Source: Radio New Zealand
Callum McCowatt’s Danish Superliga side are struggling and he’s happy for the reprieve of national team duty. Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
The All Whites have more players than ever chasing their dreams overseas and, for some, the national team can be a solace when club football is a struggle.
The countdown to the Football World Cup is on and the final squad for New Zealand’s third appearance at the tournament will be named in May.
For years, nearly 60 players have been on coach Darren Bazeley’s radar.
These players are spread around the world at different stages of their professional careers and with varying experience with the All Whites.
Not everyone will make the World Cup and Bazeley will have to make some tough decisions.
Getting a call-up to the national team – as 23 players were for the Fifa series this week – means different things to different players and RNZ has heard from some who have been in Auckland for the two games against Finland and Chile that Bazeley’s faith in them when times are tough has been invaluable.
Ben Old playing for the All Whites against Australia in 2025, when he was on the outer with his club side. Joshua Devenie/Photosport
Ben Old has been on a “rollercoaster” since making the move from Wellington Phoenix to AS Saint-Etienne in France just over 18 months ago.
“I went from Ligue 1, one of the top five leagues in the world, playing to having an injury to being relegated to not playing in Ligue 2.
“Last season, that was the first relegation I experienced, but just the excessive amount of losses that we had, it just consumes you. It’s a really horrible feeling just losing and it just really affects your confidence.
“We’ve got the best players, biggest crowd, best team, but we weren’t performing.”
In the latter half of last year, when Old was out of favour at Saint-Etienne and getting less than 15 minutes a game for his club team, Bazeley was still prepared to get him on the field for the All Whites.
“It was a really tough period for me towards the back end of last season, because I wasn’t playing. I was expected to go on loan.
“It’s just hard in general being over in Europe, but not playing was really tough mentally, so to be able to be involved in the three [international] windows of that period was just a nice escape for me.
“For them to be able to have confidence in me, to be able to play me and be able to have good performances there as well, I felt helped me tackle on and helped me be prepared for when I was able to take my chance further on to start this year.”
Now Old, who made a positional switch from midfield to left-back at club level, which co-incided with more game time, is “thriving” and Saint-Etienne are on the cusp of promotion.
“I’ve got the full Europe experience, but it’s taught me so much and I feel like I’m in a great club with a great project.”
Old has been around the All Whites since 2022 and will hope that he is still in Bazeley’s plans for June.
“I’ve spoken to players like Kosta Barbarouses, Chris Wood that have been here for a long time and they said that this is the most competitive it’s ever been.
“I think that brings out the best in players to perform, but it also means that you have to be playing at your best to perform and I think that’s just a sign of a really great team that you’ve got so much depth in your team to be able to perform, which at a World Cup is essential.”
Eli Just has been with the All Whites since 2019. Joshua Devenie
Motherwell midfielder Eli Just has been in Scotland for eight months and is enjoying his football now more than he has for years.
Just has scored goals regularly this season, as Motherwell challenge the Scottish Premiership’s bigger clubs, but the 25-year-old, who has been with the national team since 2019, has previously had times while playing in Europe that he wondered where his next goal was coming from.
“I definitely look back at some stages in my career where I think I was playing well, but maybe not scoring, and in football, especially as an attacking player, you need to score goals.
“I’ve been really working on it and enjoying the result of that hard work this season.”
Just feels like he is now in the right place at the right time of his career.
“I’ve been lucky to be involved quite often for the national team. There have definitely been some periods in my career where I’ve not been doing so well at club and then I come into national team, and kind of recharge and get a lot of energy, positivity from the boys.
“I think maybe the difference this year has been that now I can come in, and I’ve kind of got that confidence and that positivity that I can help the group.
“The best part, I think, about the squad is that we’re all so close. We’ve been playing together for a long time.
“The playing style hasn’t changed so much, so you know what is going to be required of you when you come.”
Callum McCowatt, left, playing for club side Silkeborg IF. ERNST VAN NORDE
Midfielder Callum McCowatt last played in a winning club side last October. Since then, his Danish Superliga side Silkeborg IF has failed get to win in nine matches.
McCowatt has played significant minutes in most of the games and proved that a strong showing in a run of losing results can get the attention of the national team coach.
“Personally, it’s going quite OK in terms of my numbers and stats, but for the club, it’s a little bit down at the moment.
“We’re under the relegation zone line, so it can be difficult at times. Of course, it’s not done yet, so we can still work our way out of it.”
When things are not going well for a club team, the pressure can pile on to the players.
“It’s difficult, if I have to be honest. Day to day, you have to find a new way to bring your energy up, because winning brings a lot of energy and a lot of good feeling to your body.
“When this doesn’t happen, you have to find different ways and different motivations, so it’s been a learning process. At the end of it, I’ll probably have grown as a person.”
McCowatt wants to bring some of his individual form at club level to the All Whites.
Callum McCowatt playing for the All Whites. Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
“I think that a lot of footballers worldwide struggle to take that consistency from club into country, because of the lack of games and the feeling where you kind of feel on a roll.
“When you’re in a club environment every day for, I’ve been there two-and-a-half years, nearly three years, then you become comfortable in a way where it’s your home.
“When you play for the All Whites, you play two games every couple months, five times a year, so that’s 10 games a year outside of World Cup year, it’s kind of hard to find the consistency.
“I’m trying to navigate that as good as I can, because I really want to perform for the All Whites.”
All Whites midfielder Ryan Thomas, centre, in action for PEC Zwolle against Feyenoord in the Dutch Eredivise competition, 25 April, 2025. AFP
PEC Zwolle midfielder Ryan Thomas was recalled to the All Whites squad last September, nearly six years after his last appearance.
Injury and being on the outer at club level meant that Thomas thought his international playing days were over, but Bazeley had different ideas.
“It’s nice to obviously have the confidence from Darren. I spoke with him a lot over the last three years and, obviously, it was a lot more other conversations than what we wanted.
“I talked with him a lot about how it was going and what he thought was the plan for me going forward, and it was always the plan, if I was fit enough, to bring me straight back in.
“I’m just really happy to be able to have the opportunity to play again for the national team and, when you get to play on the bigger stage with a bunch of your good friends to play for your country, it’s something you can’t really take for granted and I’m just making sure that I’m enjoying every moment.”
Tim Payne, right, is back with the All Whites during a tough season for the Wellington Phoenix in the A-League. Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Closer to home, defender Tim Payne’s A-League club Wellington Phoenix has had a dramatic change of coach and a period of sitting near the bottom of the table.
Payne missed most of the first half of the season with a broken collarbone that needed surgery and, earlier this month, he missed a couple of games with a hamstring injury – including coach Giancarlo Italiano’s last game and Chris Greenacre’s first in charge.
After an “interesting” seventh season with the Phoenix, Payne came into All Whites camp for the Fifa series off back-to-back wins in the A-League.
It was the first time the Phoenix had achieved two wins in a row in the 2025/26 season.
“I think there’s always room to make an impression,” Payne said of the final international window at home before the World Cup squad was announced.
“Everyone’s playing week in, week out at their respective clubs, so if someone’s performing at a very high standard, there’s no reason why they can’t be involved come June.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
