Oceania Football Center

Oceanians take part in Brazil vs. Argentina clash

The most important clash of the world football was played once again, this time the Superclassico played between the giants Brazil and Argentina was played in Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh. The game that stars as Lionel Messi and Alisson play had three Oceania members that were crucial for the game: the referees.

The New Zealanders Matthew Conger, Mark Rule and the Tongan Tevita Makasini helped the clash to work correctly. The star commentator Galvão Bueno from Brazil stated that he was worried with the referee coming from a nation that does not have much tradition in the world football – New Zealand, but Conger and his assistants proved the Brazilian journalist was wrong.

Matthew Conger was the referee of Brazil vs Argentina friendly

Conger has experience of refeering in U20 World Cup and as well the FIFA World Cup – in 2018 edition he officiated the match between Iceland and Nigeria. Conger is known as the best football referee currently in New Zealand. The assistants referees Mark Rule and Tevita Makasini also both have experience of being at the biggest football tournament in the world.

A imagem pode conter: 6 pessoas, pessoas em pé — Conger (center), Makasini (far right) and Rule (far left) in the Brazil vs Argentina match – *AFA Media*

Matthew Conger shown six yellow cards to players as Casemiro and Leandro Paredes but the most important actions come just early in the match when at the 10th minute he appointed to the penalty spot in favour of Brazil after a foul of Paredes on Gabriel Jesus. The Manchester City striker step up but did not find the nets sending the ball out of target. Three minutes later Juventus full back Alexsandro fouled star Lionel Messi inside area and another penalty was awarded, but this time for Argentina. Messi took the penalty himself but he was denied by Liverpool and Seleção stopper Alisson, but in the rebound the Barcelona FC legend made no mistake and scored the goal that separated both teams giving his side a 1-0 victory.

According to Brazilian TV, both penalties were awarded correctly by the Oceanian referees. The only mistake according to them was in the first half when Messi fouled Chelsea star William tackling him from behind when the winger was clearly in a counter-attack move – Conger only talked to the Argentinian but did not show a yellow card to the Argentina captain.

It was a very good match for the referees that can show Oceania has top quality members in this part of the game ready to step up in the big stages of football worldwide.

Hienghène Sport looks for more glories now in Coupe de France

🇫🇷 Ici en Français 🇫🇷

The dream of Hienghène Sport will continue: the club won the 2019 edition of Coupe de Calédonie after beating 5-3 AS Lössi in the grand final match. The trophy was not the only prize they received for their succes, a spot in the 7th round of the Coupe de France is also something to be celebrated.

Every French overseas territories have the right to enter one team in the 7th round of the Coupe de France – this time and for the third time in their history Hienghène Sport will be the representant of New Caledonia. As in its first appearance in the Coupe de France, Hienghène travels to France to play against the 5th tier side AS Pierrots Vauban Strasbourg – a good challenge for the current OFC Champions League champions that is also in preparation for the FIFA Clubs World Cup to be played in the December.

A win for Hienghène in France will be huge for them and for New Caledonian football history since they can proceed to the eight round of the Cup. Hienghène won all the tournaments they took part in the 2019 season – the OFC Champions League, Coupe de Calédonie and most recently the New Caledonia football top-tier, Mobil Super Ligue.

It is also an important milestone for the football in the region; the last time a team from any OFC French territories – New Caledonia and Tahiti – proceeded to the next stage of Coupe de France was AS Magenta in 2010/11 season when they won Dunkerque in the penalty shootout. The last time a team from Tahiti won a match in Coupe de France was also in the penalty shootout – AS Tefana did so in 2008/09 season.

Hienghène celebrates the success in Coupe de Calédonie – OFC Media

After completing the treble last weekend, Hienghène plays in Coupe de France this Saturday in France and already Sunday in New Caledonia; the match will be livestreamed by Nouvelle-calédonie la 1ère at 3am NCT.

