Darren Bazeley keeps to routine as tenure as All Whites coach nears its end

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All Whites coach Darren Bazeley is sticking to the plan until the slightly bitter end. Bazeley will end his tenure in the top job in a two-match series against India this week. It…

All Whites coach Darren Bazeley is sticking to the plan until the slightly bitter end.

Bazeley will end his tenure in the top job in a two-match series against India this week. It was not a secret that he thought he had more to give and wanted to stay in the role for another Football World Cup cycle.

As the squad assembled for his last international window, against a team who has never travelled to New Zealand before, Bazeley said he kept the routine and the structure the same.

"I have these moments where I forget, you know, because we're into it and doing what we do, and then it comes back to me a little bit.

"It's a little bit emotional, but we're just getting on with our jobs and we'll prepare as properly and as normally as we do for any normal camp."

But this is not any "normal camp". It is the end of an era for the All Whites and potentially New Zealand football.

Bazeley and captain Chris Wood have sat side-by-side to face the media so many times in the last four years since Bazeley first took the role as a caretaker coach then won the job in July 2023.

Maybe Bazeley would have liked it to be more times, but Wood has managed minutes for the national team and captaincy duties have been shared.

However, on Wednesday morning with the duo facing the media together for what will be one of the final times together, Wood had some words that humbled Bazeley.

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