The All Whites have dozens of professional players, whereas their Oceania rivals are almost totally comprised of domestic-based personnel. The Herald understands that participating teams could be allowed to select a larger-than-usual squad, due to the varying availability of players, but that is still less than optimal. It also won't be easy securing A-League players, as the Phoenix have four games scheduled between March 12 and April 1, not to mention the ongoing travel uncertainty from Australasia. It's a similar scenario for Sarpreet Singh, Liberato Cacace, Joe Bell and many other European-based players, while Winston Reid is likely to have a club by then. The All Whites have missed key players for qualifying games before, but never faced the scenario of multiple games outside a window during the club season.īurnley have vital matches against Brentford (March 13) and Southampton (March 20) and won't want to be without Chris Wood, their leading scorer for the last four Premier League seasons. The preferred format for the eight-nation event involves five match days (three group games, semifinal and final), across a period of almost three weeks, including preparation time. The confederation settled on a one-off tournament, with the innovative solution of playing in Qatar, after no potential host nations came forward in this region. The OFC shakedown was meant to be staged across multiple dates over the last two years, before the Covid-19 pandemic made that impossible. That's a distinct possibility, if part of the OFC qualifying tournament is played outside the Fifa window (March 21-29). Fifty-seven of those nations will be able to select from full strength squads, but one (New Zealand) may not. World Cup qualifying will be heating up next March, with 58 countries in action across the European, African, Asian, South American, CONCACAF and Oceania confederations. That's a crazy, impossible scenario, that would never be allowed to happen, but it could be the situation the All Whites find themselves in, for part of their own regional qualifying tournament held at the same time.

There will be extremely high stakes - given what is on the line - but imagine if Portugal were forced to play those matches without Ronaldo.Īnd his Manchester United compatriot Bruno Fernandes, powerful defender Ruben Dias (Manchester City), Atletico Madrid star Joao Felix and Liverpool striker Diogo Jota, because they were all unavailable. Next March, Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal will face a World Cup qualifying mini-tournament, along with Italy, North Macedonia and Turkey, to win a precious UEFA spot in Qatar next November.

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