don't see luis diaz going to bali, he goes to ibiza. you can see the difference in standards from that alone. you'd think this would be easy to get right. 

like many of the above posters, i agree that approximately 26 of our players did not deserve to be there. all of them at least made one mistake. the biggest mistake was tommy smith sitting in the wrong seat. disgusting lack of intellegence. what's he even doing there? cost us the game.

i strongly urge baze to call up players that no one knows much about. after all, they haven't made mistakes yet. given baze is also so crap, he should possibly call up players he has not heard of. but not that young kid loke from the phoenix, i saw that guy make a mistake in central league last year. #standards.

Yep, never have I seen such a random call as the Loke call.

If Randall has scored that rocket his career could have taken off even faster than it is.... 

The Colombians sure were zippy. Maybe cocaine's the answer...

I want to rewatch the game before making too many comments but i thought we were stromg acorss the park today- sometimes rhe ball speed felt slow but it also spoke of a team that were composed despite goung behind after a few minutes. 

Thought the front 4 were much better than expected and when Waine and Randall came on the pressing paid dividends. 

I continue to admire boxalls strength and leadership. 

Max C was very safe. I trust him. Hes solid. 

FdV had his best game in an all whites shirt today. Good on fhe ball- his delivery top notch. 

Surman was exceptional but that goal was his fault- he threw hus hands out to signify the ball was unchallenged wihtout the required spacial awareness. 

Having said that we defended well- Bell and Marco screened very well. 

Singh and Just handed rhe physicality very well- smart movement and body postion. Singh really showed his class today. 

Garbett was nuggety as always. 

Kosta did well playing in between the kijes rather  than in behind- thats a tough ask for him. 

Waine again did well/ hus club form is n/a but hes doing well for the national team.. 

Disappointed as we deserved a draw. 

After the first three minutes I thought we were in for a rough ride. Credit to the team for rallying after that, but they need to be switched on from the start.

On the one hand Colombia didn’t really get out of third gear, but on the other it’s not like we played as well as we could have either. We were slow and deliberate at times but it’s good seeing the team trying to play the ball out.

Given how vast our injuries were I thought the boys had a respectable game.

It was also good to see us taking shots and keeping the keeper on his toes. We’ve found goals difficult to come by, but scoring vs Colombia and Norway is very respectable.

Garnett and Stamenic looked good, as did our CB pairing. Crocombe also
showed he’s class. Felt a bit for Kosta - he didn’t do much but didn’t have a heap of support.

A big criticism is our corners. Vast majority failed to beat the first man. Given how tough we find it to hit the back of the net we need to work on set pieces.

Ball speed.  Critical at this level. We pass too slow. Always have done. Time it got sorted. Then we speed up the decision making... but that might be more difficult.

Has anyone seen the game stat's?

We must have had around 30% of the ball.

I thought despite that we had a few good chance on goal.

Wasn't able to watch live only just finishing up the replay now. Knew the outcome but not score. Pleasently surprised as after the first 20 minutes I assumed it was going to be a 5 nil pasting. Was this close to going to bed at a reasonable hour. 

We've really got to do something about being mentally engaged for the full 90. These soft lapses of concentration early and late have haunted us before and will continue to do so come the big dance if we don't address it now.

Credit to the guys for creating regular chances throughout the game though, especially with so many of our first choice selections unavailable. It's encouraging, at least, to know it's not necessarily game over if the  heartbreaking Wood, Cacace, Stamenjc injury announcement gets made in June.

Elemenop

Has anyone seen the game stat's?

We must have had around 30% of the ball.

I thought despite that we had a few good chance on goal.

Screenshot_20251116-110341.Opera.png 178.43 KB

I don't want to sound like I'm stating the obvious, being too harsh, or repeating things others have already said (entirely unintentional if I do) but it's not just the AWs that need to work on game management, all of our national football teams need to.

Take the men's U20 and U17 teams as another example, U20s conceding late against Chile, the U17s against Saudi and Austria.

Our national teams will continue to be punished at the big stage, in games against tough opposition (especially if squads are depleted by injuries) if this is not properly addressed by Bazeley, the other coaches.

So another what might have been match for the AWs. We lost, which is a bad result. Im sick of being plucky losers. This team has  good enough players.
The issue for me that we are simply not match hardened. We give away sloppy goals through lack of concentration, we miss key chances.
Because we qualify through Oceania we have a soft time qualifying. The team is rarely tested and never put under real pressure. We then play a bunch of friendlies against teams who are battle hardened in qualifying. The difference is obvious.

