WELLINGTON: Chris Wood scored a hat-trick of headers as New Zealand moved to within one win of the World Cup with a 7-0 demolition of Fiji on Friday.

New Zealand will face 152nd-ranked New Caled­onia in Auckland on Mon­day for a place at the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico after the Pacific islanders overwhelmed Tahiti 3-0 in the earlier semi-final at Wellington Regional Stadium.

New Zealand missed out on the past three World Cups with defeats in intercontinental playoffs.

But with Oceania allocated a berth for the first time, Darren Bazeley’s team need only beat the New Caledonians to book their first World Cup since South Africa 2010.

With captain Wood on song and world number 152 New Caledonia dominated by amateur players, the All Whites should have little trouble at Eden Park on Monday.

“We know how good New Caledonia are and we’re going to have to be ready for them,” said Wood.

Nottingham Forest stri­ker Wood is enjoying the best season of his career at age 33 and he nodded in unmarked after six minutes to put New Zealand on their way.

He repeated the trick, all headers, in the 56th and 60th minutes, while Sarp­reet Singh, Tyler Bindon, Tim Payne and Kosta Barbarouses all got in on the act for New Zealand.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2025