New Zealand’s Ben Waine scores during the OFC Men’s Nations Cup. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / Photosport
The All Whites’ path to the 2026 Football World Cup begins this week and it will not be until early next year that Oceania’s first direct qualifier for the showpiece event will be found.
New Zealand failed to qualify for the past three world cups after stumbling at the last hurdle – an intercontinental play-off against the fifth-placed South American side.
The expansion of the world cup from 32 to 48 teams could play in New Zealand’s favour. The automatic qualification should be the All Whites’ to lose if world rankings were anything to go by.
But anything could happen in football.
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley said it had been too long since New Zealand were last at the world cup.
The initial step to getting back to the world cup for the first time since 2010 would be victory over Tahiti in Vanuatu on Friday and then against Vanuatu in Hamilton and Samoa in Auckland in November.
“We have to be hitting these games at our peak because we need to qualify,” Bazeley said.
“So they are massively important the players know how important they are which is why I think you’ve seen so many players willing to come back to this part of the world from Europe to make sure that they are part of that process.
“These games are key we need to do our job and be successful against these Oceania teams and if we do that we go to a world cup so not having the intercontinental game makes it a lot clearer a lot cleaner and a simpler process for us.”
Bazeley had been able to name a strong squad for the Tahiti game.
Premier league striker and All Whites captain Chris Wood as well as Auckland FC defender Tommy Smith were the only players who remained from New Zealand’s last world cup campaign in South Africa 14 years ago.
Tommy Smith of New Zealand and Vladimir Weiss of Slovakia during the the FIFA World Cup 2010 match Photo by Ron Gaunt/Sportzpics/PHOTOSPORT Photo: SPORTZPICS cc
Wood and Smith had done it the hard way with victory over two legs against Bahrain but Bazeley would not take lower-ranked Pacific sides lightly.
“Each of these teams will bring different challenges and we’ve just got to make sure that we’re ready for every game, every challenge and that the players go out and do their jobs.”
For 23-year-old striker Ben Waine getting to a Football World Cup was a childhood dream.
As an eight-year-old he was in the stadium in Wellington when the All Whites qualified for the 2010 world cup.
“A lot of players in this team [a world cup] would’ve been their first experience of watching football a major tournament and also watching that 2010 squad do what they do,” Waine said.
“Qualifying is never going to be easy there is going to be bumps along the way but to say we’ve gone through the Vanuatu tour last time and won the Nations Cup that kind of experience is very good for us and we know what we need to do.”
Smith said it had felt like a long time coming to get qualification for another world cup underway and agreed with Waine that Nations Cup victory away from New Zealand conditions gave the squad a boost.
“It gives us that confidence going into the games that we know we can beat these teams but obviously take nothing for granted we’re going to have to be at it for these games to make sure that we come away with results we want.”
Copyright © 2024, Radio New Zealand
The path to the FIFA World Cup 2026 has become clearer for the All Whites as they aim to get to just their third World Cup.
Premier League striker Chris Wood headlines the All Whites squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifier while Storm Roux is back in the mix.
Ahead of their clash against USA, the All Whites captain has implored his team mates to prove the latest loss was an “anomaly”.
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