‘100 club': How All Whites striker Chris Wood can join exclusive Premier League group this season
How do you top the greatest season of your life?
After more than 15 years in English football, Wood achieved the Mount Everest of his career in a remarkable 2024-25 campaign. He
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RNZ News
4 hours ago
- RNZ News
Football: Poland join list of All Whites' top-ranked opponents
Poland's Robert Lewandowski. Photo: ANDRZEJ IWANCZUK The All Whites have added world number 37 Poland to a playing schedule that already had two other top-40 ranked sides locked in, as they continue the long build-up to next year's FIFA World Cup. New Zealand will take on Poland in Chorzów on 10 October at the second-largest stadium in the country, the 54,378-capacity Stadion Śląski. The game could feature a showdown between New Zealand's all-time men's leading goalscorer, Chris Wood (44 international goals), and Poland's all-time top scorer Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski, who currently has 85 goals for his country. The match will take place five days before the team faces fellow European side Norway (FIFA rank 33) at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo. The two October European games follow September's home-and-away Soccer Ashes series against Australia's Socceroos (FIFA rank 24). All Whites head coach Darren Bazeley said getting games against top-50 ranked opposition was part of the plan ahead of the World Cup co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the USA. "We want to make sure we are in the best place to perform come the tournament, so we're continuing to test ourselves against the kinds of top-ranked sides we could face next year. "We've shown moments against higher-ranked sides so far in this cycle, but the win over African champions Côte d'Ivoire in June really gives us confidence that we can get results at this level, which is what we'll need to do to achieve our goal of getting out of the group at the FIFA World Cup. "Poland are an experienced team with some major threats, so we're looking forward to taking them on and showing what we can do against a strong European side." Before the international fixtures Bazeley will be keeping a close eye on his players around the world in different club competitions. "We've still got players out of season, just starting the season and we've got players mid-season in the MLS and some of the European places so every one is in a different position. "We've had probably about 20 players move club in the last month, two months, so that's a little bit unsettling for everybody but until the seasons start everywhere we don't know if they've been good moves or not so. "So looking forward to seeing a lot of football over the next six to nine months before we get into that world cup." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
‘100 club': How All Whites striker Chris Wood can join exclusive Premier League group this season
For Chris Wood, there's only really one question as the English Premier League gets under way this weekend. How do you top the greatest season of your life? After more than 15 years in English football, Wood achieved the Mount Everest of his career in a remarkable 2024-25 campaign. He
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Nottingham Forest's Chris Wood has big ambitions for new Premier League season
Chris Wood of Nottingham Forest battles for the ball with Mohamed Al-Thani of Al Qadsiah during Forest's last pre-season friendly. Photo: MI NEWS Nottingham Forest's New Zealand striker Chris Wood wouldn't be doing badly if he had another Premier League season like his last, but days out from the new season kicking off he has his sights set even higher The 2024/25 Premier League season will probably always hold a special place in Wood's football CV. He started more games and scored more goals than ever before at the top level. His 20 goals in 36 matches was among the best in the last Premier League season and his contribution helped Forest finish seventh in the league and to be in a position to play European football this season for the first time in 29 years. Wood called last season "life-changing" not only on the football field, but he also got married and had his first child. On a personal level, the 33-year-old will not change much this season as he pursues another prolific goal-scoring tally. "It's just trying to go in with the same mindset and the same mentality of trying to improve and trying to outperform what I did last year. "I know I had a good season, but I'd like to go and do even better, strive for more and be ambitious in that sense, it's not going to be easy, no getting away from that, but we've got the team that's capable of providing chances and hopefully I can still stick them away." Wood does not see the start of the new season as a fresh start, rather an opportunity to build on his body of work. "I feel fit and as good as ever. I'm not one with blistering pace so I'm never going to lose it, so that's good coming into my my older years, where I can actually still continue to do what I did when I was 22-years-old. "It's always a build from the previous, you always want to continue to do more, continue to achieve more. In the football or sports industry you never want to drop off, you've always got something more to achieve the following season, even if you have a good season the year before, you need to go and do it again." At a club level Wood said Forest would "evolve" but they could not stray too far from what had made them successful. He said it would be a case of finding the balance between "not trying to change too much, but also improving and becoming a better side, all rounding collectively". "It's a very different season we're going to be playing 55,60 games this year depending on cup competitions it's a lot more than what we were last year. So we're going to have to have a squad that's good enough to do it all and I think we do and I'm sure with the recruits that will come in in the next three weeks they'll be the same thing. "We've got different players that have come into the team this season, and it's going to be a different way of playing sometimes in the season. We want to achieve more whether that's in the Premier League, in the Europa League, it's yet to be seen. But if we can put two and two together with both of them, it'll be fantastic if we can go on runs in both competitions." Chris Wood celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Premier League match between Nottingham Forest FC and Brighton & Hove Albion FC in February. Photo:While Wood feels at home in Nottingham and is enjoying feeling the buzz of the fans that club is back playing European football, two other All Whites, Tyler Bindon and Marko Stamenic, are also signed with Forest but are unlikely to play club football alongside Wood this season. Bindon has been loaned to Sheffield United in the Championship and despite Stamenic playing a pre-season friendly for Forest he seems destined for a second loan spell with Greek club Olympiacos. Wood expects it will not be long until more New Zealanders join him in the Premier League. "Tyler's moved to Sheffield I think is a very, very smart one, both for him and the club. I think he's going to do extremely well there it's a big club that will be pushing for promotion. "[Libby Cacace] was fantastic on his debut for Wrexham, I watched it, and I think that's a great move for him, it's a foot inside the English door ready to take the progression into the Premier League when he gets the chance because I believe he will get the chance sooner rather than later." Not long after the Premier League season wraps next year, players will be turning their attention to the 2026 FIFA World Cup which kicks off in July. New Zealand have qualified for the world cup for the third time and will be looking to Wood to play a big role in the tournament co-hosted by United States, Canada and Mexico. Wood was on managed minutes the last time he played for New Zealand in the Canadian Shield in June after his standout season with Forest. Chris Wood came off the bench against Cote d'Ivoire in June. Photo: Andrew Lahodynskyj / The All Whites have international friendlies lined up for the September , October and November FIFA international windows. The All Whites captain will be back on New Zealand soil for the second game against Australia in Auckland on 9 September. "We don't get to play Australia often, and especially leading into a World Cup year it's exciting. It's a challenge for us and we want to beat them, we haven't been able to beat them for a while." Nottingham Forest kick-off their Premier League season on 18 August (NZT) against Brentford, who finished 10th last season.
