{"id":17775,"date":"2026-06-26T13:07:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T01:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=17775"},"modified":"2026-06-26T13:07:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T01:07:43","slug":"weve-got-nothing-to-lose-all-white-eli-just-ahead-of-belgium-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=17775","title":{"rendered":"‘We’ve got nothing to lose’: All White Eli Just ahead of Belgium match"},"content":{"rendered":"
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All Whites’ goal-scoring hero Eli Just is not ready for the Football World Cup dream to end.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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New Zealand\u00a0need to beat Belgium on Saturday afternoon<\/a>\u00a0to have the best chance of progressing to the knockout rounds for the first time and extending their stay in North America.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Standing in their way is the world no.10 side, lead by captain Kevin de Bruyne, who also need to win to prevent an early exit from the tournament.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“They’ve maybe underperformed so far with the two draws, but if anything, that makes them even more dangerous,” Just told\u00a0Morning Report<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Knowing the All Whites need to win “does change things” when it comes to the game plan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“The fact that we’ve got nothing to lose, we’re going to go and give it everything we’ve got.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“We hope that we can finish on a real high note and that’s not against Belgium. That’s the game after.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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So far in the tournament the All Whites have given up leads against both Iran and Egypt which has resulted a draw and a loss and the New Zealanders propping up the Group G table.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I would say belief is really high. We’re at a point in our journey where the team is feeling really confident, despite maybe the results.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think we’ve been playing quite well, the three goals are definitely high points so far during the tour, obviously [there is] plenty we have to work on. Defensively, we know how many dangerous players Belgium have but, overall, we’re definitely going into the game with some positivity and some belief.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"VANCOUVER,<\/div>
Eli Just controls the ball during the All Whites’ second pool play match against Egypt.<\/p>\n

Emilee Chinn<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Just made history with his\u00a0brace of goals against Iran in the All Whites’ opening game<\/a>\u00a0of the tournament in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In becoming the first All White to score twice at a World Cup,\u00a0Just put his name in lights<\/a>\u00a0but the humble midfielder hopes his feats are bettered before long.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Time will tell how long people remember for.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I would like to believe that they’ll be forgotten quite quickly because New Zealand will be going to World Cups in the future every four years and scoring a lot of goals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“But right now, of course, it is very special. It’s not something that I could have dreamed of as a little kid to score two goals in the World Cup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think when you’re such a small kid or you’re growing up, you don’t probably understand just how difficult it is and how much luck you need to have.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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All Whites coach Darren Bazeley believed Just’s performances at the World Cup would put him on the radar of different club sides but at this stage the 26-year-old was only worried about what was happening back at Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“A lot of the boys, they’ve just started pre-season. We’ve got a new coach, so on that hand I’m also excited to head back and see what kind of changes are being brought in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“We’ve got some exciting fixtures coming up to qualify for the Conference League.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Motherwell have supported me and they are also proud and want to put me forward and I’m representing the club a little bit as the only member who’s playing at the World Cup.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Just does not want to back in Scotland too soon though.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He is living the World Cup dream with some of his “really close friends” in North America.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I’ve been fortunate to be part of the under-17s, under-20s, the Olympics, and there’s been a lot of continuity throughout those squads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I played with a lot of the boys growing up and then even the boys that have come in recently I think it’s quite an easy thing to integrate into the squad when everyone’s Kiwi and there’s so much in common.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“A lot of us [are] playing around the world so when you do come into camp, it’s like a little taste of home. You get to hear the Kiwi accent again and everybody really cares about you and wants to see you do well.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Just said he did not feel the pressure ahead of the All Whites’ final Group G game in Vancouver.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I’m just really excited. I think that the way the two previous games have gone I’ve just had so much fun being out there and there’s no better stage to do it on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I can’t wait to walk back out, sing the anthem and get going. As soon as the game ended against Egypt I think everyone would have loved to have played the next day, it’s just such a cool feeling and when you’ve got everything to play for there’s nothing better.”<\/p>\n

Source: RNZ<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All Whites’ goal-scoring hero Eli Just is not ready for the Football World Cup dream to end. New Zealand\u00a0need to beat Belgium on Saturday afternoon\u00a0to have the best chance of progressing to the knockout rounds for the first time and extending their stay in North America. Standing in their way is the world no.10 side, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17777,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17775\/revisions\/17777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}