All Whites scoring record falls after tardy start

In the early days of his international career, Chris Wood sometimes wondered where his first goal was coming from.

It’s hard to imagine now, after Wood scored twice in yesterday’s 4-0 win over Fiji to eclipse Vaughan Coveny’s All Whites record of 29 goals.

But it wasn’t plain sailing at the beginning, as Wood didn’t find the net for the All Whites until his 13th match.

Granted, most of those appearances were off the bench but the run of games without a goal played on the mind of the ambitious teenager, who was thrilled to net his first against Honduras in October 2010.

“It was an extremely happy moment; it took me 13 games to get that first one,” Wood told the Herald last year. “So it took a while, even though most of my time was off the bench and that was probably one of my first few starts. But it was good to get off the mark.”

Wood made his debut against Tanzania in June 2009 as a 17-yearold and quickly became established in the squad.

There were appearances in both playoff games with Bahrain in 2009 and the teenager took the field in all three Fifa World Cup games in South Africa, with a longest stint of 27 minutes against Italy, which included a memorable attempt that slid just wide of the post.

By 2012, he was established as New Zealand’s first-choice striker, with five goals in five games in the ill-fated Nations Cup campaign in Honiara.

Wood has been prolific against the Island nations (17 goals) but has also scored readily outside that sphere and is so often the man for the big occasion.

Since 2014, the All Whites have found the net 21 times against non-Oceania opposition, with Wood scoring 10 of those goals (the ratio becomes 10 of 16 if the four games he didn’t feature in are excluded).

That tally includes New Zealand’s only goal at the 2017 Confederations Cup (against Mexico) and important strikes against China and Oman.

When asked yesterday about his favourite goals, he nominated the brace against Japan in Tokyo in May 2014 in front of almost 50,000 people.

“[They] always stick in my mind, even though it was a 4-2 drubbing,” said Wood, “I kind of like those ones. But I love all my goals. I don’t care if they’re tap-ins, I take them as they come and I really enjoy them.”

His commitment to the national cause has become legendary, almost never missing a game despite highpressure club roles in England, particularly with Leeds, Burnley and now Newcastle.

Despite arriving in Qatar only days before the Fiji match, after a tough match against Everton at Goodison Park last Friday, Wood never considered missing the game.

“Definitely not,” said Wood. “You know what I’m like, I want to be there, I want to be playing every game I can.”

Coach Danny Hay admitted he tried to persuade Wood to ease his way into the tournament.

“He has to try and hold me back at times,” said Wood. “I love playing for my national team but I could be a bit more sensible now I’m getting to an older age.”

Coveny said he was thrilled for Wood.

“He deserves everything he gets and I’m so happy for him,” Coveny told Newstalk ZB. “I was the first one to message him to congratulate him and I hope he goes on and scores many more.”