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The All Whites return to the South Island for the first time since 2013 in what will be Darren Bazeley’s last match as coach.
In that time, the team have qualified for and played in a Fifa World Cup, while also securing two OFC Nations Cups.
They come
into their second fixture against India in this international window much stronger than their last visit to the South Island, when they beat New Caledonia 2-1 in March 2013.
They’ll be looking to better their last visit to Christchurch too, which ended with a 3-0 win over Tahiti in October 2012.
Despite the novelty of the fixture, which will be played in front of a packed crowd at One NZ Stadium, coach Darren Bazeley said there won’t be any changes to their usual preparation.
“We get down there for dinner [Friday] night and then we have one training session and we go again,” he said after the All Whites’ 5-0 victory over India.
“So I’m really looking forward to getting down to Christchurch. We haven’t played down there for a long time and I’ve never had a game where I’ve been involved in Christchurch and the stadium looks amazing.
“So I mean, for me to finish up in that stadium in Christchurch is really cool. I live in Auckland and this was, this was really nice tonight.
“But it’ll be really cool in Christchurch, big crowd. Hopefully we put on an even better performance on Sunday.”
He was quick to dismiss fears the stadium may be too hot after six people required medical treatment at the venue in October.
“These are professional footballers, they’re fit and they’ll deal with it. And we’ve got good protocols for playing in heat.
“I mean, we played in, you know, when we played Mexico in LA and through the World Cup, we’ve played in pretty hot places.
“So whilst I’ve seen the reports around some of the stadium temperatures, I’m sure it’ll be fine and we won’t change the way we play.”
Kickoff for the All Whites v India match in Christchurch is at 4pm on Sunday, November 15.
Samuel Sherry is a live news sport journalist for the New Zealand Herald, based in Auckland.
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