People need to wake up. This team qualifies ahead of Argentina and have quality across the park we can only dream about.

2 years ago we would have jumped at this result. Even 6 months ago people were on here complaining it's OK to be compact but we never score. Whilst not banging them in, we are creating more and can put good teams under sustained pressure. We scored and looked capable of getting another.

The whole I'm tired of losing comment negares context and reality.

Stop been so bloody miserable... you sound like the English press!

You need a dose of reality mate. 

austin111

So another what might have been match for the AWs. We lost, which is a bad result. Im sick of being plucky losers. This team has  good enough players.
The issue for me that we are simply not match hardened. We give away sloppy goals through lack of concentration, we miss key chances.
Because we qualify through Oceania we have a soft time qualifying. The team is rarely tested and never put under real pressure. We then play a bunch of friendlies against teams who are battle hardened in qualifying. The difference is obvious.

13th vs 85th, and we push them! how can you be unhappy with that!
Like I said before kickoff anything can happen in these games al it takes is a single moment - and that's what transpired, 2 moments and we conceded!
They literally scored off the first chance they got - which had me concerned for the rest of the game, maybe we hand switched on, but they went straight through the middle and scored with some nice interplay. After that we knuckled down and locked half decent, creating chances just nothing really worthy of testing the 6'7'' keeper!
Their second goal came from poor defence from Roux! He needed to do better!

Over all I'm pretty happy wit how we stood up against the 13th rankled team in the world!
Some players looked good, others look our of their depth and should only be considered as back ups to the players that were out injured. 
Our #1 LB/RB and striker come back from injury and that starting XI looks so much better for it.

I think both things can be true at once. We can be super proud of how the team is progressing in terms of creating chances and absorbing pressure while staying in the game for a long period, and at the same time it’s frustrating how we can’t seem to get results against those type of teams when it was in our grasp but ultimately didn’t. 

I think most football fans in NZ accept they’re not the strongest team in the world and will always be the underdog, at the same time some people go “oh 5-6 years ago we would have been smashed so a 2-1 defeat isn’t too bad” when the quality of the players has improved dramatically.. it was refreshing to hear the DB said pre game they’re expecting a positive result out of those two games rather then show up and just earn a international cap..

The key is consistency.. we looked unbelievably good in first game vs Aussie, then really average in second game, we looked poor against Poland but good against Norway.. that’s where I think the big area of development is.. this Colombia game was the baseline, can they do it often? Time will tell 

Really good take. It's incredible with half a team out to compete. But any time would kick themselves for conceding like that so late in the game.

Players and the team, fans through positive support, need to demand more of eachother and for me the players showed that enough that they were disappointed.

Also why it's great they've got such a thorough games programme to do as much learning together as possible. That might have been your WC starting keeper and CBs with the mix-up.

Containing players like James and Diaz is a nightmare and alot needs to go right, but we can compete better than ever right now, and imagine Wood, Libby, Thomas and McCowatt in the mix (though Singh, Garbett, Just were class and Ben Old will be a gun if he plays consistently)

Nixieboys222

I think both things can be true at once. We can be super proud of how the team is progressing in terms of creating chances and absorbing pressure while staying in the game for a long period, and at the same time it’s frustrating how we can’t seem to get results against those type of teams when it was in our grasp but ultimately didn’t. 

I think most football fans in NZ accept they’re not the strongest team in the world and will always be the underdog, at the same time some people go “oh 5-6 years ago we would have been smashed so a 2-1 defeat isn’t too bad” when the quality of the players has improved dramatically.. it was refreshing to hear the DB said pre game they’re expecting a positive result out of those two games rather then show up and just earn a international cap..

The key is consistency.. we looked unbelievably good in first game vs Aussie, then really average in second game, we looked poor against Poland but good against Norway.. that’s where I think the big area of development is.. this Colombia game was the baseline, can they do it often? Time will tell 

I think what this game proved is that we are more that capable of defending against the best teams in the world, and also at times playing our game against them. It is true that we have better players at our disposal now than ever but I still find it remarkable how brave we are at playing our game, playing forwards, playing through the lines. 

Compare it to the Hudson and Hay years where we would play it across our back 5 again and again. From the wingback to the CBs then across to the other wingback, then back again. Eventually we would try play it forwards and 9 times out of 10 lose it immediately. Truly night and day.

It will always be hard to do this across a full 90 when the opposition is exerting constant pressure, which the best teams do. Fingers crossed that we get better at that and we have great discipline and focus when the World Cup rolls around. 

