The National Times - Wood hits hat-trick as rampant New Zealand move to brink of World Cup

New Zealand will face 152nd-ranked New Caledonia in Auckland on Monday for a place at the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Wood was subbed off after sealing his treble with just under 30 minutes left and, with the game going on, the Nottingham Forest striker climbed into the stands in Wellington to sign autographs.

A smiling Wood was promptly booked by the referee.

"If that's the rules, that's the rules. Just doing something nice and trying to sign for the fans," said Wood, who has hit 18 goals in the Premier League to fire Forest into the Champions League places.

New Zealand are 89th in the FIFA rankings and red-hot favourites to reach the World Cup for the third time, to go with appearances in 1982 and 2010.

They have never won a match at football's showpiece in six attempts.

There was only ever one team in it against Fiji's amateur side of police officers and construction workers.

Wood is enjoying the best season of his career at age 33 and he nodded in unmarked after six minutes to put New Zealand on their way.

The skipper repeated the trick, all headers, in the 56th and 60th minutes. Wood now has 44 goals in 81 games for his country.

Sarpreet Singh, Tyler Bindon, Tim Payne and Kosta Barbarouses all got in on the act for New Zealand.

"It's all about the team," said Wood. "It was a dominant first half and we kept it going into the second half. The team did really well in that sense."

In the first semi-final of Oceania qualifying, New Caledonia scored three times in the second half for a 3-0 win over fellow minnows Tahiti.

Next year's World Cup has been expanded to 48 teams, meaning direct entry for the team that wins the qualifying competition in Oceania.

The region's top side previously had to go through an intercontinental playoff, with New Zealand falling at the final hurdle to Mexico, Costa Rica and Peru in recent editions.

P.Murphy--TNT