Workshop in Nouméa discussed football development in OFC region

OFC Futsal Nations Cup was held in Nouméa, New Caledonia, between 27 October and 2 November. But it was not the only event that took place in Nouméa by that time. OFC Member Associations Technical Directors and General Secretaries also met in Nouméa between 24 and 29 October for a workshop to discuss matters related to football development in the region. It was the last stage of the course gathering the Technical Directors and General Secretaries of Oceanian FIFA members.

The main objective of the workshops was to identify the roles and missions of each person within the structures and to optimize the organizations to help in the football’s development in Oceania. The main points were: Objectives to be achieved within a federation as part of a global strategy and the means to stimulate an internal professional culture and thus optimize the structure and operations of each association.

FIFA officials and representants of every FIFA member in Oceania. Source: OFC Media

FIFA is bringing these workshops to the region to improve staff across the fields of good governance, accountability and transparency, things that usually are not good in Oceanian countries when it comes to football organization.

OFC Technical Director, Patrick Jacquement highlighted that the workshops are fundamental steps towards football development in the OFC region as there is a lot of progress that has been made in the region through last years. Jacquement pointed that the future is promising for Oceania if both the technical directors and general secretaries work together for the advancement of football in the member associations.

FIFA official Gareth Jennings stated that both the technical director and general secretary play a vital role in developing the game in the region and they both need to complement each other in every member associations of FIFA.

Exciting matches in the third round of ISPS Handa Premiership

The New Zealand football top-tier third matchweek will have some very exciting matches as the Wel Classico – Team Wellington vs Wellington Phoenix Reservers – and a very interesting clash between Hamilton Wanderers and Auckland City at John Kerkhof Park, in Cambrigde.

After a very hard match in the last weekend between the two rivals Team Wellington and Auckland City, both sides are hoping to recover from the draw they had and keep running into the top places in the table. Coach Jose Figueira said to New Zealand Football it is really really early to make predictions in the season and the team need to focus on each challenge they will be having.

The matches of the third matchweek in ISPS Handa Premiership and current table of the league – *NZF Media*

Hamilton Wanderers bounced back from their harsh defeat in the season opener against Team Wellington with a convincing 3-0 win against the current title holders Eastern Suburbs. Jake Butler, Tommy Semmy and Derek Tieku scored the goals of the team in their victory. Auckland City fought hard to find an equalizer against Team Wellington through the new signing Logan Rogerson and will really need to grab a good result to keep well in the run when they travel to Cambridge.

The current leader of the league, the young and surprising Waitakere United, will go back to Seddon Fields to face Canterbury United. Both sides won their matches last week and are expecting a good result. Waitakere expects another good performance from Alex Connor-McLean that scored a brace in their win against Tasman United. Canterbury won Southern United in Chirstchurch with a late goal from their number 10 Reece Dalton that will not be playing this match. The Dragons deposit their hopes on their captain Tom Scharwz and the veteran midfielder Aaron Clapham to get all points in their trip to Auckland.

Hawke’s Bay United conceded three goals in five minutes in the final moments of their last match against Wellington Phoenix Reservers – but it was not enough to complete the stun since Dylan Sacramento scored a hat-trick and Ahinga Selemani netted once for their side to win by 4-3. Despite their first win the season, there is a red alert for HBU for suffering a lot in the final minutes of the clash. Tasman United is still to score in the competition and already suffered six goals – the side from Nelson is at the bottom of the standings and they really need a good result to recover in the table. Tasman recently signed the defender Cory Brown that has experience in US College system and hope he can be decisive for the team based in Nelson. The strikers Jama Boss and Jean-Philippe Saiko can also be instrumental to Tasman recovery.

Hawke’s Bay United players celebrate one of their goals against Wellington Phoenix Reservers – *NZF Media*

After winning by 4-0 in their first match of the season, Southern United could not hold their 1-0 lead against Canterbury United and suffered a comeback – losing by 2-1. Getting back to Dunedin, Southern will look to their key players Joel Stevens and Garbhan Coughlan to face Eastern Suburbs. The Lilywhites suffered a harsh defeat against Hamilton Wanderers after winning in the first round and will see their key striker Martin Bueno looking for his first goal of the season in Dunedin.

