Depends a bit I reckon on whether Thomas is available or not. Different positions yes, but I think that's who Smith would be squeezed out by from the March window, ie 4 CBs not 5.
Also the availability of Surman might be under a cloud. AWs games are 8th & 11th of June.
Portland have a game scheduled for the 9th. Potentially again a tough choice for Surman as obviously he wants to keep his starting spot at the Timbers.
Boxall's Minny ain't playing over the June window.
The goal keeper battle is what really interests me, Max is the number 1 (in mine and baze opinion) but BA looks like they could get relegated, and Nik who was doing great for north Hampton still got dropped, to have a chance (in my opinion) at a World Cup spot and starting they need to be atleast L1 ALM or higher and playing, if Alex does go to Hibs next season and is the starter do Auckland stick with woud pushing him forward once again to add to his caps or do they try lure Nik or max over to the dark side? I’d love either to come to the nix but I don’t think the nix could afford to just pay Josh out of his contract and sign one of them. Thoughts? There’s way more finger on the pulse guys then me on these threads who could have a better or interesting perspective
The AWs squad is pretty settled and that’s a good thing. Regardless of what clubs they are at the keepers will be Crocs, Paulsen and one other.
If BA get relegated, high chance Crocombe will get a gig at another L1 club.
The battle for the 3rd keeper spot will be won by whoever is starting and playing well. Though if Sims went to Coventry even as reserve GK he might edge it
Same in a way if Paulsen was at Hibs but riding the pine
Ideally you want your keepers playing, but some leeway if they are in the SPL or Championship. None if like Tzanev they are bench warming in L2
As of June 5, 2025, the following nations have qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup: United States, Mexico, Canada, Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Argentina, and New Zealand. The hosts (United States, Mexico, Canada) qualified automatically, while the others
Fox Sports with an early WC draw simulator. Note the Socceroos are currently ranked 24th, so on the cusp of Pot 2. But could miss out mainly due to one of the hosts Canada being outside the top 24 teams. Mexico & USA (very oddly) ranked inside the top 24.
Note any nations that have to qualify via a playofff automatically go into Pot 4.
Bit of a nonsense at this stage but we come out with Mexico, Denmark & Nigeria.
Nonsense that includes Peru in Pot 3 when in reality the Peruvians have very little chance now of qualifying. Peru (-11 GD) are 6 pts behind Venezuela (-4 GD), with only 2 games left in CONMEBOL qualifying. Venezuela in the inter-confederation play-offs spot.
Broadly speaking, you want to be in as high a pot as possible to avoid the better teams (though the UEFA playoff winners will be dangerous in pot 4). And Australia’s wins over Japan and Saudi Arabia in the final stage of qualifying could prove pivotal here.
Because the USA and Mexico are each ranked highly, the first two pots are effectively the top 23 teams in the FIFA rankings plus Canada.
Therefore if you’re in the top 23 of the rankings, you’re going to be in one of the first two pots - unless some of those top 23 teams fail to qualify (which would mean that number grows). This is unlikely but possible; in 2022, Italy and Sweden were both ranked in the top 20 but missed the tournament.
Australia would also be helped if top European teams are forced into the UEFA playoffs, rather than making it automatically by winning their qualifying groups, because playoff teams are locked into pot four regardless of their rankings.
Either way, the Socceroos need to be targeting the top 23. And on the live FIFA rankings, they’re ranked 24th, having moved up two places over the past week.
A couple of extra wins in friendlies leading into the World Cup, or a couple of top European teams having to win a playoff to advance, could be enough to catapult Australia into pot two - meaning they would have play two lower-ranked teams in their group.
For example, a group of Spain, Uruguay, Australia and Tunisia could instead become Spain, Australia, Panama and Tunisia - a reasonably big boost in the Socceroos’ chances of qualifying for the knockouts (though the third-place team will also qualify from most groups).
But as it stands, Australia will be the top team in pot three.
SIMULATED 2026 WORLD CUP GROUPS (Based on FIFA rankings as of June 11)
Pot 1: Mexico (Group A), Canada (Group B), USA (Group D), Argentina, Spain, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia
Pot 2: Italy, Morocco, Germany, Colombia, Uruguay, Japan, Switzerland, Senegal, Iran, Denmark, Austria, South Korea
Pot 3:Australia, Ecuador, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Peru, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Costa Rica, Cameroon, Qatar
Pot 4: Mali, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Jamaica, Jordan, New Zealand, Paraguay, South Africa (as two inter-confederation playoff teams), Ukraine, Turkiye, Sweden, Wales (as four UEFA playoff teams)
Seeing Peru there was a head-scratcher. Paraguay and Uruguay are 99.9% qualified and I recon Colombia can beat Bolivia at home to clinch the sixth automatic spot. A draw there is probably enough though.
CONCACAF just had their draw for the final groups and Group A is Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala and Suriname. Pretty much as difficult of a group as you could get with Suriname (with a starting XI all raised in the Netherlands who are/were in the Dutch top flight) and an improving Guatemala the top teams in their pots. Panama is easily the best team left at this stage of qualifying, but they're going to have to do the work and El Salvador and Guatemala are never an easy away trip. I'm not sure Suriname is ready for what they're going to get in Central America, though the level of intensity has definitely dipped in the past 15-20 years.
It's the two-best second place finishers who advance to the playoffs and the teams in Group A may cannibalise each other and open a path for the two other groups to send a team to the playoffs - which would be a shame. I think four of the seven best teams left are all in that group. It'd be a shame to lose three of them and have an eighth team sneak through.
