March 20 – New Zealand will be sky-high favourites to clinch Oceania’s 2026 World Cup ticket, but in the final round of qualifiers other contenders can secure a playoff berth.
On Friday the third round will reach its climax, with four teams remaining in contention. With home advantage, the All Whites face Fiji in the first semi-final, while New Caledonia meet Tahiti in the other last-four encounter.
New Zealand will be spearheaded by veteran Chris Wood, who has excelled at Nottingham Forest. Having debuted for New Zealand in 2009, the striker has scored a record 38 goals in more than 80 appearances for his nation, including New Zealand’s last four World Cup playoffs – against Bahrain (2009), Mexico (2013), Peru (2017) and Costa Rica (2022).
New Zealand failed to make Doha, but this time Oceania benefits from a direct qualification for the World Cup after FIFA expanded the global finals to 48 teams.
“We’ve got a chance, starting on Friday, to achieve something great and I do believe Oceania should have an automatic entry, since a long time ago, to make it a full World Cup of every continent around the world,” said Wood. “It’s truly a fair way of doing it and our confederation should be represented in some sort of way.”
Fiji are without Roy Krishna, their all-time top scorer and talisman, after he injured his anterior cruciate ligament. However, they are unbeaten in qualifying and will benefit from a three-week training camp together, whereas New Zealand will just have one training session before the semi-final.
The other semi-final is a major opportunity for Tahiti to make amends for their exit in qualifying four years ago and claim a ticket to an intercontinental playoff.
Tahiti head coach Samuel Garcia has always said that has been his side’s big dream to do so and is banking on the Tehau cousins to steer them past New Caledonia. Both sides are outside the top 150 in the FIFA ranking.
Auckland’s Eden Park will stage the final of the region’s World Cup qualifying on March 24.
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