The Wel Classico has certainly Team Wellington as the favourites for the derby. The young side of Wellington Phoenix is still to secure a point after losing to Waitakere United and Hawkes’s Bay. Team Wellington playing at home stadium David Farrington Park will be counting with the prolific goalscorer Hamish Watson that already scored three times in the league including one well taken penalty kick in the previous match against rivals Auckland City.

Hamish Watson (center) scored three goals for Team Wellington in the current season – *NZF Media*

The Wellington clash will be the telecasted match of the week – SkySport will be the telecaster of the match in the Sunday at 2pm NZT.

L’ As Venus c’est enfin prete pour le 7eme tour de Coupe de France

🇬🇧 Here in English 🇬🇧

Enfin on y est. On attendait ce match il ya 3 semain. Maintenant c’est ici. Le match le plus important de cette saison en Polynesie c’est là. L’As Venus, le Champion de Polynesie 2018/2019 et actuel premier au classement de la Ligue Vini 1 2019/20210, a fait une bonne preparation au match. La conditione climatique etè tres bonne et il y a eu serenitè e bonne confiance parmi de l’equipe. L’As Venus va jouer au contrataque comme d’habitude quand il rencontre des equipes come Besançon.

Ici en peut voir le dernier service de France 1 – Polynesie sur la preparation a le match du 7eme tour de Coupe de France entre l’AS Venus e le FC Racing Besançon. Le match va etre en direct sur le meme France 1 – Polynesie ce samedi 16/11 a partir de 16h.

En souhaite a l’As Venus de passè ce 7eme tour!

Solomon Warriors looks up to increase their lead in Telekom S-League

This Telekom S-League season is coming to its end and the fights are becoming even more specific once things become to be decided in the league. Solomon Warriors and Henderson Eels are fighting for the title with a slight advantage for Warriors after Eels’ draw against Kossa last weekend. Scroll down and check the preview of this weekend’s matches!

LAUGU UNITED vs KOSSA

An important match for both teams! Laugu and Kossa are tied in the table with 13 points each and a win may take the winner to the third position in the league. Kossa won Laugu by 2-0 in their last meeting and both teams have added some good players for the second round of the season and this match is going to be very exciting for those who are coming to watch it at Lawson Tama Stadium.

“It is another big game for us. Laugu has some new players and it will be an interesting match” said Kossa goalkeeper Phillip Mango. “We are very motivated […] there were some fails in the preparation but we are ready.” said Adrian Mara.

Kossa drew against Henderson Eels last weekend by 1-1 in the return of some players and the coach Viv Wickham that were representing Solomon Islands in the U17 World Cup that was held in Brazil.

Laugu is not going to count on Michael Sira. The 27 years old defender is suspended and is going to miss this match. He talked to Oceania Football Center about his worries for this weekend’s game: “They worked very hard this week to face Kossa and we hope to give them a good game. We do not have well experienced defenders for this match except Allen Peter. Our defenders are very young but we have very good forwards”.

Talking about forwards, Laugu scored 17 goals in the league so far and eight were scored by Atkin Kaua. “It is a game that will test our character […] It is going to be a tough encounter for us given the experience that Kossa has in the league. However we have a unit which I believe can cause upset to any team in the league.” said Kaua.

Kossa and Laugu opens this round. Source: Laugu United FC Media

SOLOMON WARRIORS vs MALAITA KINGS

Solomon Warriors is currently leading the league with 25 points in nine matches. They are the only team that remains unbeaten in this S-League season. They are going to face Malaita Kings that lost in the midweek for Isabel United by 1-0 in a match that marked the debut of Nigel Dabinyaba that came from Papua New Guinea to strengthen the team for the second round of the league.

Dabinyaba is not the only player from PNG that plays for Kings: Emmanuel Simon and Michael Foster are also playing there, They arrived in the beginning of the season and they are the pillars of the team – “We (players from PNG) talk to the other players all the time because most of them are young and inexperient.” said Simon – “We know that Solomon Warriors are the best team in the league so everyone needs to push hard if we want a good result” he complemented.

