Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup.
New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time.
At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts.
Photo: AFP
With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver a World Cup victory.
“That will be our goal if we’re there, to win a game and progress,” the in-form 33-year-old told Radio New Zealand. “It’s the mentality of proving it, and I believe we can. The squad is only getting bigger and better, and moving on to bigger and better clubs. They’re proving around the world that they’re good enough and capable enough of playing in the best leagues in the world.”
Wood is enjoying the best season of his career, hitting 18 goals in the English Premier League, and rubbing shoulders in the scoring charts with Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland.
His exploits have helped propel Forest into third place and if they stay there it would guarantee the Champions League.
Other New Zealanders playing in Europe include Marko Stamenic at Olympiacos in Greece, Tyler Bindon at Reading and Matt Garbett with NAC Breda in the Netherlands.
Next year’s World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico has been expanded to 48 teams, ensuring a team from Oceania will gain automatic qualification.
To seal their place, New Zealand must first beat Fiji on Friday in Wellington before a decisive qualifier against either New Caledonia or Tahiti on Monday next week.
“This team is probably one of the best ones that [we’ve had] in history, but they have to prove that on the pitch to class themselves as one of those. Making a World Cup is the way to do that,” said Wood, who has scored 41 goals in 80 games for New Zealand.
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen (陳凱玲) has become the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after being selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the third and final round of the league's draft yesterday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship on April 6. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament's most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS