Braintree Town defender Tommy Smith is looking forward to the 'crowning glory of his career' as he prepares to participate in his second World Cup with New Zealand. The former Ipswich Town and Colchester United defender, 36, has been selected in the All Whites' 26-man squad by head coach Darren Bazeley. Smith has been acclimatising to his new surroundings after the squad flew out to Florida last month. New Zealand are in Group G, along with Belgium, Egypt, and Iran, and will be based in San Diego during the tournament with their first match taking place in Los Angeles against Iran on 16 June. Before their first warm-up match against Haiti at Inter Miami's Chase Stadium on Wednesday, Smith - who was born in Macclesfield but spent much of his youth living in New Zealand - is ready to test himself once again against the world's best. Smith played every minute of New Zealand's 2010 World Cup campaign, in which they were the only undefeated team at the tournament, despite not making it out of the group. The All Whites drew all three matches with Slovakia, Paraguay, and most notoriously with then-holders Italy to finish third in Group F, missing out on progressing to the knockout stage by a single point. Smith said: 'The goal all along is to get out of the group stage, make it to the knockout phase.' He added: 'We finished third in the group then [in 2010], this time around the best third-placed teams will go through.' Smith returned to England last August to turn out for Braintree, who were relegated from the National League, finishing the season second-bottom. He said: 'We understand the stature of players that we're coming up against and we know we're the underdogs and hopefully we can use that to our advantage.' Smith is looking forward to testing himself against the world's best players, including Mo Salah, Jeremy Doku, and Kevin De Bruyne. He said: 'We've got young, hungry, ambitious players that want to kick on in their careers, and there's no better place to do that than at the World Cup and with the whole world watching.'