“Every team want to beat us […] We treat every game like a final” said Warriors’ player Dennis Ifunaoa.

Solomon Warriors has the best attack of the league scoring 46 goals so far. Their powerful attack is even stronger for the second half of the season with Benjamin Totori and Dennis Ifunaoa arrivals. “Our defense should not allow space” stated Simon.

Henderson Eels are crossing their fingers wishing a Warriors’ draw or lose against Malaita Kings. On the other hand, Laugu United and Kossa are looking at these match because they can jump to the third position in the table if Kings lose.

Solomon Warriors players. Source: S-League media

HENDERSON EELS vs MARIST

Marist is having such a disappointing season standing in the seventh place of the table with eleven points in nine matches while Henderson Eels is in the second position just three points behind Solomon Warriors.

Both teams need to win to keep their expectations alive: Eels drew against Kossa last weekend and they need to win if they want to keep up with Warriors in the title race. Marist is living such a bad moment in the league and they really need to make some points in order to keep up with other teams to fight for the third position.

“We step up the intensity of training this week in preparation for this match. We took the positives of last match and work our weaknesses to improve team performance […] All players are injury Free!” said Eels’ coach Eddie Marahare.

Last match marked the debut of Raphael Lea’i for Henderson Eels. The 17 years old forward adds more quality to Eels’ attack and he can be a real threat for Marist defense. Will he score his first goal for Eels this weekend?

Raphael Lea’i playing for Eels against Kossa. Source: S-League media

REAL KAKAMORA vs ISABEL UNITED

Isabel United is back to pitch to face Real Kakamora after beating Malaita Kings by 1-0 in a midweek match. Currently in the sixth position, Isabel is the clear favourite to win this match to keep up with other teams to fight for the third position in the league – “We have some new players so we worked more on the team’s combination this week. The win against Malaita Kings really boasted the team’s morale.” said Isabel’s player Jordan Lea’alafa. Real Kakamora is the only team that still did not win in the league and it does not seem that they are going to win this weekend. “Most of us are playing the S-League for the first time” said Lonzy Dalton, a 19 years old player from Real Kakamora.

Anyway Isabel United is totally focused and prepared for this match – “Our team officials insisted that we need to improve and minimize our mistakes. So we have been working on sharpen things up in preparation for this weekend’s match.” stated Lea’Alafa.

Isabel United starting eleven against Malaita Kings. Source: S-League media

Guadalcanal is in a bye week. Oceania Football Center wishes good luck to all teams!

Ifira Black Bird and Tafea fight for top place in Port Vila Premier League

Port Vila Premier League is arriving to its sixth gameweek and there will be some important matches this weekend, including a huge clash of titans between Tafea and Ifira Black Bird on this Friday. Scroll down and read Oceania Football Center’s preview for this round!

Tafea vs Ifira Black Bird

The most important match of the league so far happens this Friday. Tafea and Ifira Black Bird are currently sharing the first position of the league table with eleven points each. Despite being a very promising and balanced clash Ifira BB might be considered the favourites because Tafea is going to have many absent players for this match. Waiwo Kalmet, Lucien Hinge and Allista Kalip are suspended, Eddison Stephens is injured and will probably miss today’s match. Some other players will also miss this game because of work commitments. “The team will have to deal with all the absent players, it is an opportunity for the young players to prove themselves.” said Tafea’s manager Robert Calvo. Anyway Ifira Black Bird players are aware that they need to focus on the game “That is the 90 minutes who tells the winner” said Ifira BB player Johnathan Spokeyhack. This clash is also very important for Erakor Golden Star because they may end the weekend as league leaders depending on the results of this round.

Ifira Black Bird players against Tupuji Imere

Yatel vs Erakor Golden Star

Yatel comes from three straight draws and they now face a strong Erakor Golden Star that is still unbeaten. This match is very important for both teams. Depending on the weekend results, Yatel may overtake Tupuji and Erakor may take the lead of the Premier League – “We are looking at that. Their game will be tough” said Erakor’s coach Kalo Noel Benjamin. Just like Tafea, Erakor is going to have some important players missing this match. “Our defensive midfielder Eli Thomas is suspended and Jackson Tasso is not recovered from injury yet” stated Benjamin. With Tasso’s absence, Jesse Kalopong must be the team’s captain. Yatel is showing they can be a competitive side in the league and they might be a good challenge for Erakor.

