Former All Whites coach Ricki Herbert has called for clarity over the future of incumbent Danny Hay, now his contract with NZ Football has expired.
Hay, 47, ended his coaching tenure with the national side last weekend with a two-test loss to World Cup-bound Australia, drawing 35,000 fans to Auckland's Eden Park.
In June, New Zealand fell short of qualifying for the Qatar tournament with a 1-0 playoff loss to Costa Rica, but the talented young roster appears well placed to attend an expanded 48-team North American tournament in four years.
Hay insists he has had no discussion with his employers about continuing the role, but All Whites stars Chris Wood and Winston Reid want NZ Football to immediately extend Hay's contract to continue the development process.
Herbert - the last coach to guide New Zealand to a World Cup tournament in 2010 - is more cautious, warning there's more to the conversation than simply reappointing the popular incumbent.
"In the context of it, clarity is probably needed, whatever that clarity looks like," Herbert told Newshub. "What's the lead-in to what we would all hope is an opportunity to be back to a World Cup in 2026 and who'll be guiding that from a coaching perspective?
"From an overall footballing perspective, it would be great to know who that's going to be and let them craft out what the next four years looks like."
Herbert has been through World Cup cycles - both successful and unsuccessful - before and understands better than most the issues surrounding Hay's retention.
"I think there will always be conjecture," he said. "When you get through, it's great, but when you don't, there will always be opinions.
"There's disappointment obviously. We wanted to be in the World Cup in 2022 and we fell short, so there's going to be questions - that's just appropriate and it sits around what a national role looks like in any sporting code.
"It will be interesting to see where that dialogue goes and whether there are other people being considered for that role - that's something completely out there that we're all unaware of."
One of Hay's burning concerns moving forward is a commitment from the national body to an All Whites programme of competitive matches in every international window, which has proved elusive in recent years.
A decade without World Cup qualification has drained NZ Football coffers, leaving limited budget to provide the robust campaign Hay demands.
"There have been so many coaches who have gone through World Cup campaigns on pretty skinny budgets, without the opportunity of having players as much as you'd like," said Herbert.
"Whether that's the context of it moving forward or whether that's right is a really good conversation to have. Everybody in that position wants to have their players as regularly as they can for obvious reasons."
NZ Football has commissioned an independent review of the World Cup campaign under Hay "to analyse what went well and could be improved".
"Following the completion of the debrief, scheduled for mid-October, we look forward to sitting down with Danny Hay to discuss his future and how to continue the development of the All Whites leading into the next FIFA World Cup qualifying cycle."
The national organisation warns the NZ men will not assemble during the next international window for the World Cup, but promises to schedule regular fixtures thereafter.
"It was brilliant to see nearly 35,000 Kiwis at Eden Park. It is the long-stated aim of New Zealand Football to bring our national sides home more regularly and the recordbreaking crowd at Eden Park is just the start of having all our teams play in Aotearoa on a more consistent basis."
