Good read on what likely lies ahead in 2022.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/127021088/what-we-know-and-what-we-dont-about-the-all-whites-heading-into-a-world-cup-year
It can be easy to get caught up in how players in lower-tier leagues and age-group football in Europe are getting selected ahead of those playing first-team football down under. But the key is the individual players themselves, their ability, and how they fit into what the All Whites are trying to do. Playing as much as possible at the best possible level remains the aim, but it’s not the be all and end all.
Fixtures
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/127021088/what-we-know-and-what-we-dont-about-the-all-whites-heading-into-a-world-cup-year
It can be easy to get caught up in how players in lower-tier leagues and age-group football in Europe are getting selected ahead of those playing first-team football down under. But the key is the individual players themselves, their ability, and how they fit into what the All Whites are trying to do. Playing as much as possible at the best possible level remains the aim, but it’s not the be all and end all.
Fixtures
The All Whites are hoping to have two matches in the January international window, which is only for teams outside Europe and was added when the Covid-19 pandemic forced the postponement of World Cup qualifiers in 2020. It is understood Asian opponents are most likely, though there are a number of African countries ranked inside the top 100 by Fifa that are also available.
After that will come Oceania qualifying for next year’s World Cup, which is set to take place in Qatar – the controversial host of the actual World Cup – in March. Beyond that, there are no details available four months out, something that has become a source of frustration for Hay and his staff.
The hope was for an eight-team tournament over a period of 16 to 18 days, featuring a three-match group stage, semifinals, and a final, which would mean getting players released from their clubs for twice as long as during a normal nine-day international window. If a tournament was to run that long without an extension of the window, the All Whites would be impacted more severely than their rivals. A compromise could be to extend the window by a day, as has been done for other regions, and go from eight teams to one across three days of knockout fixtures, but that increases the risk of one bad day – or a bad refereeing decision – having an outsized impact. Hopefully there will be clarity soon.