Erakor Golden Star players against Ifira Black Bird

Sia Raga vs Mauwia

Sia-Raga did not lose the last two matches against Galaxy and Yatel and they probably will not lose to Mauwia this weekend. Nevertheless they know it is necessary to play seriously against Mauwia if they want to take the three points home – “We are looking forward for another win this Saturday […] Every team is still in the chase for points.” said Sia-Raga’s assistant coach Vaagahu Harper. Sia-Raga is another team that is suffering with injuries this season but they have some players back for this clash – “We have some injured players that played against Galaxy FC which did not join the team that played Yatel FC but they are ready now.” said Harper. “Our preparation went well this week and we added much more physical work to our game which we are planning to use this Saturday” he complemented.

Galaxy vs Tupuji Imere

Galaxy did not win their last three games and they really need to recover if they still want to keep up with the leaders. Current league’s top scorer Kensi Tangis is still injured and may not play against Tupuji Imere. On the other hand Tupuji has some good news: The return of Azariah Soromon and Alex Saniel. Soromon is back to the team after representing Vanuatu at OFC Futsal Nations Cup held in New Caledonia while Alex Saniel is back from New Zealand. The return of these two players adds a lot of power to Tupuji’s attack – “We expect a very tough game but with the help of Azariah and Alex Saniel I think we will try our very best as a team to get these three points” said Tupuji’s player Elkington Molivakarua. Will Tupuji win to get closer to other teams in the table or Galaxy will take home the three points? We will check it on Saturday!

Galaxy players against Erakor Golden Star

Twelve must become eight in delayed Papua New Guinea NSL

FC Bougainville in training earlier today. They are one of twelve teams looking to secure a place in the eight-team NSL this season. Photo: FC Bougainville.

Details finally emerged this morning regarding the upcoming 2019/20 season of Papua New Guinea’s flagship competition, the National Soccer League, which will now start two weeks later than originally intended, on Saturday 30th November.

Several local fans had expressed their frustration on Facebook at the lack of transparency that the competition organisers had shown, with the original start date, this Saturday the 16th, just around the corner, and no word from the board as to which teams would be taking part.

There have been unconfirmed reports that the four semi-finalists from the previous season didn’t receive their prize money straight after the final (and may yet still require payment), and that the NSL board still hasn’t received the full payments from all the participating clubs from the 2019 season. This has led some commenters criticising those unknown, un-paying clubs as having been on a ‘joyride’ for the season.

However, despite a slight delay, these accusations don’t seem to have affected preparations for the upcoming season, with a report from the PNGFA website this morning revealing the new, deferred date, as well as the twelve teams who have registered their interest for the eight-team Premier Competition.

This means that it is likely that four teams will miss out on entering the competition, with the NSL secretariat confirming that teams had to jump through three hoops in order to be accepted: to submit an expression of interest (EOI), which all twelve teams have done; to submit a receipt of their initial payment, which five clubs have done; and to submit their final 30-player team list for the competition, which only two clubs have done.

While it is unclear as to which teams have done what, it was revealed which teams were in contention, and there are some familiar faces as well as some newcomers:

Eight-time champions Hekari United, coached by Solomon Islanders Jerry Allen, and reigning five-time champions Lae City FC, will surely contest the upper echelons of the league table if they get their documentation in on time, while there will be some stiff competition from veterans Morobe United and Eastern Stars should they make the final cut. Potential returning teams from last year include Gulf Komara FC, FC Bougainville, Morobe Wawens, Central United, Star Mountain and Tusbab Stallions, while there are two new clubs under consideration: Port Moresby Strikers, who may have some sort of affiliation with last season’s Southern Strikers, and Vitiaz United, who could well be under the same management as the club which just secured promotion to the top tier of football in Port Moresby.

