After scoring 16 goals across 180 minutes during this past window, the All Whites are only two further wins away from qualifying for the FIFA World Cup for just the third time in their history. This one won’t be quite so difficult as the 1982 or even the 2010 missions – they won’t even need to play anyone from outside the confederation. The expanded 2026 Men’s World Cup has opened the door for the Aotearoa to stroll right on through without even needing to ring the bell in the same way that the Football Ferns have been able to do with the Women’s World Cup for the past generation. That access comes with both positives and negatives... but then so does everything. And this squad of kiwi blokes that we’ve got right now are at least worthy of this fortunate whim that FIFA have bestowed upon them. They might have qualified anyway. They arguably should have qualified last time. So we’ll just take what’s being offered, thank you very much.

This November window served up an 8-1 win against Vanuatu in Hamilton followed by an 8-0 win against Samoa in Auckland. The results were never in any doubt but they were important steps towards World Cup qualification nonetheless. They were also valuable exercises for football in the wider Oceania region and, compared to how a lot of other sports operate in this part of the world, there’s a lot to like about New Zealand’s ongoing commitment to its confederation. As the preview yarn explored, Darren Bazeley picked a full-strength squad for these matches. He wasn’t going easy on it. That young Samoa team just got to play against the Premier League Player of the Month, mate.

These games were also crucial for the All Whites’ ongoing connection with their own fans. So often the team plays away or in neutral venues, courting higher ranked opponents, and generally speaking that’s what they should be doing. But it’s important to pop back up at home from time to time. Give the fans the opportunity to see the team in person, to see their heroes in person. It doesn’t even matter who they’re playing... the 12-year-old kid in the stands is there to see Chris Wood, Marko Stamenic, and Libby Cacace. If they get to see them scoring goals in a hefty victory too then, well, all the better. These may not have been very competitive games but everyone seemed pretty stoked about the experience.

There’s a good vibe around the All Whites right now which wasn’t really there before these past two windows. Back then, the prevailing idea was that we have a bunch of talented players who can’t quite get the job done against better nations, failing to convert the hype into results. But a 1-1 draw with the USA helped gather up some momentum and then, after a tricky 3-0 win over Tahiti, a 4-0 win at home against Malaysia last window got the ball rolling and they’ve carried it on from there.

The funny thing is, they haven’t done much to dispel that underperforming idea... they’ve simply played against weaker teams (USA excluded). But they’ve added another perspective. They’ve put themselves in a different context. These WCQs were games that they had to play (though there was some effort shown in hosting them) but listening to basically every single player who was interviewed throughout the week talk about building a connection with fans and appreciating being able to play in front of friends and family you could tell that this was something they had prioritised within the group. Fan connection is one of those things where all you have to do is put in the effort and the appreciation will flow. They’ve done that. Nicely work from Baze and the crew.

Also nice work from the Hamilton crowd as 10,113 hearty souls turned up at Waikato Stadium despite some absolutely torrential rain through the day. That was the first ever All Whites fixture in Hamilton – although the Football Ferns did play twice there last year as part of their pre-World Cup fixtures. The Ferns lost 5-0 to Portugal and 2-0 to Argentina... so this was a much happier occasion. Not such a good crowd for the Mt Smart game in Auckland with only 5327 folks turning up, though this was on a Monday evening so it was always going to be harder to get people along. The crowd at North Harbour to face Malaysia a month earlier was 8,513 on a (wet) Monday so that was quite a bit better. Seems fair to say that the marketing could have gone harder... Wellington and Auckland will get the WCQ semis and final in March so we can hopefully bank on much bigger turnouts then, given what’s at stake.

By the way, talking of that being Hamilton’s first All Whites game... it was also the first All Whites game hosted anywhere outside of Auckland or Wellington since a 2-1 win against New Caledonia in Dunedin in 2013. Tommy Smith scored one of his two international goals that day. Again, this is something that the Footy Ferns have done much better in recent years (admittedly with the World Cup being the instigating factor). Since November 2022, they’ve played home games in: Christchurch, Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, Hamilton, Hamilton, Auckland, Napier, Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch, and Christchurch. That’s 13 games spread across six cities.

Including the rest of this World Cup qualifying schedule, which has already been announced, the All Whites will have played their most recent 13 home fixtures, dating back to 2014, in: Auckland, Auckland, Wellington, Auckland, Wellington, Auckland, Auckland, Wellington, Auckland, Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington, Auckland. Not quite so evenly spread, right? Both the Ferns and All Whites have had massive crowds in that time though and they’ve mostly happened in those two big centres. 37k for All Whites vs Peru at Sky Stadium (World Cup intercontinental playoff). 34k for All Whites vs Australia at Eden Park (Winston Reid’s last game). 42k for Football Ferns vs Norway at Eden Park (World Cup group stage). The lesson of it all is that the appetite is there across the country.

New Zealand 8-1 Vanuatu

The All Whites had some trouble beating Tahiti in the previous window. Despite scoring very early through Eli Just, it took a long time before they could find another goal thanks to some very deep defending from their opponents, some unforgiving island heat, and a bobbling pitch that didn’t allow them to make much use of their superior techniques. Against Vanuatu in Hamilton, on the other hand, everything was in their favour: slick pitch, evening kickoff, an impressive home crowd of a little over 10k fans, and it poured with rain all afternoon too (at times making the Tahiti vs Samoa game beforehand borderline unplayable). Thankfully though, the weather had largely cleared by the time the All Whites kicked off.

In other words, all the things that were not in their favour last time, were in their favour this time. And they still won 3-0 last time so yeah this was a thrashing waiting to happen. Especially when Darren Bazeley lived up to his reputation by picking the strongest team that he reasonably could from within the strongest squad that he had available. A few guys like Callum McCowatt and Sarpreet Singh weren’t quite fit enough to start, though both would play a useful role off the bench. Joe Bell was only used off the bench as well – he’s usually one of the last to arrive for these things due to his schedule in Norway. Also Tim Payne and Kosta Barbarouses both missed the game due to minor injury things.

So it was that Storm Roux retained his starting spot from the win over Malaysia. Max Crocombe did return between the sticks but the rest of the defence was untouched, as was the midfield duo of Alex Rufer and Marko Stamenic. Obviously Ben Old’s injury ruled him out while Ben Waine was never going to start ahead of a certain Premier League Player of the Month. That proved to be a glorious thing for the Hamilton locals who got to see not only hometown hero Chris Wood in the eleven... but also hometown hero Logan Rogerson, who grew up in Ngaruawahia and played for Hamilton Wanderers prior to joining the Phoenix Academy. Chris Wood spent time with Cambridge FC, Hamilton Wanderers, and Waikato FC (all before joining West Brom as a 16-year-old). It seems that Nando Pijnaker’s Rotorua/Ngongotahā heritage wasn’t close enough to merit the same consideration... he’d have to wait three days for the second game of the window.

This game did, to the surprise of nobody, turn out to be that prescribed thrashing... but there was one sneaky twist in the tale. After Matt Garbett had given a slow-starting All Whites side the lead after around ten minutes, picking up a loose ball outside the area and lashing it home with his left foot, Vanuatu suddenly equalised. Jordy Tasip on 17’. He was absolutely trying to cross that sucker but it floated towards goal where Max Crocombe seemed to misjudge the ball in the air as it drifted into the far top corner. Let’s be honest, it was a fluke of a goal. But it doesn’t matter how it went in. Vanuatu had scored against New Zealand. They were level at 1-1. The bench went absolutely wild along with the handful of Vanuatu supporters in the crowd. Spectacular scenes.

That parity lasted all of six minutes before Chris Wood scored a sixty-second double. The first was an unmarked back-post header from a Cacace corner kick. The second a close-range finish from a looping Garbett cross to the back stick, finishing off at close range which was trickier than it looked given the ball was dropping on him (he sorta went for a header then realised mid-air that he was going to be using his knee it instead) and also the presence of the keeper in his peripheral vision. Great work from Garbs skipping up that left wing too. Seven minutes later, Tyler Bindon stretched a leg out to divert a low Garbett strike inside the post for his first international goal. Bindon nearly had a second on 38’ but it went down as a Brian Kaltack own goal, skimming off his head from an inswinging Cacace free kick.

Okay then, that made it 5-1 after 38 mins. Purely a matter of ‘how many’ from that point onwards. Ordinarily the half-time break might have made for a decent window to get The Woodsman off and wrap him in cotton wool but the problem there was that he’s the captain of the team and he was on a hat-trick. So while Vanuatu made two HT subs, Darren Bazeley held firm until the hour when Sarpreet Singh and Joe Bell were introduced (for Singh, this was his first NZ cap since the 0-0 draw with Tahiti... in which he missed a penalty). Wood himself stayed out there until the 75th minute when Bazeley finally hauled in the anchor, Woodsy having to accept that he’d had enough chances and failed to take them.

That goes for the lot of them because it wasn’t until the 74th minute when Eli Just finally scored number six. Beautiful finish driving into the area and smashing low into the corner. One thing about Just that doesn’t necessarily apply to many of his teammates is that he knows how to pick out the corners when he shoots. From there, Sarpreet Singh swept home a smart finish on the end of a wonderful team passing move on 82’ and then in the 89th it was Singh setting up Callum McCowatt with a deep cross that CMC did brilliantly to guide back past the keeper and into the net. 8-1 final score. In amongst that there was also an international debut for Liam Gillion, making him the first debutant since the opening game of the Nations Cup back in June when Bazeley handed out a whopping six debuts in the one fixture. Sweet as, on to the next.

New Zealand 8-0 Samoa

That next one was a Monday nighter at Mt Smart Stadium against Samoa. Didn’t quite get the same atmosphere as the last time that an Aotearoa team played against a Polynesian nation at that venue though. Nor could the Samoan football team match the result that the Tongan rugby league side managed a couple weeks earlier.

The All Whites were again without Tim Payne for this match though Kosta Barbarouses was fit enough to earn his 65th international cap off the bench – putting him outright fourth all-time on the list (ahead of Vaughan Coveny). Chris Wood also backed up with another start for his 80th cap. Nudging closer and closer to his one-time teammate Ivan Vicelich’s national record of 88 men’s international caps – and come to think of it he’s not so far away from joining the 13 Football Ferns centurions either. Or from matching Amber Hearn’s 54 international goals for the Ferns.

There were a handful of alterations elsewhere, starting with Alex Paulsen starting in goal. There was a complete swap at centre-back with Finn Surman and Nando Pijnaker getting in amongst. Bazeley even changed the left-back. Francis De Vries started there, making this just the second time in the past 24 matches that Cacace didn’t start for the national team... the other instance being due to suspension. Don’t worry, he’d still get a run off the bench later on. Additionally, Sarpreet Singh and Callum McCowatt also jumped into the starting side. Six changes... yet it all felt the same.

Having said that, it did take a pesky amount of time to find the breakthrough, with Samoan goalie Pele Fatu making a few career-highlight saves along the way (his name is Pele, we should have known). Even when he finally conceded, it came on the rebound from another very good stop. That rebound being from an acrobatic Garbett effort that got turned in on a tight angle by McCowatt. Took 24 minutes for that goal to happen. Samoa’s very over-matched side, amateur footballers against full-time pros (many of the Samoans based at NZ clubs), were digging deep and they were paying especially close attention to Chris Wood, with captain Andrew Setefano leading by example.

But there was only so much they could do. Four minutes after the first goal, Chris Wood expertly guided a McCowatt cross into the bottom far corner with a gentle touch. Then came some unselfish work from Garbett, squaring to Wood when he could have shot, allowing the Woodsman to make it 3-0 after 34 minutes. Just like against Vanuatu, there was a long drought spanning either side of half-time... and also like that game there was a flurry of goals as soon as it was broken.

It was Chris Wood on the hour, volleying in from close range after Ben Waine had nodded one back across. This time he had his hat-trick. That’s his third hatty in international footy, the previous two each coming against the Solomon Islands (in 2012 and 2017). Although there’s no reason to doubt the regard in which Chris Wood is held within this squad, the way that his teammates kept going the extra mile to try and set him up with goals says it all.

From there, the All Whites scored four more times. Marko Stamenic smacked one bottom corner after a one-two with Garbett (62’). Francis de Vries flexed some mean technique to slap a controlled half-volley home on the end of a floppy cross from Joe Bell (75’). Elijah Just got his obligatory goal when he collected a Nando Pijnaker header, dribbled into shooting space, and went bang with a sweet finish as he’s been doing so often lately (87’). And then Francis de Vries won a penalty which Ben Waine expertly converted (90+2’) for a final score of Aotearoa 8-0 Samoa.

