All Whites: ‘Number of candidates’ in mix as New Zealand Football’s coaching search drags on

New Zealand Football CEO Andrew Pragnell. Photo / Photosport

New Zealand Football would prefer to have a permanent All Whites head coach in place for the June international window – but are keeping an open mind on the timeframe.

On Friday NZF announced a glamour match against Sweden in Stockholm on June 16, a rare match against a high-profile Uefa team for the All Whites.

But it is still uncertain who will be in charge for that phase, which will feature a second game in Europe.

Darren Bazeley has the role on an interim basis for the two home games against China later this month, before NZF will reconvene to discuss their options.

NZF chief executive Andrew Pragnell told the Herald they won’t be going back to market, or re-advertising the role, after the extensive pre-Christmas search process to find a successor to Danny Hay.

He maintained there are “a number of candidates” in contention and added that CV’s are still coming in, which continues to “put options on the table”.

Pragnell declined to go into detail on who could still be in the mix.

John Herdman has publicly signalled his intention to remain with Canada, while Des Buckingham has signed a new club deal in India. Wellington Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay indicated he wasn’t interested, after being overlooked initially, in favour of NZF’s preferred candidate (Herdman), which never came to pass.

”We need to check [post-March] who is in front of us and weigh up our best options going forward,” said Pragnell.

He agreed it would be ideal if the new man was in place for June but said it wasn’t imperative.

”I’d be disappointed if this was drifting into the end of 2023 but the decision on who is more important than the timeframe,” said Pragnell. “Having said that, sooner rather than later is preferable.”

Pragnell confirmed that Bazeley is “totally in the mix” for the full-time position.

”It’s a great chance for Darren, who has been in our national team set-ups for a long time, to put his mark on the team,” said Pragnell. “We will be looking at the feedback that comes out of that window, what the environment has been like, how we have gone.”

The interview panel, comprised of Pragnell, high performance boss Keir Hansen, board member Jacqui Barron, a PFA representative and two senior players, will have discussions in early April.

The Swedish encounter is a coup for NZF.

The All Whites haven’t faced European opposition since November 2019, when they played Ireland and Lithuania in the first matches under Hay.

Before that, New Zealand had only experienced four games against Uefa nations in the previous nine years, when they faced Northern Ireland and Belarus in the lead-up to the 2017 Fifa Confederations Cup, then Russia and Portugal at the main event.

World No 23 Sweden missed qualification for the 2022 World Cup, finishing second in their group to Spain, then losing a playoff semifinal to Poland. But they reached the second round of the last European Championships - beaten in extra time by Ukraine - and the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup.

In that tournament they topped the ‘group of death’ - ahead of Mexico, South Korea and Germany - then beat Switzerland in the round of 16, before falling to England in the last eight.

”We have been chasing top-50 nations and looking to play in Europe more often,” said Pragnell.

It has been speculated that Jordan could be the second June opponent – with their national association announcing a match on June 20 – but Pragnell said that was premature.

”We are weighing up a couple of options and they may be in the mix,” said Pragnell.