Dejected All Whites have one last chance to make history

Will it be third time lucky for the All Whites at the Football World Cup?

The All Whites are now in must-win territory after a 3-1 loss to Egypt on Monday which sent the team to the bottom of Group G with a hill to climb to get to the knockout stages.

The loss to Egypt coupled with the draw with Iran a week prior means the All Whites now have one last chance to get out of the group when they play Belgium in Vancouver on Saturday.

A lot of things need to go right for the All Whites to record the elusive win against the top-ranked side in the group, and coach Darren Bazeley is clear about what it will take from his players to make history.

"For us to win at a World Cup, we need to be consistent in every moment throughout the whole game," Bazeley said.

"We can't have two minutes, one minute, 30 seconds where we're not at our best because you get punished by good players.

"That's the reality for us. It's a harsh reality, because we have performed pretty well [against Egypt] and lost a game 3-1."

The All Whites had their own good player against Egypt, central defender Finn Surman had been a defensive wall throughout the tournament but it was his header in the 15th minute of the match that gave the All Whites an early lead and a bit of hope.

New Zealand's lead was gone in the 58th minute and one of Egypt's most talked about players, captain and talisman Mohamed Salah, gave his side their own lead 10 minutes later.

A lot had been made of Salah's role and how the All Whites would need to shut him down but in the end Salah scored in a way he has done so many times before.

"Salah scored a goal that I've been watching him score for 10 years, coming in and left foot.

"Goals change matches and when we're in the game, we're doing well and then they score and get the second goal and these are moments that we need to control better."

Getting on the same page as the officials will also help the All Whites going forward.

Bazeley was perplexed by a second half challenge on substitute Ben Old that escaped the referee.

"I thought it was a foul, we thought it was in the moment, I've seen it on the video, it's a foul, it should have been stopped.

"It leads to a goal and these are moments in games that hurt you. We could still defend it better, I'm not blaming all on that but it's a World Cup and we need things to go our way and we didn't get some things go our way."

The All Whites will return to BC Place in Vancouver for their game against Belgium, a side that has had two low-scoring draws so far in the tournament.

"Can we take the best parts of our Iran performance, the best part of [the Egypt] performance and turn it into a historic moment for the country where we can win at a World Cup and get out of the group?

"I think it's there for us now. We know what we need to do. We need to go and beat Belgium."