All Whites coach Darren Bazeley says New Zealand’s Kirin Cup final against Japan is a unique opportunity to test themselves against one of world football’s leading nations.

New Zealand face the Samurai Blue in Tokyo at 11:30pm NZT tonight after overcoming fellow FIFA World Cup 2026 participants Panama in a penalty shootout to book their place in the final.

Tonight’s match will be available live and free on TVNZ+ and FIFA+ via DAZN.

Bazeley believes fixtures against nations of Japan’s calibre are crucial to the ongoing development of the All Whites following their FIFA World Cup campaign.

“For us, it's exciting because we are developing as a team, and for us to keep facing top 20 ranked teams in the world is good for us. It means we'll learn, we'll get better.

“Our players, through the experience, will get better about playing against these type of players.

“We only have Chris Wood playing in the Premier League, and then we have players playing at Championship level or in leagues not quite as high as the Bundesliga. We're still developing our players to get into those high levels.

“This will be a good challenge.”

FIFA world No. 17 Japan also progressed to the Kirin Cup final after a penalty shootout victory following a 0-0 draw with Ecuador, another nation that featured at this year’s FIFA World Cup in North America.

Victory over Japan in Tokyo would not only rank among the All Whites’ most significant away results, it would also secure New Zealand’s first trophy outside OFC competition since winning the Merdeka Tournament in Malaysia in 2000.

Tonight’s match will be the sixth meeting between the two nations. Their first encounters came during Olympic qualifying in 1983, with New Zealand recording 3-1 and 1-0 victories.

The teams would not meet again until the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup in France, where Japan claimed a 3-0 win.

Despite a Chris Wood brace, New Zealand fell 4-2 in Tokyo in 2014, while the All Whites captain was again on the scoresheet in a 2-1 defeat when the nations last met in 2017.

Bazeley says the chance to play Japan on home soil in front of a large crowd provides the perfect finish to what has already been a productive international window.

“It's always special to play a host country. So Japan in Japan is even more special.

“When we beat Panama, we were obviously very pleased because they're a very good team, and I was hoping that Japan would win because I think it's special to play Japan here in front of the big crowd.

“The World Cup was a great experience. We didn't achieve maybe what we wanted to in terms of getting out of the group stage, and then these games in this window have been really good for us.

“What we've done on this tour is bring some key players who played at the World Cup, but also some younger players to help that process of developing players for the next cycle.

“Some younger players and some players that went to the World Cup but didn't play. This is the opportunity that we've given them to push themselves forward.

“So far on this tour we’ve played Palestine, China and Panama. Everybody’s done a really good job and that's good depth for New Zealand, that we're able to come and bring half of our World Cup squad and still be very competitive.”

The Kirin Cup final between the All Whites and Japan kicks off at 11:30pm NZT and will be streamed live and free on TVNZ+ and FIFA+ via DAZN.

Article added: Monday 05 October 2026