PREVIEW: How New Zealand's World Cup rivals shape up for qualifier series

Four of New Zealand’s World Cup rivals are ready to start their qualifying campaigns with differing challenges during their preparation.

Two go into the 2026 FIFA World Cup Oceania qualifiers with newly-appointed coaches, while one team had to pull out of the OFC Men’s Nations Cup due to civil unrest in their country.

Round One of the OFC World Cup qualifying series was completed when Samoa won the four-team preliminary tournament to join seven more countries in Round Two.

Round Two is split into two groups:

Group A: New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji.

Group B: New Zealand, Tahiti, Vanuatu, Samoa

Here’s how the Group A nations and their coaches see the qualifiers …

New Caledonia

New Caledonia come into Round Two of the FIFA World Cup Oceania qualifiers perhaps a little undercooked compared to their Group A opponents.

Due to civil unrest in the country, the team were unable to participate in the OFC Men’s Nations Cup earlier this year in Fiji, meaning their last competitive action was back at the Pacific Games in Honiara in November 2023.

That did however prove to be a positive campaign, with New Caledonia beating hosts Solomon Islands in the final on penalties to secure the gold medal – giving coach Johann Sidaner some positivity to build upon as his side look to hit the ground running on match day three.

Two of their three Group A opponents were sides New Caledonia also faced in qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and they’ll be looking for a better outcome than two years ago, when they lost all three matches, finishing bottom of their section in Qatar.

It’s been a positive tenure for Sidaner since the Frenchman took charge in August 2022, with seven victories in 11 matches despite the numerous challenge they have faced.

A lack of time together for his squad, however, has proven to be a frustration for the coach.

“We had a hard time getting everyone together,” he says.

“But roughly speaking, we have up to about 90% of the squad that we could have asked for who are present and who will be able to show up for the qualifiers.”

First up for New Caledonia is Papua New Guinea, with both sides desperate to make a positive start with the margins for error so small.

“First, we will take the matches one by one, as we usually do to gauge ourselves. First, it is Papua New Guinea that is offered to us. It is already be a match with stakes, since over three matches, we know that we do not have much room for error.

“This first match is important. Getting into the competition is really important and starting it well. We will also closely watch the match between Solomon Islands and Fiji after our fixture,” he said.

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea hope a change of coach will be the catalyst for an uplift in form ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.

Warren Moon left the post following their OFC Men’s Nations Cup campaign, where a win, a draw and a loss weren’t enough to see them advance to the semi-finals, missing out on goal difference to Tahiti.

Felipe Vega-Arango is now in charge and has a squad with no shortage of international experience at his disposal. As well as the OFC Men’s Nations Cup in June, Papua New Guinea also played in the Pacific Games in Honiara late last year, failing to make the semi-finals.

The newly-created FIFA Series was another opportunity for international experience outside of the Oceania region for Papua New Guinea.

A credible 0-0 draw with Sr Lanka was followed by a 4-0 defeat to Central African Republic, both fixtures being played in Colombo.

Vega-Arango previously coached Solomon Islands and despite being drawn to face them in the group stage, he isn’t allowing his focus to shift from their first match against New Caledonia in Suva.

“I am not even thinking about them right now. We have a really difficult match with New Caledonia, in which obviously they are the favourites for the match,” he says.

“So the only thing that I have in my mind right now is to have a team ready to compete against New Caledonia. The Solomon Islands game is too far away from me right now.”

Papua New Guinea were frustrated not to advance past the group stage in the OFC Men’s Nations Cup earlier this year in Fiji and the coach is aware his side have a tough challenge ahead if they are to progress to the semi-finals.

“The three teams, Solomon Islands, Fiji and New Caledonia, lately they’ve been doing much better than us, so I’ve been trying to pass that message to the boys that we have to be humble and we are going to have to compete extremely hard.

“As you will know, World Cup qualifier matches are a completely different ball game.”

After the opening games in Fiji, the Group B schedule shifts to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, with the coach hoping home advantage will provide his side with a boost in their bid to qualify for a first-ever FIFA World Cup.

