"He's going to be great around the players. He may play, he may not. But he has that experience of playing at a World Cup and his value is in his leadership off the field." That's Ricki Herbert, the man who took New Zealand to South Africa in 2010, and he's making the case for Tommy Smith's place in the All Whites' 2026 squad — a selection that's gone down very differently on social media.
Smith is 36. He plays for Braintree Town in England's fifth tier. He hasn't pulled on the All Whites shirt since 2024. And yet coach Darren Bazeley named him in the squad for a World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, passing over Wellington Phoenix's Bill Tuiloma in the process. The reaction from a section of the fanbase was predictably sharp.
What Bazeley is actually buying here
Bazeley's framing was deliberate. He called Smith a "cultural architect" — a player who sets training standards, carries weight in the dressing room, and whose presence shapes a group. At a first major tournament in 16 years, that's not nothing.
It's a well-worn playbook, and it has worked. Australia took Tim Cahill — 38 years old, their all-time leading scorer — to Russia 2018 knowing he'd barely feature. He played one substitute appearance. The squad still functioned better for having him there. Pepe Reina made four World Cups for Spain largely as the man keeping Iker Casillas sharp in training, never as a starter. These aren't soft selections. They're calculated ones.
Smith's connection to New Zealand's defining football moment matters too. He started all three group matches at South Africa 2010 as the All Whites went unbeaten against Italy, Paraguay and Slovakia — still the only time they've survived a World Cup group stage. For a squad entering a tournament against Iran, Egypt and Belgium with genuine knockout ambitions, that DNA has real value.
The squad size makes this easier to defend
With World Cup rosters now sitting at 26 rather than the 23 used at Qatar 2022, coaches have three extra slots to work with. Herbert's logic is clean: if some players aren't going to feature regardless, pick the ones who can contribute off the pitch. Smith, a 56-cap defender who chose Braintree over Auckland FC for family reasons, fits that slot better than most alternatives on current form would suggest.
Whether New Zealand can actually reach the knockout rounds — something they've never done — depends far more on Chris Wood's fitness and what Bazeley can get from his younger core. But Bazeley and Herbert both know Smith's presence gives that group a direct line to the only World Cup in All Whites history worth remembering. "I think you're going to get nobody better than Tommy," said Herbert. That's a high bar for a fifth-tier player, but Herbert coached the man. He's probably right.