The big visual improvement since about the the June window (so last 4 windows), is the increased chance creation and actually scoring some goals.  

Earlier in this cycle against top 50 teams, we looked solid but really created SFA, and if Wood was absent it could be very toothless. But now the AWs are creating genuine chances even with only say 35% possession like yesterday. 

You combine that with a tight defence, and there is real room for optimism about the big dance next year. Noting 4-5 starters were out yesterday, none of them with really long term issues.


The draw is going to be so so important. Increasing comment by Baze in the post match, that the AWs are now a hard pressing defensive team, and yes how hard that will be to do for 90 mins if the conditions are really hot next June.

Remembering the team's worst performance of the last almost 2 years was against Mexico (3-0 loss) in hot steamy California last September. Baze would have learnt alot that day, when he didn't get his selections right.

Fingers crossed for San Fran, Seattle, Vancouver or Toronto. The venues maybe as, or more important than the opponents drawn next month.

Ben Old is your All Whites Player of the Match after a solid shift against Colombia 👏

📸 @PhotosportNZ pic.twitter.com/3E69FB4gMC

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) November 16, 2025

▶️ Watch the highlights of our game vs Colombia at https://t.co/zCsNgeZ8wa

🇳🇿🇨🇴 pic.twitter.com/pVyD3WI3Gj

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) November 16, 2025

Great analysis 

coochiee

The big visual improvement since about the the June window (so last 4 windows), is the increased chance creation and actually scoring some goals.  

Earlier in this cycle against top 50 teams, we looked solid but really created SFA, and if Wood was absent it could be very toothless. But now the AWs are creating genuine chances even with only say 35% possession like yesterday. 

You combine that with a tight defence, and there is real room for optimism about the big dance next year. Noting 4-5 starters were out yesterday, none of them with really long term issues.


The draw is going to be so so important. Increasing comment by Baze in the post match, that the AWs are now a hard pressing defensive team, and yes how hard that will be to do for 90 mins if the conditions are really hot next June.

Remembering the team's worst performance of the last almost 2 years was against Mexico (3-0 loss) in hot steamy California last September. Baze would have learnt alot that day, when he didn't get his selections right.

Fingers crossed for San Fran, Seattle, Vancouver or Toronto. The venues maybe as, or more important than the opponents drawn next month.

I think this team is really beginning to build nicely. Let’s hope Singh gets some minutes at his club!

If we compare this team to 2010, we had 1 1/2 ways to play. 

In terms of forwards, midfielders, defenders and keepers we’ve got depth. Players can come in and out of the team and we can adjust slightly and fit them in. 

2010 played one way. Defend and bang it long to the big lads. And occasionally it’d get to Wee Mac or Bertos and they’d do something with their feet. 

We’re short of back up 9s and wingers. 

But I think we’ve seen that the plan is to push Kosta and Waine up front to do the best they can to occupy a defender and let the threat on goal come from the FBs and  forwards/mids sitting in behind: Singh/Old/Randall/Garbett/McCowatt/Just. 

We seem to be confident playing through the centre with Stamenic and Singh or playing in behind long ball from Boxall, De Vries or Tuiloma to overlapping FBs… and for some games we’ve been a threat from set pieces, but not this game! 

I would like a player like Ott or Mata or another large lad to be added to the squad to allow us to continue to set up like we would for Wood if he’s injured and to give our long passers in De Vries, Tuiloma, Payne etc a better target. 

That said, Kosta worked his socks off and was a clear irritation to his marker and almost pinched a goal. And Waine has also been a standard you’d expect from an experienced professional player.

Still I think there’s a bit of a drop off between Stamenic and Rufer. Stamenic, Wood and Boxall beginning to feel like our key players. 

I just hope that we are hiding all our quality set piece delivery and execution for the big dance.

Just missing Woodsy and up against a strong defense. Boxy looked normal sized! Despite their occasional histrionics, there was no way he was muscling past 3-4 of them the way he did a window or two ago.

I do wonder how the game would have gone for us if we’d kept them scoreless for 10-15 minutes. 

That move for the opening goal was fluid and classy and a top draw finish. I don’t think they looked that good again. Was it a case of them switching off or us switching on after that? 

The 2 Colombians next to me in The Right Track reckoned the former. Then, in the 2nd half, they seemed a bit puzzled.

Baze opined in the post match, Colombia were genuinely suprised by how good we were. They would have known squat about our players, and couldn't but help notice the rankings difference.

