All Whites to play against Peru in Europe before World Cup playoff

The All Whites believe they have found the perfect opponents to play in the lead-up to the intercontinental playoff after securing a game against the team that beat them for a place at the World Cup in the last one.

New Zealand Football has confirmed the men’s national team will play a friendly against Peru in Barcelona on June 5, 10 days before they are scheduled to face Costa Rica in a single-leg knockout game in Doha.

The All Whites fell at the final hurdle during the last World Cup cycle, losing 2-0 on aggregate to Peru when they met over home and away legs in 2017 after they survived with a 0-0 draw from the first game in Wellington.

This time, the Oceania champions will play Costa Rica, the fourth-placed qualifiers from North and Central America and the Caribbean, in a one-off game staged on neutral territory to determine which nation goes through to the World Cup.

Peru will also need to navigate the intercontinental playoff format in order to qualify for the World Cup in NovemberDecember after failing to secure automatic qualification by finishing fifth in South America.

They have been drawn to face the winner of Australia and the United Arab Emirates in the other playoff game between on June 14.

All Whites coach Danny Hay said the Peru game, to be played at RCDE Stadium,

‘‘We don’t often get to play a team ranked as high as them, 22 in the world, so it’s going to be a really good challenge.’’

Danny Hay

All Whites coach

the home of La Liga club Espanyol, was the perfect warm-up for both teams.

They are ranked 22nd in the world, nine places higher than Costa Rica.

‘‘We’re quite fortunate that with Aussie being a potential opponent for them, they wanted to play someone that is like-for-like and we’re probably as close to Australia as you can get, so a number of things have worked in our favour,’’ Hay said.

‘‘We don’t often get to play a team ranked as high as them, 22 in the world, so it’s going to be a really good challenge.

‘‘We want to really find out our strengths and weaknesses and find out how courageous we can be in and out of possession and we’re going to find that out against a side of the quality of Peru.

‘‘There’s also a bit of history there from 2018 with another exciting factor. So many of the players from the Peru side that we faced back then are still part of the current squad.’’

The All Whites will be without midfielder Ryan Thomas for the intercontinental playoff after he was ruled out due to an ongoing knee injury, having not played any competitive football for the last six months.

NZ Football has lined up another game, to be played in Doha on June 10, before the All Whites take on Costa Rica but it is still working to finalise an opponent.

Hay said there were a ‘‘couple of options’’ on the table.