{"id":169930,"date":"2025-03-24T21:54:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T21:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/24\/premier-league-twist-as-nz-joins-early-2026-world-cup-qualifiers-but-star-striker-goes-down\/"},"modified":"2025-03-24T21:54:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T21:54:00","slug":"premier-league-twist-as-nz-joins-early-2026-world-cup-qualifiers-but-star-striker-goes-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/24\/premier-league-twist-as-nz-joins-early-2026-world-cup-qualifiers-but-star-striker-goes-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier League twist as NZ joins early 2026 World Cup qualifiers but star striker goes down"},"content":{"rendered":"

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New Zealand reached the World Cup for only the third time with a 3-0 win over New Caledonia but lost in-form Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood to injury.<\/p>\n

The All Whites join already qualified Japan and co-hosts the United States, Canada and Mexico at next year\u2019s finals thanks to three second-half goals.<\/p>\n

But the victory in Auckland in the final of Oceania qualifying came at a cost, with skipper Wood suffering what appeared to be a hip injury.<\/p>\n

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SOCCEROOS: The \u2018kick up the backside\u2019 behind revival as European form sparks key WC qualies acts<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

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New Zealand\u00e2&#128;&#153;s Chris Wood goes down injured during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Oceania qualifiers group final football match between New Zealand and New Caledonia at Eden Park Stadium in Auckland on March 24, 2025. (Photo by DAVID ROWLAND \/ AFP)<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soon after half time at Eden Park, Wood hurt himself swivelling for a shot and required treatment before hobbling off in the 54th minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not great for us losing our captain and our goalscorer. It was a difficult thing for the team but they came through so well,\u201d said New Zealand\u2019s English coach Darren Bazeley.<\/p>\n

The hosts looked out of ideas after dominating the first half, but then up popped veteran defender Michael Boxall on 61 minutes to head home from a corner with his first goal for his country.<\/p>\n

Five minutes later Wood\u2019s replacement Kosta Barbarouses chipped the ball over advancing New Caledonia goalkeeper Rocky Nyikeine.<\/p>\n

Substitute Eli Just put gloss on the scoreline from close range with 10 minutes left.<\/p>\n

New Caledonia\u2019s unlikely World Cup hopes are not over and they will go into an intercontinental playoff.<\/p>\n

Next year\u2019s World Cup has been expanded to 48 teams, meaning direct entry for the first time for the team that won the qualifying competition in Oceania.<\/p>\n

The region\u2019s top side previously had to go through an intercontinental playoff, with New Zealand falling at the final hurdle to Mexico, Costa Rica and Peru in recent editions.<\/p>\n

New Zealand have been to the World Cup twice before, in 1982 and 2010, but are yet to win at the competition in six matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the World Cup expanded we expected this of ourselves,\u201d said Boxall. \u201cIt\u2019s not about getting there, it\u2019s about what we do when we get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/amp-img>
Chris Wood acknowledges the crowd after their victory during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Oceania qualifiers group final football match between New Zealand and New Caledonia at Eden Park Stadium in Auckland on March 24, 2025. (Photo by DAVID ROWLAND \/ AFP)<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Facing a side ranked 152 in the world, 63 places below them, hosts New Zealand immediately went on the front foot.<\/p>\n

New Caledonia, a French Pacific territory of about 300,000 people which has never been to the World Cup, twice cleared off the line in quick succession after 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

Wood, who is in the form of his life at Forest with 18 goals in the Premier League this season, had a chance in the 32nd minute but Nyikeine saved comfortably.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old Wood then headed over the bar from a corner and at the half-time whistle, with the game unexpectedly level, the New Caledonia players mobbed Nyikeine.<\/p>\n

Bazeley had seen enough and made two changes at the break, bringing on winger Just and defender Francis de Vries.<\/p>\n

Despite losing talisman Wood, New Zealand\u2019s pressure eventually paid off against a rapidly tiring New Caledonia to put the All Whites into the World Cup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Zealand reached the World Cup for only the third time with a 3-0 win over New Caledonia but lost in-form Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood to injury. The All Whites join already qualified Japan and co-hosts the United States, Canada and Mexico at next year\u2019s finals thanks to three second-half goals. But the victory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":169931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[2228,22260,1800,1641,83,1736,2064,9030,1635,4772,22212,57820,1567,22393,23068,55738,31731,16765,2899,49653,320,21029,1533,1809,57818,1728,8891,854,57794,17389,5429,3878,57819,52784,12783,1792,4337,1465,195],"class_list":{"0":"post-169930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-agence-france-presse","9":"tag-all-whites","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-asia","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-central-america","16":"tag-china","17":"tag-chris-wood","18":"tag-costa-rica","19":"tag-darren-bazeley","20":"tag-eastern-asia","21":"tag-eden-park","22":"tag-english-coach","23":"tag-european-form","24":"tag-final-football-match","25":"tag-final-hurdle","26":"tag-head-home","27":"tag-intercontinental-playoff","28":"tag-mexico","29":"tag-michael-boxall","30":"tag-north-america","31":"tag-northern-america","32":"tag-nottingham-forrest","33":"tag-oceania","34":"tag-peru","35":"tag-premier-league","36":"tag-qualies-acts","37":"tag-second-half-goals","38":"tag-south-america","39":"tag-star-striker","40":"tag-starting-strikerfootball","41":"tag-time-offer","42":"tag-tony-popovic","43":"tag-united-states-of-america","44":"tag-veteran-defender","45":"tag-victoria","46":"tag-world-cup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}