The Notebook

In the other group, New Caledonia won 3-2 against the Solomons Islands before Papua New Guinea and Fiji played out a thrilling 3-3 draw in which both teams scored in stoppage time (PNG took the lead then Fiji equalised). Fiji backed that up with a 1-1 draw against New Caledonia... though the 59th minute Jean-Jacques Katrawa leveller for NCL means that it was New Caledonia who finished top of the group on seven points, with Fiji second on five points. Solomon Islands then beat Papua New Guinea 2-1 in the final match. PNG had a chance to go through if they’d won and Fiji had lost but that chance was already gone by the time their game kicked off. Meanwhile Tahiti’s 2-0 win against Vanuatu prior to the NZ vs Samoa game ensured that Tahiti progressed to the semis alongside Aotearoa from Group B. It will be New Caledonia vs Tahiti in one semi-final and New Zealand vs Fiji in the other semi-final, with those games to be played in March 2024 during the next international window.

Keep in mind that the beaten finalist still goes through to an intercontinental playoff, which shapes to be absolutely massive for the region. The intercontinentals are going to be done in a slightly different format this time with six teams progressing to compete for two places. They’ll be split into groups of three, each containing one seeded team (based on FIFA Rankings... so it won’t be an Oceania side, not even if New Zealand are one of them) and two unseeded teams. Seeded teams go straight through to the final. The unseeded teams play in a semi-final. The games will be held in one of the host nations of the World Cup itself, not sure which yet (USA/Mexico/Canada). We saw a similar tournament structure take place in NZ prior to the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Goalscorers across these two All Whites games: Chris Wood (5), Callum McCowatt (2), Elijah Just (2), Matthew Garbett, Tyler Bindon, Sarpreet Singh, Marko Stamenic, Francis de Vries, and Ben Waine... with an own goal as well.

Combined assists across these two All Whites games: Matt Garbett (5), Libby Cacace (2), Joe Bell, Francis de Vries, Callum McCowatt, Nando Pijnaker, Alex Rufer, Sarpreet Singh, Marko Stamenic, and Ben Waine.

Chris Wood’s comprehensive haul of goals stands out immediately. It’s even got the Premier League media taking notice of an Oceania football game. Five goals across two matches takes him up to 41 overall in his career, continuing to leave all other All Whites in his wake. He’s got 80 caps so he’s now averaging better than a goal every two matches. An outstanding record. If you’re wondering, 26 of his goals have come against Oceania nations and 15 have come against teams outside the confederation. The Woodsman has scored in each of the last four internationals. He has 8 goals in 11 Premier League games this term. The man is insatiable.

But he’s not the only one who has scored in each of the last four All Whites games: Elijah Just has done it too. Just who is also on a sweet scoring run for his club team (in his case, it’s SKN St. Pölten in the Austrian second tier). Seven goals in his past nine for club and country and almost all of them are wicked finishes into either the top or bottom corners of the goal. Mostly off his left foot but there was a righty against Vanuatu. Just has always had a knack for setting goals up (go back and peep what highlights you can find from the Eastern Suburbs title run in 2019 where Callum McCowatt and Andre de Jong were scoring all the goals... and notice how many of them were assisted by Just). Now he’s clearly unlocked something with his shooting. There’s a composure and precision to the way he’s been scoring these goals that, frankly, many of his teammates are still searching for. Just has full confidence in how he strikes a ball. He knows that when he gets into certain areas, he’s a good chance of scoring. So he keeps shooting from those positions and he keeps scoring.

(That video isn’t even all of it because it was edited before he scored against Samoa).

