The All Whites have opened their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with a comfortable three-goal victory over Tahiti. Make sure you join me again on Monday night for live coverage of their international friendly clash with Malaysia at North Harbour Stadium. It's been a pleasure bringing you all the action from the VFF Freshwater Stadium in Vanuatu this afternoon. For now, Harrison Ryburn signing out.

The All Whites return home to New Zealand after this one, with Malaysia waiting at North Harbour Stadium in Albany on Monday night. Darren Bazeley will be hoping for a slightly sterner test there, but his side will still be expected to win, as they return to home soil for the first time since March 2023. Meanwhile, Tahiti now look ahead to the November window, where they'll make the trip to Aotearoa for key clashes with Samoa and Vanuatu in Hamilton and Auckland.

A much better tactical effort from Tahiti compared to the 0-5 drubbing they recieved against New Zealand back in the semi-finals of the OFC Nations Cup in June. They were far more disciplined in defence and turned this into a hard-fought slog with the compact low block stationed around the top of their box. It worked well to disrupt and keep Wood largely quiet, and they exposed a lack of ruthlessness and accuracy from the All Whites attack for large stages. That defensive work will have to please Samuel Garcia, but they couldn't get anyone to hold up play down the other end of the field, and their counter-attack was largely non-existent. They've got the big one out of the way in their qualifying campaign first though, and the Tiki Toa now move on to face Samoa and Vanuatu in what loom as the pivotal matches in deciding their hopes of progressing through to the semi-finals.

About as straight-forward as it gets for the All Whites, who were far from their best, but still managed to open up a convincing margin between them and Tahiti on the scoreboard. They were frustratingly poor in the final third for long stages, and lacked creativity against their opponent's deep-lying low block. With Wood up top they barraged the box with a number of aerial balls, but the quality of delivery was largely poor, and they struggled to get the big striker into the game other than for the second goal. In the humid conditions, Bazeley probably will have expected this to be their toughest match of the group phase of the qualifying campaign, and that fatigue showed. It's hard to point out too many stand-outs, but Rufer was strong with his control of the midfield, even if he lacked much penetration with his distribution going forward. Job done for the All Whites in the end though, and they move on with all their remaining qualifying matches at home.

Fulltime in Port Vila and the All Whites have opened their World Cup qualifying campaign with a comfortable three-goal victory over Tahiti. It was slightly unconvincing at times, but they always looked in control after Elijah Just put them in front inside ninety seconds, before Chris Wood and Ben Waine rounded out the win with goals in the second half. The result continues their dominant form against OFC opposition, and New Zealand jump straight to the top of Group B after one game.

Garbett attempts a pass into the feet of Stamenic down the left-hand side of the box, but Tahiti intercept and clear away once more. It comes back to halfway, where the All Whites win a free kick following a late challenge on Pijnaker from Paama. The Tahitian picks up a yellow card.

Decoret hoofs the goal kick back up to halfway, where New Zealand get a throw. Sutton plays it back for Pijnaker to control at the back, and the All Whites reset once more. Roux gets involved with a couple of touches again.

Rufer picks out Barbarouses at the top right corner of the box, who trades passes with Rogerson in the hope of opening up some space for a shot. He runs straight into a defender though, before Rufer shanks a horrid shot wide of the left post for a Tahitian goal kick.