This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June.

The plan

New Zealand, known as the All Whites, are back at the World Cup for just the third time, thanks to winning the Oceania region’s sole qualifying spot. Since their last World Cup in 2010 New Zealand have evolved from part-timers to professionals and there is belief they have the skillset and experience to make the knockout rounds for the first time.

It’s a tall order, though. New Zealand, at No 85 the event’s lowest-ranked qualifiers, are up against Belgium, who are ninth, Egypt, 29th, and Iran, 21st, in Group G. The renowned commentator Paul Ifill says the current squad is “miles better” than the one that went to South Africa, where they finished unbeaten with three draws. After the squad announcement the coach, Darren Bazeley, agreed the side were in a good place: “It’s a blend of exciting young talent and experienced players to maximise our chances of winning games and getting out of our group.”

Bazeley favours possession football, which worked in their qualifiers but will be a bigger ask against more skilled opponents. Since qualifying their 10 friendlies have included a draw against Norway (without Erling Haaland) and seven losses, including two to Australia. The warm-up matches in March were mixed, a lacklustre 2-0 loss to Finland preceding a sparkling 4-1 win against Chile days later. It was New Zealand’s first ever win against a South American side.

Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood, the captain, is one of two survivors of the last campaign and much will depend on his fitness. The striker was a contender for top scorer in the Premier League in the 2024-25 season, but a serious knee injury late last year sidelined him for several months.

“New Zealand will need to be able to defend without the ball and then work out how to hurt opponents when we get the ball back. A lot will depend on whether Wood is fully fit,” Ifill says. The qualifying campaign – sealed with victory over New Caledonia in March 2025 – was “money for old rope for the All Whites” against smaller Pacific nations, the commentator Mathew Nash said. “The gulf between New Zealand and the other OFC nations has been exacerbated to a chasm in recent years, as evident by the All Whites’ last 15 games against federation rivals: 14 wins, one draw, four goals conceded and 64 goals scored,” he told Radio New Zealand.

The coach

Northampton-born Darren Bazeley has grown into the role and got the team playing better to such a degree they could be capable of the knockout phase. Bazeley will achieve a World Cup first in LA as the first man to have coached at Olympic Games, under-17, under-20 and senior World Cup level. As a defender he chalked up more than 450 appearances for Watford, Wolves and Walsall before coaching in the A-League and MLS in the US. But the bulk of his experience has unfolded in New Zealand where his involvement at age-group level means he has worked with all the current senior squad, players he’s kept faith with for the World Cup.

Star player

Chris Wood, with 89 caps and 45 goals for the national team, fills a role akin to Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal and Kylian Mbappé for France: skipper, record goalscorer and an inspiration. “He puts so much into playing for New Zealand and he turns up and he does everything off the pitch,” Bazeley says. Having arrived in England with West Bromwich Albion in 2009, he had six loan spells in three years at the club before representing Leicester, Leeds, Burnley and Newcastle then taking his game to another level at Nottingham Forest.

One to watch

The 26-year-old attacking midfielder Eli Just shone in the 2025-26 Scottish Premiership season. He was named player of the year for Motherwell, the PFA’s player of the year and also made the PFA Scotland Premiership team of the year. The Motherwell captain, Paul McGinn, rates the slightly built Kiwi as “absolutely brilliant”, telling the news website Stuff: “He’s so sharp. He’s such a clever footballer. He knows where to be and when to be there.” The former All White Noel Barkley is also a fan and predicts Just will end up at a bigger club soon. “He’s a quiet, humble Kiwi and the most unassuming footballer you’ll ever meet,” he says.

Probable starting XI

Unsung hero

The central midfielder Joe Bell is happy taking a role in the shadows. “I don’t like to be in the spotlight,” he says, although that doesn’t mean ducking his responsibilities in both attack and defence. Rated in Norway, where he plays his club football for Viking, for being good in duels and confident on the ball, Bell who has 31 caps, has been trusted with the captaincy at times in Wood’s absences.

What to expect from fans at games

With the US far away and prices prohibitive for many, New Zealand are likely to be outnumbered by opposition fans at all three group games but the supporter group “The Flying Kiwis” – geddit? – will be there. Almost 500 of them will be at the group games, Barkley being one of them, and he promises they “will make a noise”. Matt Fejos, a Flying Kiwis member since 2009, told 1news.co.nz: “People think of us as a rugby country, and probably as hobbits, but that allows us to go in with that underdog mentality, fearless. We want to stamp our mark and show them something different.”

Relationship with the US/Donald Trump?

The US president kicked off his second term by claiming that his country had split the atom. Fact check: it was the New Zealander Sir Ernest Rutherford who managed the historic feat in 1917 at Victoria University of Manchester in England. Nick Smith, the mayor of the city of Nelson near where Rutherford grew up, said he would invite the US ambassador to New Zealand to “visit the Lord Rutherford memorial in Brightwater so we can keep the historic record on who split the atom first accurate”. Unsurprisingly there have been tariff threats too, if New Zealand didn’t sign up to a deal to provide the US with minerals. Talks are ongoing.

Written by Maree Mahony for RNZ.