Perhaps surprisingly, there doesn’t appear to be an entry from West Tribe FC, who have been making noises on their Facebook page about the upcoming season, and to the disappointment of many, it doesn’t look like Madang FC will be making a comeback any time soon. Furthermore, the under-20 side of Besta PNG United, which has taken part in the last ten seasons, is also nowhere to be seen.

As yet, there is no further news about the Conference Competition and the Women’s Competition.

Is Phoenix missing their key men?

After many seasons struggling, Wellington Phoenix could finally have a season to make their fans happy. The 2018/19 season of the A-League, the Australian top-tier where the New Zealand-based club play, saw the Phoenix to end inside the playoff zone in the 6th place. It is true they lost to Melbourne Victory in the first round by 3-1, but since the 2014/15 season the Nix did not took part of the decisive part of the A-League season.

The newly appointed coach Mark Rudan rebuilt the team from the goal to attack: Filip Kurto was the best goalkeeper of the league, the English defender Steven Taylor was crucial for the team, Sarpreet Singh was vital in the midfield while David Williams and Roy Krishna were lethal in the attack. Together the Fijian Flyer and Williams scored 32 goals for Wellington Phoenix.

Roy Krishna celebrates his goal against the Newcastle Jets, which made him the club's joint all-time leading scorer. — Krishna was the best player of A-League last season – *Photosport*

The season ended and the Rudan Revolution seemed to not really give a longer outcome: under polemics the coach announced he would be leaving Phoenix after the end of the season – not honouring his contract of two years. Alongside Rudan, former Phoenix captain Andrew Durante, the goalkeeper of the year Filip Kurto and the midfielder Max Burgess left to their new club: Western United, the debutants in the A-League. They already won three of their five starting matches in the campaign sitting second in the laddar, while Phoenix is at the bottom of the table.

Sarpreet Singh departed to the German powerhouse Bayern Munich and already played friendly matches for the first team. Singh was instrumental in the good campaign of Phoenix, but surely the big miss for the fans are the deadly duo Krishna and Williams. Both of the them are now playing their club football in the Indian Super League for the ATK club.

Krishna and Williams already scored three goals each in the first four matches of the team in the season. The duo seems to keep working very well, but now miles and miles away from Wellington.

Phoenix is still waiting for his biggest signing of season to get completely fit; Gary Hooper, despite already scoring for Wellington, missed most of the game time due injury concerns. The club just got one point from 15 in the start of the A-League 2019/20 and is already five points away from the playoff qualifying zone.

Nix needs to find their best form in their next matches if they want to recover from this very bad start of the season and they already may have in mind the firepower they had in the previous season will not be with them for this task. Despite of the bad results, the performances were not so bad – the goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic is showing his pedigree of European experience, but much of this comes from a fragile defensive system that already conceded nine goals. The Mexican import Ulises Davila scored three goals in the competiton so far and the promising forwards Ben Waine and Callum McCowatt are really impressing in their first matches defending Phoenix colours.

There is surely room for improvement, but Phoenix needs clearly need to forget the success of the past and focus on what Hooper, Davila, Ball and the team can bring for them.

After 525 days All Whites are back to action

It took several months but finally the New Zealand National Football Team will be back in action. They will travel to Europe to face Ireland and Lithuania playing in these respective countries. The last time New Zealand played an official match was in 7th June, 2018 – exactly 525 days space from this match and when they will enter the pitch to face Ireland – when they won India by 2-1 with goals from Andre de Jong and Moses Dyer. New Zealand made an alternative call-up for this friendly tournament played in India, where they won Chinese Taipei, India and lost to Kenya. Experienced players as Chris Wood, Marco Rojas and Michael Boxall did not play in the International Cup, as the competition was called.

Much things have changed from this date: Fritz Schimid, the Swiss coach of the All Whites, resigned from his position after coaching the national team for only four matches. The New Zealand federation took some time but decided to give the place to the former Leeds United, Walsall and All Whites defender Danny Hay. Hay was the coach of Eastern Suburbs that won the last edition of ISPS Handa Premiership, breaking the alternate dominance of Auckland City and Team Wellington.