With Liam Gillion’s debut, we can now pick a starting eleven entirely of players who got their first caps under the management of Darren Bazeley:

Paulsen | Elliot, Adams, Surman, Bindon, L.Kelly-Heald | Roa Conchie, Sutton | Randall, Van Hattum, Gillion

That’s Kyle Adams, if you’re wondering. Dropped off the All Whites radar since Tyler Bindon emerged but had a really strong season with Louisville City in the USL (though they weren’t able to go on and win the championship despite having the best regular season record). He’s flirted with MLS stuff in the past but never quite landed there. Deserves a chance. Not gonna be in the All Whites frame while he’s second-tier over there but that’s fine – at this rate, Isaac Hughes would probably be the next CB called up if there were injuries. Undercover hero in how the Welly Nix have been tracking so far this season.

Another idea on Chris Wood: this is a man who knows his spots. Similar to Eli Just except that Just’s spot is the perimeter of the penalty box and Wood’s spot is in and around that six-yard box...

It’s the same deal at club level. He scores a lot of goals because he gets into goal-scoring positions. The closer you are to the goal, the more likely you are to convert any chance that comes your way (this is basically the whole premise of xG). He’s scored 77 Premier League goals and only four of them have come from outside the area. 25 have been scored from inside of six yards and a further 48 from outside the six-yard box but still inside the penalty area...

Chris Wood Premier League Goals By Shot Area

(The bigger the green circle, the bigger the xG was for that chance)

And yet while Chris Wood deserves the enormous spotlight that he’s getting at the moment, one which carries on the rolling wave of his amazing EPL achievements, we cannot ignore that Matthew Garbett had as many assists as Chris Wood did goals during these two matches. Garbs has had a tough time lately at club level. That’s been well detailed in the Flying Kiwis yarns over the past few months so no need to rehash it all. He’s the type of player that always wants to be involved, drifting around and taking risks, and that leads to him being kinda inefficient... but also really effective. Garbs only scored one goal in these games but the abundance of assists shows how influential he was. His tendency to go off-script doesn’t always fly for NAC Breda, apparently, but it tends to be pretty useful whenever he kits up for the All Whites. As does his versatility: Garbett started both games on the left wing, having played right wing and central attacking mid in the previous window.

Alex Paulsen wasn’t the one who conceded a goal in this window, that was Max Crocombe. No shade on Crocs because that was a wild one... but it does mean that Paulsen has kept three clean sheets in his three NZ caps (all against OFC teams). He’s also kept three clean sheets in his first three Auckland FC matches. He broke the Wellington Phoenix record with 12 clean sheets last season (one of which came in the playoffs). The point from the preview piece endures: Alex Paulsen still has not conceded a goal in competitive senior football since Chris Ikonomidis scored past him for the Melbourne Victory against the Wellington Phoenix in the A-League finals. That was on 18 May 2024. It’s been more than seven months. Six cleanies in a row for club and country (note that it says “senior” footy, so we’re not counting the U23s at the Olympics).

We got two different centre-back pairings in this window. Michael Boxall and Tyler Bindon played against Vanuatu, then it was Finn Surman and Nando Pijnaker. Both duos have been tried before – Boxy/Bindon was the pair against Malaysia, Surman/Pijnaker started against USA. Excluding the one time that Bazeley picked a back three, he’s used eight different combos across 19 games. Boxall/Pijnaker is the most common (6), then Surman/Bindon (4) stemming entirely from the Nations Cup. We’ve also had Boxall/Smith (2), Boxall/Bindon (2), and Surman/Pijnaker (2) multiple times. Excluding Tommy Smith and Bill Tuiloma, who are the fifth and sixth options right now, the only unique combination left to see amongst the main four before we can yell bingo is Boxall and Surman – the two right-sided CBs.

Francis de Vries ended an almost two-and-a-half year absence from the national team with his start against Vanuatu. His previous cap came in June 2022 in a 0-0 draw against Oman (a closed-door game with a rotated squad prior to the Costa Rica WC qualifier). An ACL injury ended his tenure in the Swedish Allsvenskan leading him to rebuild his career at Eastern Suburbs. Then came Auckland FC. Now here we are. James McGarry’s dropped out of the frame due to a lack of minutes at Aberdeen but Dalton Wilkins recently returned to fitness for his Danish top division club and Sam Sutton’s Wellington Phoenix exploits are at least on par with FDV so there’s going to be a funky see-sawing battle in future squads for the privilege of being Cacace’s understudy.

For those of you who watched this video, Chris Wood now has more international goals (41) as Jamie Carragher got England caps (38).

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