New Zealand manager Darren Bazeley is no stranger to the EFL having played for Watford for over a decade, amassing a total 283 appearances, before another almost 200 games in combined stints with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Walsall.
After taking his career to New Zealand he had successful spells at the New Zealand Knights and Waitakere United. In this time, he gained the respect of the staff who duly made him the club’s youth team coach, before guiding the senior side to three straight league titles.
The transition to national team coach was gradual. Helping several of the younger age group teams into latter stages of tournaments. The first chance to help with the senior side was in 2015 and coincided with him gaining dual citizenship. He became more heavily involved in 2018 and was assistant to Anthony Hudson when they lost the final playoff qualification spot to the 2018 World Cup.
Bazeley is now in charge of the All Whites, after being interim coach, and has named his first squad for two game in this weekend’s international break. He has been unable to call upon any A-League players as that season is due to start and teams have agreed not to release any at this stage.
Upon his appointment in early July this year, he said. “I’m excited to be named All Whites head coach and can’t wait to officially get started. I have known and coached many of the players in this group for a long time so it will be a real privilege to continue on the journey with them to develop football in New Zealand and leave a legacy for the next generation.
“This is a hugely exciting time to be a football fan in New Zealand, with the FIFA Women’s World Cup this year, consistent high quality international fixtures, and the Olympics and FIFA World Cup, should we qualify, in the next few years.”
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Most of the current squad is Europe based and there are many that are playing in England and Scotland. There are several EFL players that could feature in next Tuesday evening’s Soccer Ashes. The friendly against Australia at Brentford will be a good chance for some of the players to make a claim to be in the squad going forward to the start of World Cup qualification next year.
EFL Representation
Championship side Plymouth Argyle have had their 22-year-old striker Ben Waine called up. He has eight caps and scored once. League One are represented three times. Max Mata, 23, of Shrewsbury Town has played four times, and Max Crocombe, the Burton Albion shot stopper will aim to get his third cap if selected. Reading have had Tyler Bindon drafted up, although he is yet to make an appearance for his national side. The 18-year-old prospect goes off the back of scoring this past weekend.
Finally League Two have two players. Nik Tzanev, the current number two choice at AFC Wimbledon, could share duties with Crocombe while away as he searches for his second cap, and veteran defender Tommy Smith, one of Bazeleys older players in the squad aged 33, has got 50 caps to his name.
“It is great to announce the squad for these games and bring in some new and returning players for the window” Bazeley told the nzfootball website. “I think it speaks to the strength of Kiwi talent around the world that we are able to name a really strong squad even when we don’t call up our A-League Men players. It is great to see how much young Kiwi talent there is pushing for All Whites selection.”
Writer’s View
Darren Bazeley has worked his way up through the New Zealand national team coaching ranks and fully deserves his shot at taking the All Whites to a major competition. This week he has a chance to view several young members of his squad that could prove to be a foundation of his team in the years to come. A game against DR Congo in Spain is followed by the Ashes game. Then in November they have European games against Greece and Ireland.
Bazeley will then go into 2024 with a better idea of how his squad is shaping up, and will be able to tap into his home grown players. As he says, it is an exciting time for the Kiwis and under his leadership they could just break into the World Cup reckoning for 2026.
