The men’s national team ended the group stage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Oceania Qualifiers in style, beating New Caledonia 7-1 in Doha. 

Goals from Alex Greive (8’, 45+2’), Logan Rogerson (35’), Andre de Jong (75’), Bill Tuiloma (81’) and Chris Wood (83’, 89’) secured the biggest win for the team in 18 years. 

In a much changed side, Swansea City’s Jamie Searle made his All Whites debut in goal. One of nine changes from the previous game, Nikko Boxall, Tim Payne, Matt Garbett, Cam Howieson, Callum McCowatt, Joe Champness, Logan Rogerson and Alex Greive all were introduced. Francis de Vries and Tommy Smith were the only players retained from the win over Fiji, with Smith captaining the side on his 45th appearance. 

On his starting debut, Alex Greive the star of the show and voted Player of the Match by OFC. His constant running and energy in the first half saw the St Mirren forward source twice, firstly converting a Joe Champness cross and second receiving a long ball from Tommy Smith and putting it past the keeper. He also won the first half penalty converted by Logan Rogerson. 

The second half saw the introduction of Joe Bell, Liberato Cacace and Bill Tuiloma for the first time this tournament, as well as Chris Wood coming off the bench fresh from breaking the men’s all-time goal scoring record in the previous game. 

Four goals came in the closing fifteen minutes of the game, including two more for Wood to take him to eight in seven games for the All Whites since October. 

Post-game Danny Hay complimented his sides application in getting the win:

“I thought the way we started the game was really good. Some of the passages of play were we were patient in moving the ball were excellent… 

“We just base ourselves on the performance. We aren’t worried about the scorelines at the moment. Obviously we want to win, that’s a given, but it’s more around the standards we set ourselves and the type of performance we put out there.”

Next up the team will face Tahiti in the semi-finals on Monday 28 March at 6:30am (NZ)

New Zealand 7 (Alex Greive 8’, 45+2’, Logan Rogerson 35’, Andre de Jong 75’, Bill Tuiloma 81’ and Chris Wood 83’, 89’)
New Caledonia 1 (Jean-Philippe Saïko 12’)
 

Article added: Friday 25 March 2022