Chris Wood celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against The Gambia. Photo / Photosport
Chris Wood celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against The Gambia. Photo / Photosport
If everything goes to plan, the All Whites will face their strongest opposition yet within this current phase in the next Fifa international window in January.
Off the back of the games against The Gambia and Algeria 'A', New Zealand Football expect to soon confirm two more games for January,which will be the final opportunity for match play ahead of the Oceania World Cup qualifying tournament in March.
NZ Football hope to finalise contracts by the end of this month for the games, which will again be staged in the United Arab Emirates.
It's understood the most likely scenario is one Asian team and one African nation, with both to be ranked inside FIFA's top 100 nations.
The All Whites (111) faced Curaçao (81) and Bahrain (91) in October, while The Gambia are 147th on Fifa's list.
The logistics of the October and November windows were complicated, with a relatively short lead time and a lot of nations already tied up with World Cup qualifiers or scheduled friendlies.
There has been a longer timeframe available for January, and a larger pool of countries available, which bodes well for the upcoming negotiations.
"We want to get tested leading into the March qualifiers," said All Whites coach Danny Hay. "I want us to face the toughest opposition that we can. There are quite a few teams that are open to coming to this part of the world (the Middle East) and playing games.
"We are very close to tying down a couple of teams but it's a tricky business, with agents involved and different nations. Until those contracts are signed it's hard to be definitive but the two teams that I am aware of would be strong competition for us, strong opposition and we would find out a little bit more about ourselves."
All Whites coach Danny Hay and players ahead of their match against The Gambia. Photo / Photosport
That recipe of game-based development is certainly working.
For a long time Hay was the coach without a team, as the All Whites only had two games in the first 22 months of his tenure.
But everything has changed this year, with the Oly Whites playing six games at the Olympics in Japan (including two warm up fixtures) and the All Whites taking the field four times.
That has helped build a level of depth that is unprecedented in recent memory, with compelling options in almost every position.
"Ultimately I would love it that we get to that point where I have to make some really tough decisions and select a squad of 21 when we have 35-40 really good players," said Hay.
The last six months have also helped to evolve a possession based, positive style of play, markedly different from previous iterations of the All Whites.
"I feel fortunate to be a part of a group that has so much talent and confidence to express themselves on the pitch because I don't think that's always been the case with New Zealand," observed midfielder Joe Bell.
Goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic, who made his international debut back in 2015, has noted the shift.
"[In] the group in general there is a real buzz and the lads are starting to play some proper, good football," said Marinovic. "There was maybe not as much of that before the Peru game [in November 2017] – it was a bit more grinding out results.
"Now, the lads have started to dictate periods of play for good chunks of the game. There are obviously areas that we want to improve but the brand of football that we are playing is very exciting going towards [2022]."