Resultado de imagem para Danny Hay — Danny Hay when appointed as new All Whites head coach – *NZ Herald*

Hay is having in his side the former Waitakere United partner and winner of OFC Champions League Neil Emblem. Emblem also had experience coaching the OlyWhites and will took part in an important role in New Zealand Football staff. Another important appointment is the former All Whites forward Rory Fallon as assistant coach. Fallon has plenty of experience of playing in Scottish and English football, also took part in the last World Cup appearance of New Zealand in 2010 – Fallon scored the winning goal against Bahrain that qualified the All Whites for their second time to a FIFA World Cup.

The squad called up for these friendly matches has seven possible debutants: Nando Pijnaker, Elliot Collier, Callum McCowatt, Max Mata, Elijah Just, Joe Bell and James McGarry. You can check the full squad of the All Whites here. The absence of the Sydney FC striker Kosta Barbarouses will be certainly the biggest miss for New Zealand – the player decided to focus in his matches in A-League since he signed recently for Sydney FC after departing Melbourne Victory.

The best news for New Zealand and Oceania football fans is that Winston Reid and Ryan Thomas are back to football. After very serious knee injuries, both of them were out of football for more than one year. Reid is not yet completely fit for first team football in his club West Ham, while Thomas already debut after injury in Eredivisie giants PSV.

The All Whites main striker Chris Wood is just four goals away from the all-time top scorer of the national team: Vaughan Coveny scored 28 times for the country and Wood already scored 24. Chris has still plenty of time to surpass the record since he is still 27 years old. Currently he is tied in the second position of the records alongside former Wellington Phoenix, Sydney FC and Perth Glory striker Shane Smeltz – one goal he scores for his side will make him the undisputed 2nd all time top-scorer for his country.

Resultado de imagem para Chris Wood new zealand — Chris Wood is four goals away the record – *The Indepedent*

The Burnley striker will be playing against three teammates when he enters the pitch in Dublin to face Ireland: Jeff Hendrick, Robbie Brady and Kevin Long. The Irish side is mainly composed by Premier League and Championship players – a very good test for this mixed of young and experienced players of the New Zealand side.

New Zealand will also feature some young promising players and one of them is rising star Sarpreet Singh, recently signed by Bayern FC coming from a very good season at Wellington Phoenix. Various players of the good generation that played this year at U20 World Cup were called up: the defenders Nando Pijnaker and Liberato Cacace, the goalkeeper Michael Woud, the midfielders Elijah Just and Joe Bell and the forwards Max Mata and Callum McCowatt.

The team also have players with more than 30 caps for the national team: the experienced defenders Tommy Smith and Michael Boxall, both playing today in MLS, the midfielder Marco Rojas who recently departed Netherlands to play in Danish Superligaen and the veteran Central Coast Mariners midfielder Michael McGlinchey that holds 53 caps for the national team.

The full back Louis Fenton had a shoulder injury when playing for Wellington Phoenix in A-League; he was replaced by his teammate Tim Payne in the call-up. This was the only injury miss of the team Danny Hay called for the two friendly matches.

Resultado de imagem para Sarpreet Singh — Sarpreet Singh will look to keep impressing – *Bundesliga*

Certainly it will be two important matches for New Zealand; especially for having a new coach in charge and after so much time without action. Ireland is without a doubt the most qualified team New Zealand will face in their tour to Europe. Lithuania comes from five defeats in a row in their last win was against Armenia in March, 2018 in a friendly. Despite these bad records, Lithuania played against World Cup teams as Serbia and Portugal – oppositions level New Zealand does not play against so often – and they can also be an interest test to measure the what this new team of Danny Hay can do when they are theorically favourites for a win.

New Zealand begins their new run next Friday – 15th November – against Ireland at 8:45am NZT. The match against Lithunia will kick-off at 3am NZT in the Monday – both matches being telecasted by SkySport.