Reid plays safe with injury At a glance
The All Whites had no fresh injury concerns emerge from their final warmup friendly ahead of their World Cup qualifying playoff against Costa Rica.
But there was one picked up the night before their scoreless draw with Oman in Qatar yesterday.
Captain Winston Reid was said to have a ‘‘sore groin’’ by coach Danny Hay, who added that it was a case of tightness, rather than a strain.
‘‘He’s confident that he’s going to be right,’’ Hay said of Reid, looking forward to the win-or-bust playoff in Doha on Tuesday (kickoff 6am Wednesday, NZ time).
the young players. But they’re on a journey of developing as individuals and as a collective and I think, for me, that’s probably the most exciting thing.’’
That journey reaches a critical point this week with the playoff against Costa Rica, where up to six of the players born 1999 and later could be in line to start with a third World Cup appearance at stake.
The tournament is set to expand from 32 teams to 48 in 2026 and as a result, the top team from the Oceania region will automatically qualify, meaning the days of having to beat teams like Costa Rica to make it will be over. There will also be a place in a last-chance qualifying tournament on offer for the region’s second-placed team, giving the All Whites a safety net if their dominance in the Pacific ended.
The prospect of direct entry in
In Qatar: All Whites 0 Oman 0. HT: 0-0.
There was a positive sight on the injury front against Oman, as Bill Tuiloma started at centre back after suffering a groin niggle of his own in the All Whites’ 1-0 loss to Peru in Barcelona last weekend, where he came off in the second half in what Hay called ‘‘a precautionary measure’’.
Hay said ‘‘it wasn’t the greatest performance we’ve ever had, but that said, I think everybody’s got half an eye, if not a full eye, if not two eyes on Costa Rica’’.
four years’ time, when the players aged between 19 and 23 at present will be in their primes, has led some to view this campaign as valuable preparation for then, as much as an attempt to make it in the here and now, but Hay isn’t one of them.
Undoubtedly thinking of someone like Ryan Thomas, who was set to kick on around the time of the last intercontinental playoff, but has since had his career devastated by injury, as well as the challenges of turning potential into a club career at the highest level, like senior figures Winston Reid and Chris Wood have done in England, Hay says it’s ‘‘too easy’’ to look at their current campaign as a small part of a bigger picture.
‘‘There’s so much that can happen in the footballing world. That’s why we’re looking at the present.’’