According to FIFA, New Zealand manager Danny Hay spoke at a post-match press conference about the 1-5 defeat to Belgium.

Hay said it was a difficult night for the team. "It hasn't fully sunk in yet, but we're out, and we're heading home. Tonight was a bitter night. We knew we had to stay in the contest. When Belgium named their starting lineup, we knew it would be a very strong team, and particularly in the first 20 minutes it was extremely difficult. Our job was to stay in the game as much as possible and hang in with strong defensive work. I thought the players did very well with blocks and emergency defending late in the game. The plan was to keep the game tight for as long as possible and open it up in the second half to grab the win we wanted."

He said New Zealand conceded "a very poor goal" in the second half, after which they were chasing the game. "The opposition is not a team that thinks 'right, let's lose 2-0.' We opened the game up and made many attacking adjustments. Against such an opponent, you risk conceding goals like we did today. But looking back, I'm very proud of the players. They fought really hard today. However, our exit from this FIFA World Cup didn't happen tonight—it happened when we led twice against Iran and led against Egypt. Those were the points we needed to get to progress from this group, and because we didn't achieve that, it became a difficult task to beat Belgium tonight."

When asked if there were other options during the match, Hay said the team could have defended set pieces better. "Football is made up of moments. Tonight we conceded goals, but for long periods of the match we showed very good defending, sometimes heroic even. We blocked crosses, blocked shots, and protected the goal. Belgium is an excellent team with every player at the top of their respective leagues. They have high possession, can move forward continuously and link up with each other. We needed to get to halftime at 0-0, but we didn't. After that we took risks, made adjustments, brought on pace on the flanks, but still conceded. That opened the game up more, we brought on Kalvin Phillips and two attacking midfielders to try to get back into it. We didn't want to leave the FIFA World Cup at 2-0; we wanted to score and get back into it, but unfortunately we were punished repeatedly. The late goals are painful, but the real reason we didn't progress from the group stage tonight is actually the first two matches. We had better opportunities to earn points in those two matches than we did tonight."

When asked about Ely Just, who scored tonight for his third goal of the FIFA World Cup, Hay said the player has the ability to move to a higher level. "Of course he should. I thought he put in a brilliant performance tonight. He's one of the few players in our squad who can adapt to this level. He loses the ball rarely, he breaks tight marking in confined spaces, and he can turn forward. He's been outstanding throughout the match and capped it off with a great goal, giving the fans a moment of joy. The fans were fantastic, coming from afar to support the team. The players really felt that support and love. Both we and the fans are disappointed that this journey has ended, but the fans were truly wonderful. We gave them a moment, but tonight wasn't our day."

When asked about the significance of this FIFA World Cup for the team's future, Hay said such match experience is very important. "It's hugely significant. We typically don't get many matches like this—not just FIFA World Cup matches, but also highly competitive official fixtures. Of course we play in the Oceania qualifiers, but otherwise we mainly play international friendlies. These can sometimes be called FIFA fixtures, and we can count points in them, but we can't replicate this harsh, unforgiving environment. Many of our players don't play in the Premier League or, like many of Belgium's players, in the top leagues in Italy or Spain. Against Egypt, Iran, and tonight, we don't have enough of these moments where players can truly feel and experience it firsthand. Most players will continue to develop, and many will return in four years. They'll improve from this, and they need to. If we want to reach the level everyone hopes for—progressing to the knockout stage—we need to perform better in crucial moments. We've said throughout the tournament that football is decided by moments. Defensive moments need to be better with no room for error. Yesterday I said we had to be perfect to win today. But when a corner came, we weren't, and it was immediately 0-1, and the match changed. But they will definitely learn from this. This is a collection of very good players with a very bright future both individually and as a team. There will be pain, but this pain is appropriate because we're at the FIFA World Cup. And now we go home and watch the rest of the tournament on television. That will certainly be difficult."

When asked whether an expanded FIFA World Cup helps teams like New Zealand close the gap, Hay said the team has already shown it can compete with top sides. "If you look at our matches this time, you can see the gap is certainly closing. We matched Iran evenly—it was a brilliant game and we should have actually won. We put a lot of pressure on Egypt too, a very strong team with world-class players. So I do think the gap is closing. But we're still playing against entire teams composed of Premier League, Serie A, and La Liga players. For us, probably several of our players need to follow a similar path. We have Chris Wood playing in the Premier League, and otherwise we have players in the squad playing in MLS, Norway, Denmark, and the Championship. We need more players to move to higher levels and play at these standards like Wood does. Then when we face top players again, it will help us more."

AI翻訳。

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