The All Whites' World Cup campaign ended in cruel fashion at the final hurdle. Photo / Photosport
The All Whites' World Cup campaign ended in cruel fashion at the final hurdle. Photo / Photosport
New Zealand Football will undertake an independent review of the recent All Whites' Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign, which ended with a cruel 0-1 loss to Costa Rica last month.
The Herald understands high-profile Auckland lawyer Don MacKinnon will be conducting the debrief.
MacKinnon is a specialist in sports andemployment law, and has wide-ranging experience.
He is chairman of the Blues Super Rugby franchise and is on the board of New Zealand Cricket.
MacKinnon is also head of the World Athletics vetting panel, which deals with the integrity of officials and administrators. He has previously been a director of Sport New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand, and chairman of Netball New Zealand.
The parameters of the review are still to be refined but are likely to be fairly narrow, mainly around the specifics of the campaign to analyse what went well and what could be improved.
The review is believed to be unrelated to the impending departure of NZF general manager of high performance Gareth Jennings.
Jennings joined NZF in September 2021 after working at academy level at several English clubs.
It's understood the Englishman tendered his resignation last week, though no specific reason has been offered for his exit.
NZF has emphasised the review is standard practice after a major campaign, and having an independent person conduct it, rather than keeping it in-house, makes it more likely meaningful outcomes can be achieved.
Most of the All Whites staff will be interviewed, including head coach Danny Hay and his assistants Darren Bazeley, Rory Fallon and Jonathan Gould, as well as the support team.
All Whites coach Danny Hay. Photo / Photosport
The players will also be heavily involved, though it is not yet clear whether it will be a representative group or all the playing personnel. Work will begin on the review immediately, with the outcome expected in November.
Overall, the internal view within NZF of the campaign appears to be highly positive.
Putting aside the result, the performance against Costa Rica surpassed expectations and was one of the best produced by the All Whites against world class opposition.
There was also the clinical effort at the Oceania World Cup qualifying tournament – with 18 goals scored and only one conceded – despite the logistical problems of some games being staged outside a Fifa window.
The recent match against Peru in Barcelona in front of 34,000 fans also illustrated the team's progress and put NZF on the world stage, while the sixth-placed finish at the Tokyo Olympics was an impressive achievement.
This World Cup cycle was also heavily disrupted by the Covid pandemic, which meant almost two years without games. In total, Hay's team had 14 matches before the intercontinental playoff.
In the previous cycle, there were 30 by the equivalent stage, while Ricki Herbert had 25 matches leading up to the 2013 intercontinental playoffs with Mexico.
The first leg of the upcoming Australian series has been confirmed, with the All Whites to face the Socceroos at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on September 22 (10pm NZT) before the second game at Eden Park three days later (4pm).
The series will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first transtasman clash in 1922. The All Whites last played the Socceroos in 2011 and have met only three times since 2005.
At this stage, NZF have no plans to organise matches in the November window for the All Whites, though numerous international teams will be seeking games ahead of the World Cup, so that position may shift.