Jamaica hasn't adapted well to World Cup qualifying, but they got a cupcake draw with three Caribbean opponents which will make for comfortable away trips. Curacao won't be a walkover, but qualification should be very straightforward and they should demolish T&T and Bermuda. The final group has Costa Rica and Honduras, neither of whom are in particularly good form, but are both good enough that I think they should finished first and second easily enough and I would think CR will handle Honduras and send them to the playoffs. Haiti and Nicaragua round out the group, but I don't see them being much of a factor. Strange things happen in qualifying, but the draw set up one fascinating group and two duds.
The fine details haven't been announced, but the inter-continental playoffs will be in the host countries and it makes sense to me that it would all be in the US. If Honduras, El Salvador or Guatemala make the playoffs in the US that will be something. We'll see what the political climate is like when we get there (and how the current climate affects the two summer tournaments in the US) but there's the potential for a massive partisan crowd to be backing one of the CONCACAF playoff teams.
The more I see bullshark like this, the more I say: total boycott of the US games in the cup. Half the foreign fans (the ones darker than a sheet of paper) will disappear into Alligator Alcatraz if they even get into the country
Just pray NZ pool games are in Canada. Nice country, nice people. Mexico would be ok but it will be really hot and humid. USA? NO thanks. My American friends said if I come clear my phone of anything remotely political and make sure all my travel documentation is 100% correct. Even last minute hotel changes can cause problems. If you are not white expect problems. Im not going. Cant be bothered
For the social media thing, the fools that get caught out are the ones who declare on the ESTA application. A smart person does not declare and also deletes any suspect apps from their phone and browser history.
I’m more worried about the USA banning fans from half of the teams that should qualify. Russia was happy to let Americans and Ukrainians in.
I’m praying that our games are in Mexico City and Canada. My Persian, Jordanian and British friends likewise.
Supporter world's best and worst football teams: Waikato/WaiBop, Kingz, Knights, Phoenix, The Argyle, The Whites & the All Whites
For the social media thing, the fools that get caught out are the ones who declare on the ESTA application. A smart person does not declare and also deletes any suspect apps from their phone and browser history.
I’m more worried about the USA banning fans from half of the teams that should qualify. Russia was happy to let Americans and Ukrainians in.
I’m praying that our games are in Mexico City and Canada. My Persian, Jordanian and British friends likewise.
Not in every case there was an Aussie guy they wouldnt let in who had done just what you said and deleted everything. But when he got there they had transcripts of some of his deleted stuff and wouldnt let him in.
For the social media thing, the fools that get caught out are the ones who declare on the ESTA application. A smart person does not declare and also deletes any suspect apps from their phone and browser history.
I’m more worried about the USA banning fans from half of the teams that should qualify. Russia was happy to let Americans and Ukrainians in.
I’m praying that our games are in Mexico City and Canada. My Persian, Jordanian and British friends likewise.
Not in every case there was an Aussie guy they wouldnt let in who had done just what you said and deleted everything. But when he got there they had transcripts of some of his deleted stuff and wouldnt let him in.
Likely declared his social media or made it obvious who he was on FB, X etc by not having it private.
Supporter world's best and worst football teams: Waikato/WaiBop, Kingz, Knights, Phoenix, The Argyle, The Whites & the All Whites
FKO Wood Doha 2022 Qualifier.jpg143.18 KB Big updates and info pack landing later tonight on our first World Cup since 2010, see below to sign up for those updates. NZF have been class with planning and communicating re tickets and will have an update soon too. There's alot that can be planned and considered to get ahead of the ball before the draw in December.
They said on One News today that 30 kiwis had issues with getting into the US. A woman and her son were detained in Texas and a reggae singer detained and deported.
They said on One News today that 30 kiwis had issues with getting into the US. A woman and her son were detained in Texas and a reggae singer detained and deported.
That woman was detained due to not renewing part of her visa, but in general this has been skipped in the media representations. I'm not pro-detaining kids who's visas are correct or hassling people with valid reasons to be somewhere, but trying to make the point that America is difficult to get into based on the experience of a woman who was on a working visa in the US, renews one of the two parts of said visa then leaves and is held at the border correctly isnt a good excample.
I am not even bothering to look at plan for 2026 with trumpstein in office. Need to see the Epstein files first. And if they check my FB id probably be turned around at boarder or sent for a holiday at a detention centre. Hmmm, hope we qualify for 2030
I am not even bothering to look at plan for 2026 with trumpstein in office. Need to see the Epstein files first. And if they check my FB id probably be turned around at boarder or sent for a holiday at a detention centre. Hmmm, hope we qualify for 2030
Yeah 2030 will be miles better to go to what with it being held in 6 different countries across 3 seperate continents.
I am not even bothering to look at plan for 2026 with trumpstein in office. Need to see the Epstein files first. And if they check my FB id probably be turned around at boarder or sent for a holiday at a detention centre. Hmmm, hope we qualify for 2030
Yeah 2030 will be miles better to go to what with it being held in 6 different countries across 3 seperate continents.
2030 ain't that bad with only 3 matches (one each) in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay. It will yes be shark if one of those 3 matches involves the AWs.
But otherwise, Morocco, Spain & Portugal will make for a great tourney. The only major negative could be the heat, going off this European summer. I'd hope for AWs games in Lisbon, Porto, Malaga, San Sebastian or Bilbao - cities where it should be a bit cooler.
Yeah but it's still annoying there's something else to pay for when you're already paying for the other services and it's always been on one of them before. I expect the cost will be equal several months worth of subscriptions as the rugby world cup one on Spark was. The non NZ games are 97% of the tournament (assuming NZ don't go past the group). I'm a fan of another country and am a crazy person who tries to watch every game anyway so I'll have no choice but to pay, unless there's a good alternative and reliable VPN option.