“Let’s be honest, in football, playing in the home ground is always, I believe, an advantage and it’s always positive, so I am happy but I am thinking a lot more about the New Caledonia game. That’s actually the only thing that I have in my mind at the moment.”

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands came within 90 minutes of advancing to the OFC-CONCACAF play-off for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and will want to go one better this time.

After defeating Tahiti in the group stage, they overcame Papua New Guinea in an epic semi-final before ultimately succumbing to New Zealand in the final.

Much has changed since 2022 and a new coach and fresh group of players will look to make a positive impact when Group A action gets underway in Suva this week.

Australian Josh Smith is in charge for Solomon Islands and he’s tasked with improving upon a disappointing showing in the OFC Men’s Nations Cup earlier this year, when they lost both group stage matches en route to a first round elimination.

It won’t be easy with their first group stage match seeing them face Fiji in Suva, with what will no doubt be a passionate home crowd in attendance.

Navigate that challenge unscathed and fixtures against New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea in November will decide their fate.

Their fixture against New Caledonia on November 14 is one to watch. As well as being key in deciding the outcome of Group A, it’s also a rematch of the gold medal final at last year’s Pacific Games in Honiara, where Solomon Islands lost on penalties to New Caledonia in heartbreaking fashion.

Smith hasn’t been in the hot seat long, so has had little time to adjust to the new role as he begins preparations for a pivotal few weeks.

“I’ve been in Solomon Islands for two weeks now. This is our second full week together, but it’s been challenging due to a lot of local games that need to still be played and catch up matches midweek. You know, this is part of the challenge of being a national team coach.

“So pretty interrupted, but, you know, we’ll do the best that we possibly can to prepare the boys and make sure they’re ready for the 10th of October,” Smith said.

With just under a month between the first match in Suva and the second and third fixtures in Papua New Guinea in November, Smith is keeping an eye on what’s to come after his side face the challenge of Fiji.

“Look, to be honest, I think if I was to come in here and say that I’m only focused on this first game against Fiji, I wouldn’t be telling you the truth,” Smith said.

“My idea on this whole project is to create better players and better pathways for players that can join Australian leagues and New Zealand leagues.

“For me, this is the piece of the puzzle that’s missing in the development of long-term success for the Solomon Islands.

“Yes, the first game is super important but I’m really excited about having three weeks with the team after that when we come back uninterrupted before we go to play against Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia.”

Fiji

Fiji aim to make the most of home advantage on match day three when qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup continues in Suva.

Coach Rob Sherman’s team is sure to be backed by a noisy and passionate home crowd at HFC Bank Stadium, with expectations high that they will advance to the semi-final stage in New Zealand in early 2025.

The increase from 32 to 48 teams for the 2026 FIFA World Cup means that there is a greater opportunity than ever before for those nations looking to make their debut on the biggest stage of international football.

Fiji’s 2022 qualifying campaign was a disappointment, finishing third in their group in Qatar. An opening match victory over New Caledonia gave Fiji hope but subsequent defeats to New Zealand and Papua New Guinea ended their World Cup dreams early.

Fiji’s OFC Men’s Nations Cup adventure this year proved more fruitful and will hopefully be a foundation on which Rob Sherman can build upon.

Three wins from three saw them make the semi-final stage, before a narrow defeat to Vanuatu ended their run. They also missed out by the odd goal in the play-off for 3rd place, going down 2-1 to Tahiti.

The coach has been fortunate to retain much of the squad he worked with in June, which he hopes will stand them in good stead for their opening match in Suva.

“We had a couple of friendlies in the September window, so you know, we’ve worked with the team consistently really throughout the year,” Sherman said.

“In terms of building up to the qualifiers, things have gone pretty well, so i‘m reasonably happy with the progress we’ve made.”

With two of their group opponents having recently changed coaches, there has been an added challenge for Sherman and his side as they work on what to expect come kick-off.

“Well, this is an element of the unknown because Josh [Smith] and Felipe [Vega-Arango] are new there. So ultimately you know, how they’ve played in the past might not be the case moving forward.

“We’ll prepare for that. We’ll prepare for the what-ifs. Obviously, we do our analysis, but the game’s passed when those coaches might not have been in place, so it’s a little bit of the unknown, but it is what it is.”