New Zealand v Papua New Guinea 
Friday 18 March, 5pm (Local) | Saturday 19 March, 3am (NZ)
Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar

The All Whites finally kick-off their campaign to return to the FIFA World Cup, for the first time in 12 years, in just a few hours’ time. 

The delayed OFC qualifying tournament, held in Qatar, sees eight sides from Oceania battle it out over 14 days with the winners progressing to the Intercontinental Play-Off against the fourth placed side from Concacaf. 

First up for Danny Hay's men are Papua New Guinea. The match will be the first competitive fixture the Kapuls have played for over two years due to the impact of Covid-19. The team have however had an extended training camp in Australia for the three weeks prior to the Oceania Qualifiers so will come into tournament after a much longer build up period than the All Whites. They have also played a number of warm-up games against Australian NPL sides. 


What Danny Hay said about them:

“We know certain players in their team are going to offer genuine threats. New Zealand Football fans will know Tommy Semmy and David Browne, both talented players, very quick, dribblers, very attack minded, unpredictable and can score goals.

“We need to make sure we are very wary of the counterattack and the pace that they offer.”


Likely All Whites Team:

For the first game of the tournament there are 18 players in camp (Matthew Gould, Oli Sail, Nikko Boxall, Francis de Vries, Dane Ingham, Niko Kirwan, Winston Reid, Tommy Smith, Dalton Wilkins, Matthew Garbett, Cam Howieson, Clayton Lewis, Ben Old, Kosta Barbarouses, Joe Champness, Andre de Jong, Logan Rogerson and Ben Waine).

On Thursday, Danny Hay confirmed that Oli Sail would start in goal, making his All Whites debut. There could also be debuts in store for Wellington Phoenix teammates Ben Old and Ben Waine after both impressed as part of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic campaign. 


Key Player To Watch: Tommy Semmy

Followers of the National League will be very familiar with experienced forward Tommy Semmy after a successful spell with Hamilton Wanderers.

The powerful attacker, now playing for Altona Magic SC in Australia’s NPL Victoria, can both score and create and has potential to cause real challenges for opposition defences. 


How To Watch:

In Aotearoa New Zealand you can watch the game live on Sky Sport NZ. 

For the rest of the world visit OFC’s website for broadcaster details. 

Article added: Friday 18 March 2022