Fifa World Cup: All Whites need Chris Wood goals to upset Belgium for a potential playoffs place
Saturday, 27 June 2026
What: Fifa World Cup Group G, All Whites v Belgium. Where: BC Place Stadium, Vancouver. When: 3pm Saturday (NZT), TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+.
ANALYSIS: Great players perform on football’s biggest stage so All Whites captain Chris Wood must grasp a potential last chance for a first World Cup goal.
Wood hasn’t netted yet at the 2026 finals, but the English Premier League star is still New Zealand’s best bet of getting the goals needed to beat Belgium in Vancouver on Saturday.
The skipper must fire for the Kiwis - $12.50 outsiders at New Zealnd’s TAB - to achieve a simple goal: a first World Cup victory and a potential first place in the knockout phase.
The All Whites are not total masters of their own destiny. Their fate could rest on the outcome of the Egypt v Iran game, kicking off simultaneously 230km away in Seattle.
In a football nirvana, pool leaders Egypt would knock off Iran and the All Whites would beat Belgium to finish second in Group G and make the round of 32 without having to negotiate the nervous third-place qualifiers route.
Wood will not care a whit if Eli Just and Finn Surman score again, or anyone else, provided the All Whites win.
But he sets lofty standards for himself. Like any self-respecting marksman, a World Cup goal would be on his bucket list.
Wood will be 38 when the next World Cup rolls around - not that age is necessarily a barrier. Lionel Messi, 39, and Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, are still scoring World Cup goals for fun.
But the Nottingham Forest forward is nursing a knee problem which will need managing for the rest of his career, so a third World Cup is no guarantee.
Wood, 18 at his first in 2010, has been the main man since, scoring 45 goals in a record-breaking 92 caps. He’s now a captain as worthy of the armband as Steve Sumner (1982) or Ryan Nelsen (2010).
His contribution at this World Cup must not be measured by goals alone. The skipper had two assists for Just’s goals against Iran. His hold-up play and double involvement for the first came straight from a targetman’s textbook.
The Premier League veteran would have been a handful for the Belgians at the best of times. But they are without best defender Nathan Ngoy - red-carded against Iran - and Wood plays against better centrebacks most weeks than Arthur Theate and Brandon Mechele.
If Ryan Thomas, Marko Stamenić, Joe Bell and Just can supply quality passes, Wood could have his way.
Straitjackets would have been at the ready had any All Whites loyalist dared to dream that Wood’s team would go into the last group game with a shot at beating Belgium to make the round of 32.
Belgium are 10th in the world to the All Whites’ 85th. The Red Devils boast Kevin De Bruyne, Jérémy Doku, Romelu Lukaku and Leandro Trossard for starters.
But the under-achieving Belgians have eked average draws against Egypt and Iran. That makes them doubly dangerous.
Belgium sit third - one point above the All Whites - but have just one goal to the Kiwis’ three.
In point of fact a Belgian has yet to score. Their only goal came via an Egyptian defender.
De Bruyne, 34, and Lukaku, 33, were superstars in their prime, but both came to the World Cup undercooked after injury-ravaged seasons with Napoli.
Doku - back after a dash home for the birth of his first child - represents the All Whites’ greatest threat.
The pacy Manchester City star can raid effectively from either flank, making for a torrid 90 minutes for Tim Payne and Liberato Cacace, the All Whites’ likely starting fullbacks.
It could pay coach Darren Bazeley to look at double-teaming Doku by playing the speedy Ben Old in front of Cacace on the left side with Just switching back to the right. Old’s extra pace would also be welcomed on attack.
Just and Marko Stamenić could alternate in the No 10 role with Ryan Thomas’ impressive passing range complementing Joe Bell in central midfield.
Belgium coach Rudi Garcia started Charles De Ketelaere up top in front of Trossard, De Bruyne and Doku against Egypt.
Lukaku came off the bench to bully the Africans into an own goal, but started against Iran with Doku at his baby’s Brussels bedside.
Centrebacks Surman and Boxall have the physicality to handle Lukaku, but the All Whites cannot be fixated on containment.
They have to play with the confidence they showed for 90 minutes against Iran and 55 against Egypt and have a crack.
New Zealand expects the All Whites to have a go. A first World Cup goal from Wood would be the cream on the pavlova, irrespective of the result.
Possible All Whites team: Max Crocombe, Tim Payne, Finn Surman, Michael Boxall, Liberato Cacace; Eli Just, Joe Bell, Ryan Thomas, Marko Stamenić, Ben Old; Chris Wood.
Group G points after two games: Egypt 7, Iran 2, Belgium 2, New Zealand 1.