New Zealand head coach Darren Bazeley says his players are ready for tonight's challenge. Photo / Photosport
New Zealand head coach Darren Bazeley says his players are ready for tonight's challenge. Photo / Photosport
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley is adamant there will be no complacency from his side for tonight’s Fifa World Cup qualifying semifinal against Fiji.
The New Zealand team are overwhelming favourites against the island nation in the sudden-death contest, given the talents across their fully professional squad and the advantage of playing on home soil.
In most quarters the match is seen as a formality, the TAB listing Fiji as $41 outsiders, with a lot of focus already on Monday’s Oceania qualifying final in Auckland, against the winner of either Tahiti or New Caledonia.
But the All Whites are wary of falling into that trap. Huge upsets do happen in football – more than any other team sport – and there are plenty of examples, most recently when North Macedonia stunned Italy in the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifying, a match in which the Azzurri had 34 shots to their opponents' four.
There are also cases in the New Zealand context. The most infamous was the 4-2 loss to Vanuatu in 2004 that ended any hopes of progressing to the 2005 Fifa Confederations Cup or the 2006 World Cup. There were plenty of names in that All Whites team, including Ryan Nelsen, Ivan Vicelich, Mark Paston and Vaughan Coveny.
The other standout is the 2013 “Horror in Honiara“, when a near-full-strength New Zealand side – with Chris Wood, Tommy Smith, Shane Smeltz and many others – were beaten by New Caledonia at the 2012 Nations Cup. While times have changed since those contests – with the gap between New Zealand and the rest of Oceania increasing – they act as a warning from history that mindsets have to be right on Friday.
All Whites head coach Darren Bazeley. Photo / Photosport
“I haven’t heard anybody talk about the second game,” said Bazeley. “At the moment everyone is focused on Fiji, focused on making sure we get a result in Wellington and we will move on after that. We know we’re the favourites, but we also know it’s a game of football that they’re going to come with strengths and some challenges for us.”
It’s a fine balance for the All Whites. They expect to win and are happy to embrace the expectation without being overconfident.
“The players understand that they have to actually not be complacent in these moments and actually do their jobs,” said Bazeley. “They know that the teams that we face are going to pose some challenges and they have previously when we’ve played against the island teams over the last 10 or 15 years.”
All Whites skipper Chris Wood. Photo / Photosport
At Wednesday’s pre-match press conference, it was a similar message from captain Chris Wood, whose demeanour had noticeably changed from earlier in the week as he switched to game mode.
“It’s a different mindset [to be favourites],” said Wood. “We’re going to face different challenges throughout different teams that we come up against. We know in our history we’ve always had challenges against the island teams and we haven’t overcome them all the time.”
Fiji’s squad are largely domestic, drawn from their biggest clubs. They also have players based in Australia, another from non-league football in England and seven who ply their trade here, including Auckland FC squad member Semi Nabenu. It’s a massive challenge, but their preparation has been extensive, with a pre-selection camp in Fiji before another three-week gathering in Auckland before this match.
In contrast, the All Whites assembled at the last minute, with players still arriving on Wednesday from Europe and the United States and only one training session with the full squad (Thursday).
“We are used to it,” said Bazeley. “It’s challenging – because we don’t get a lot of time with the whole squad together, but it is what it is. We have done this before, preparing for games in short periods. Fiji have had this period to settle and work together, but I don’t think it really puts us off.”
Bazeley’s biggest puzzle is his starting XI, with some key decisions. Despite Alex Paulsen’s impeccable form in the A-League, he is likely to remain loyal to incumbent goalkeeper Max Crocombe, while there are several contenders at centre back.
The holding midfielder alongside Marko Stamenic – either Joe Bell or Alex Rufer - is another question, along with the attacking trio around Chris Wood. Making sure they make the most of Wood’s threat – to engineer enough chances – has been a preoccupation over the past few years and that will continue on Friday night, with the Nottingham Forest striker the focal point of the New Zealand squad.
“It’s our job as a team to try and replicate the service that Chris gets at his club, which is pretty high level,” said Bazeley. “He’s got some good players around him there, but we’ve got some good players in the squad that are up for that challenge and they want to also supply good service for Chris to score goals.”
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.
