How the seven injured All Whites are tracking 10 weeks out from the FIFA World Cup
Friday, 3 April 2026
There are 10 weeks to go until the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup – and four days after that before the All Whites’ first match – and they have seven men hoping to be there who are sidelined with injuries.
That list could start shrinking as soon as next week, if that is when captain Chris Wood rejoins the Nottingham Forest first team, either for their Europa League quarterfinal first leg away to Porto FC (7am Friday, April 10 NZ time) or their English Premier League clash with Aston Villa (1am Monday, April 13).
Coach Darren Bazeley said his skipper had been in constant contact throughout the March international window, where the world No 85 All Whites had a 2-0 loss to No 73 Finland and a 4-1 win over 54 Chile, who played an hour with 10 men.
“He’s been messaging. We send him the lineups (ahead of kickoff), because he is our captain. We always talk about the team and the players.
“He’s invested – he wants to know how the game went, how did the review go, how are the players feeling, how’s the environment.”
Seeing Wood return from the knee injury he had surgery on just prior to Christmas will be music to Bazeley’s ears.
But he is not the only All Whites player under an injury cloud, 74 days out from their World Cup opener against Iran in Los Angeles.
With the exception of Francis de Vries – and goalkeeper Oli Sail, who is not included here as he won’t be back until October at the earliest – Bazeley is confident his injured men will all be back on the pitch this month.
Here’s where they all stand – in rough order of their importance to New Zealand’s World Cup cause.
Chris Wood – knee
A third appearance for Wood with Nottingham Forest’s under-21 team is on this cards this weekend – but that should be the final step before he returns to first-team action.
Provided he comes through that fixture against Crystal Palace (kickoff 6am Saturday NZ time) unscathed, Wood could be back in the Forest first-team mix as soon as next week.
He hasn’t played top-level football since Forest’s Premier League loss to Chelsea on October 18 and has missed 23 matches in that competition, as well as 10 in the Europa League and one in the FA Cup.
Forest have seven league matches to play, plus at least two and up to five in the Europa League.
Liberato Cacace – calf
Cacace had never had a muscle injury before this season.
Now he’s had five in one campaign – a mixture of hamstring and calf issues that have meant he has played in just 11 of Wrexham’s 39 English Championship matches.
He left their loss to Millwall on February 7 with a hamstring injury and has since suffered a calf injury during his rehab.
He has missed eight league matches and two FA Cup ties during his most recent stint on the sideline and while Bazeley includes him among those he is hoping will be back this month, there is no concrete timeline.
His club coach Phil Parkinson said before the international window: “We’ve just got to focus on getting him to hopefully contribute for the end of the season.
“Because he’s had a couple of setbacks, I don’t really want to put any pressure or time scale on him.
“It’s not a major injury, it’s just he keeps getting slight setbacks.”
Parkinson’s only update ahead of the Championship resuming this weekend was to say Cacace was due for a scan this week.
Wrexham have seven matches to play, plus two or three in the promotion playoffs if they finish between third and six.
Sarpreet Singh – knee
Singh’s return to the Wellington Phoenix hasn’t gone the way he planned.
A knee injury 55 minutes into his first match back, away to Western Sydney Wanderers on February 13, ruled him out for eight weeks.
He joined the All Whites in camp last month and was seen doing fitness work during their open training last Sunday.
Phoenix coach Chris Greenacre said on Thursday he was hopeful Singh would be back before the end of the regular season in a month’s time.
The Phoenix have four regular season matches to play, plus up to four if they make the top six.
Michael Boxall – adductor
The 64-cap centre back missed Minnesota United’s last two Major League Soccer matches before the international window and will miss at least their first one after it as he recovers from an adductor injury.
His Kiwi coach Cameron Knowles said this week Boxall was “continuing to make progress, but slow progress”.
Minnesota play LA Galaxy this weekend then have nine matches before MLS breaks for the World Cup.
Boxall, 37, hadn’t missed MLS action due to injury for almost five years until he suffered this one in training last month.
Matt Garbett – foot
The attacking midfielder left Peterborough United’s loss to Huddersfield Town on January 31 in the first half and has missed their last nine matches.
Sitting comfortably mid-table in English League One, the Posh have eight more matches to play before the end of their season.
Bazeley told Stuff this week that Garbett was: “Back training, doing well, feeling good.”
“He’s had this foot injury, but he’s feeling better than he was.”
Francis de Vries – calf
The All Whites’ most recent injury concern came on Friday night in the loss to Finland, when Auckland FC left back de Vries was forced off just before halftime with a calf issue.
His club coach, Steve Corica, said on Tuesday his previously ever-present defender would be out for six weeks, which means he would only be back for the second leg of a potential semifinal and the grand final, if Auckland made it.
De Vries’ injury means the All Whites’ first and second-choice left backs are both sidelined at present, which makes it handy that Ben Old impressed in his first start in that position for the national team, after weeks of playing there for his French second-tier club, AS Saint-Étienne.
De Vries is the only injured All White whose recovery timeframe stretches into the window where Bazeley is set to name his World Cup squad, but that won’t prevent him from being included, as teams can make changes up until 24 hours out from their opening match.
Auckland have four regular season matches to be played, then up to four in the A-League Men finals series.
Tommy Smith – hamstring
Smith left Auckland FC in July with a year to run on his contract to return to England, with the club saying the move was made so he could 'be closer to his young family'.
He ended up at Braintree Town, who are on the verge of being relegated from the fifth-tier national league with five matches left in their season.
He has also ended up having an injury-wrecked campaign, playing in just 16 of their 41 matches to date.
His most recent hamstring injury came in last week’s draw with Brackley and could keep him out for the rest of The Irons’ season, which will end on April 25.
If Bazeley selects Smith in his 26 it will be for off-field reasons – what he brings to the All Whites’ environment in terms of leadership – but he has been clear the 36-year-old, 56-cap veteran must be fit to play and train.