New Zealand and Cape Verde suffered setbacks in their World Cup preparations in Auckland on Friday, losing to Finland and Chile respectively in friendlies.
Host nation New Zealand was defeated 2-0, while World Cup debutant Cape Verde lost 4-2 and had a player sent off.
New Zealand will face Belgium, Iran and Egypt in the group stages in North America this summer.
The All Whites were missing Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood, who is still returning from injury, and thus lost much of their goal threat against Finland.
The Finns did not qualify for the World Cup.
Their captain Joel Pohjanpalo opened the scoring in the 25th minute, jumping highest into a corner to head home.
Jaakko Oksanen added a second in the 85th minute and shot under goalkeeper Max Crocombe after a quick counter-attack.
In the earlier match, Cape Verde were reduced to 10 men in a wild encounter with Chile, who failed to qualify for this summer’s spectacle.
Cape Verde lost 2-4 to Chile in a friendly match. | Photo credit: AP
Cape Verde lost 2-4 to Chile in a friendly match. | Photo credit: AP
Cape Verde will play against Spain, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay at the World Cup.
Ben Brereton Diaz gave Chile a controversial lead in the 17th minute, lashing out after the referee restarted play from a drop ball when the Cape Verde defense was out of place.
Dailon Livramento hit back for Cape Verde four minutes later, overlapping Benfica’s Sidny Cabral down the left wing before crossing the goal, leaving an easy finish.
Defender Diney Borges was shown a red card just before half time after VAR flagged an accidental handball that got in the way of a scoring opportunity.
Despite it being Cape Verde who then took the lead, Cabral fired home from the inside post as the half drew to a close.
Chile equalized in bizarre circumstances in the 58th minute, with goalkeeper Vozinha needlessly rushing for Cape Verde, allowing Maximiliano Gutierrez to round him and fire home from 40 yards.
Felipe Loyola and Gonzalo Tapia added more goals for Chile.
China gives Curaçao a wake-up call for the World Cup
A physical China defeated World Cup-bound Curaçao 2-0. | Photo credit: AFP
A physical China defeated World Cup-bound Curaçao 2-0. | Photo credit: AFP
Physical China defeated World Cup-bound Curaçao 2-0 on Friday in the Caribbean island’s first match under new Dutch coach Fred Rutten after the abrupt departure of veteran Dick Advocaat.
Wei Shihao and Zhang Yuning scored either side of the break at Sydney Stadium Australia as a wake-up call for the small nation ahead of its debut appearance at the global showpiece in North America in June-July.
With only 156,000 inhabitants, Curaçao is the smallest country to ever win a World Cup.
Despite this, they came through CONCACAF qualifying unbeaten under Dutchman Advocaat with three wins and three draws, and the experienced 78-year-old was expected to be at the helm if he were to make football history.
But he left unexpectedly last month to care for his sick daughter and was replaced by Rutten.
It turned out to be a losing start for the former coach of FC Twente, PSV, Feyenoord and Schalke, whose team is in a challenging Group E at the World Cup alongside Germany, Ivory Coast and Ecuador.
China, who failed to qualify for the World Cup, dominated the early exchanges in the friendly match that is part of the 2026 FIFA Series.
But it was Curacao that scored for the first time, with former Birmingham City midfielder Juninho Bacuna’s long-range strike narrowly missing the post.
China, ranked 93rd, compared to Curacao’s 81st, had to wait until the 40th minute for its first clear chance when Wang Shangyuan shot over the bar.
But when another came in stoppage time of the first half, it counted d56dx.
Goalkeeper Yan Junling sent a long ball forward and it went into Wei’s path to finish beautifully.
China doubled their lead in the 59th minute when captain Zhang latched onto a poor clearance in the penalty area and fired into the right corner, with an increasingly frustrated Curacao failing to respond.
Published on March 27, 2026
