Vancouver: New Zealand's World Cup journey came to an end with a 5-1 thrashing by Belgium on Friday, but coach Darren Bazeley said he was proud of how his players had performed despite finishing bottom of Group G.
New Zealand led against Iran before being pegged back in a 2-2 draw, and they opened the scoring against Egypt before slumping to a 3-1 defeat.
Bazeley said the World Cup experience would be a valuable one for his squad.
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"I think when you saw the draw and we knew we were playing these (Belgium) last, you probably expected them to already be on six points and that maybe could work in our favour ... we needed to pick up our points in the first two games and we gave ourselves the opportunity to do that, and we didn't take it," Bazeley told a media conference.
"We tried to get back in the game, we weren't going to just leave this World Cup defending a 2-0 loss, we wanted to try and score, to try and get back in the game, but unfortunately, we got punished a few times."
New Zealand did manage to pull a goal back when Elijah Just netted his third of the tournament, but Belgium went on to score twice more in the closing stages to complete the rout.
"Most of these guys will be back in four years' time and they will be better for it, and they have to be better for it, if we're going to get to where we all want to, which is into those knockout games," Bazeley said.
"They'll definitely learn from it. This is a great group of players that have got a really great future, a bright future, both individually at clubs and together. They'll definitely be better for it because it'll hurt, and it should hurt because we're at a World Cup and now we're going home."
Striker Chris Wood, who was part of New Zealand's 2010 squad, said there has been a clear progression during his time with the team.
"You always want to play the best teams, that's how you progress and that's how you get better. I think we showed that against Egypt and Iran," he told reporters.
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"We raised our level to that, but we couldn't raise our level to Belgium tonight unfortunately. They're a top side, but if we get our players into bigger leagues around the world, that will also help."