Took us lightly, and that 3rd minute goal would have made them think even more so, it was going to be an easy win. So human nature to then not always do the hard graft, if you expect to win comfortably.

I think some of the AWs midfield tracking back was also much better after that early goal, when the Colombians got between our lines. Garbett got back on at least one vitual occassion to prevent a shot.


Be interesting to see how the Socceroos go against Colombia.
Poppa's boys now coming off consecutive losses being USA (Oct) & Venezuela (Nov)
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9112705/socceroos-regroup-ahead-of-colombia-showdown/

The Socceroos now appear far less likely to sneak into Pot 2 of seeding for December 5's World Cup draw and are instead expected to land in Pot 3.

I think a few of our boys, Singh, Randall, Stamenic…well actually a whole bunch of them of late! have just a bit more about them than you’d expect. They’re a bit quicker, their shot is a bit harder, their vision and ball control is a bit better, they’re a bit tougher….

I’m no sure if it’s Kiwi humility or the lack of interest the nation has in soccer, but for some talented guys, there’s an ego and a strut. Any Aussie cricketer for example! Carlos Spencer. But (outside Garbett perhaps!) there’s not much figjam to our stars. They’re all very much team players. 

But yeh for the Colombian first goal they put together 4-5 pieces of quality- the pass from Rodriguez fizzed off the boot, the runs by the forwards were fast and seemed coordinated, a great leave and equally good finish- that were not seen again in the game imo. 

The play that put Barbarousses through to shoot on goal was a thing of great beauty. Direct forward passing on the deck right from our box.....a couple of splitting passes and a great run off the ball by Costa to set up the shot. Would have been one if the best technical goals ever by AWs. This is what this team can do. We now have players with the technical skill to play in tight spaces.

We will probably never be world beaters in my life time, but if we can continue to no longer be viewed as easy beats, and be respected as a football team I will be happy because that means we are giving a good account of ourselves.

coochiee

The big visual improvement since about the the June window (so last 4 windows), is the increased chance creation and actually scoring some goals.  

Earlier in this cycle against top 50 teams, we looked solid but really created SFA, and if Wood was absent it could be very toothless. But now the AWs are creating genuine chances even with only say 35% possession like yesterday. 

You combine that with a tight defence, and there is real room for optimism about the big dance next year. Noting 4-5 starters were out yesterday, none of them with really long term issues.


The draw is going to be so so important. Increasing comment by Baze in the post match, that the AWs are now a hard pressing defensive team, and yes how hard that will be to do for 90 mins if the conditions are really hot next June.

Remembering the team's worst performance of the last almost 2 years was against Mexico (3-0 loss) in hot steamy California last September. Baze would have learnt alot that day, when he didn't get his selections right.

Fingers crossed for San Fran, Seattle, Vancouver or Toronto. The venues maybe as, or more important than the opponents drawn next month.

 Hot take, are we creating chances because Wood isn't there? Tactics changes when he's not playing 🤷‍♂️

maybe creating different chances with Wood not there?
Which is a good thing cos it means the tactics have changed to suit the players we have on the field.

Dougie Rydal

coochiee

The big visual improvement since about the the June window (so last 4 windows), is the increased chance creation and actually scoring some goals.  

Earlier in this cycle against top 50 teams, we looked solid but really created SFA, and if Wood was absent it could be very toothless. But now the AWs are creating genuine chances even with only say 35% possession like yesterday. 

You combine that with a tight defence, and there is real room for optimism about the big dance next year. Noting 4-5 starters were out yesterday, none of them with really long term issues.


The draw is going to be so so important. Increasing comment by Baze in the post match, that the AWs are now a hard pressing defensive team, and yes how hard that will be to do for 90 mins if the conditions are really hot next June.

Remembering the team's worst performance of the last almost 2 years was against Mexico (3-0 loss) in hot steamy California last September. Baze would have learnt alot that day, when he didn't get his selections right.

Fingers crossed for San Fran, Seattle, Vancouver or Toronto. The venues maybe as, or more important than the opponents drawn next month.

 Hot take, are we creating chances because Wood isn't there? Tactics changes when he's not playing 🤷‍♂️

I think sometimes we actually play better without him...   Less hit and hope.

For all the set pieces we had in the game, we didn't really create too much from them. Having Wood would have been nice.

In saying that, Kosta is such a clever runner off of a defenders shoulder that he adds a different kind of threat, that I think at times is more suited to us, and the players we have who are a little more mobile.