The All Whites advanced to the OFC World Cup qualifying semi-finals on November 15, vanquishing Vanuatu 8-1 in front of 10,113 fans at FMG Stadium as Hamilton hosted a New Zealand men's full international fixture for the first time in the city's history. The Football Ferns have graced Waikato's capital on five occasions, most recently in February 2023, but this was the first time since August 1958 that the All Whites have been in town, and on that occasion it was a game against a Waikato XI which was squeezed in between clashes with Australia and New Caledonia. Other national teams have played in Hamilton over the years, but it's taken until now for Kirikiriroa, which is poised to overtake Wellington and become New Zealand's third most populous city in the near future, to play host to the All Whites on international duty, and those who attended despite the inclement weather weren't disappointed. Darren Bazeley's charges were, a couple of wayward Michael Boxall passes aside, swiftly into their stride, dominating the early stages and deservedly opening the scoring in the tenth minute. Matt Garbett swooped on a stray Mitch Cooper header and fair thundered an unerring twenty yard missile into the corner of Dick Sablan's net with such speed that the 'keeper barely moved before the ball had passed him. Going behind early roused something in Vanuatu's loins, for they responded well after conceding and were rewarded with a stunning equaliser just seven minutes later. Jordy Tasip won a battle for possession with Liberato Cacace, surged into the right-hand side of the penalty area and promptly struck a delicious chipped shot which completely deceived Max Crocombe en route to dropping into the net by the far post - 1-1, to the delight of Vanuatu's fans. Alas for the island nation, that was akin to waving a red flag at a bull, for the All Whites simply stepped up a gear and snuffed out any hopes Vanuatu may have held of causing a stunning upset. Five minutes after conceding, Storm Roux and Elijah Just combined with Logan Rogerson, whose rising twelve yard drive was tipped over the bar by Sablan, who also came for Liberato Cacace's resulting corner but got nowhere near it. Meanwhile, Vanuatu's defenders simply stood and watched as Chris Wood stole a march on them and headed New Zealand back in front in the 23rd minute. Within sixty seconds, the All Whites' captain had repeated the feat, this time heading home from close range by the far post after Garbett - a fine display - motored down the left and rounded Timothy Boulet before delivering a quality cross which resulted in the scoreline changing to 3-1 in the home team's favour. There was no way back for Vanuatu from this, but to their credit, they never gave up. Just two minutes after Wood's second goal, Brian Kaltak pinged the ball forward for Cooper to lay off into the stride of Kensi Tangis. He lashed a shot over the bar from the edge of the penalty area. The offside flag denied Wood what would have been a five-minute hat-trick, while on the half-hour, a Garbett corner picked out Boxall, whose bullet header was headed off the line by the wonderfully named Johnathan Spokey Jack. Another corner resulted, with Cacace's delivery finding Wood on the far post. This time, he laid the ball back to Garbett, who drilled one towards goal from the edge of the area. Tyler Bindon reacted quickest of anybody to divert it into the net - 4-1 after 31 minutes. Now they had the bit between their teeth, there was no stopping the All Whites. Roux and Rogerson worked a one-two on the right five minutes later before bringing Alex Rufer into play. His delightful curling cross was pounced on by Wood, who directed his header inches past the post. Seven minutes before half-time, the All Whites went nap, with another Cacace delivery the source of Vanuatu's sadness. This time, it was a free-kick taken by the fullback which gained due reward, albeit from an unlikely source - Kaltak beat Bindon in the air, but only succeeded in directing the ball into his own net from twelve yards to make it 5-1. How it remained that way until half-time only Juliano Schmeling's charges will know! An acrobatic goal-line clearance from Tasso Jeffrey prevented Just from adding his name to the list of scorers after Cacace and Garbett had combined on the left, while Wood shot tamely at Sablan after receiving a superb

defence-splitting pass from Marko Stamenic in his stride. Kaltak then produced a crucial headed clearance to deny Wood a first half hat-trick after Garbett and Just combined on the left, while Rufer drilled a twenty-yarder straight at Sablan with the last act of note in the half after Stamenic and Cacace had combined to good effect on the left - the fullback was in fine fettle throughout this fixture. Vanuatu made a couple of half-time substitutions which significantly strengthened their resistance, to the extent that the All Whites found things a great deal more challenging during the next thirty minutes or so of play. Indeed, it was the visitors who fired the first shot in anger in the second spell, Tangis scampering down the left and taking on all-comers before picking out Spokey Jack, who set up Jared Clark for a shot from the edge of the penalty area which Crocombe was forced to turn round the post. The All Whites continued to make in-roads down the left, with Just engineering space in the 52nd minute to deliver a cross which Rogerson headed inside towards Wood. Kaltak thwarted his fellow captain's bid to alter the scoreline once more, while four minutes later, Roux's flying header flew past the post after the fullback was picked out by Garbett's scrumptious curling cross towards the far upright. Halfway through the second spell, Cacace and the freshly introduced Sarpreet Singh - great to see him back in an All Whites' shirt - combined to send Wood away down the left, from where he slipped the ball inside to Singh. Kaltak - without him, Vanuatu would have copped a proper hiding! - intervened once more, but within seconds, Singh was in again, this time from Cacace's headed pass. This time, he got a shot on goal, only for Sablan to pull off a fine diving save to his left to maintain the half-time score. Eighteen minutes from time, Cacace and Garbett worked another one-two on the left, the fullback this time crossing to the near post. The ball was slightly behind the fast-arriving figure of Just, whose attempt at an improvised finish saw the sphere career past the wrong side of the post, at least from New Zealand's perspective. Just didn't have long to wait to finally get the All Whites' sixth goal - a mere two minutes, in fact. It was worth the wait, too, Rufer's pass finding his team-mate surging through the inside right channel, where Just took on and beat two opponents before rifling a low drive beyond Sablan and into the far corner of the net from fifteen yards. Having rebooted their goal account, the All Whites spent virtually the rest of the half looking to add to it, succeeding on two more occasions. Garbett's twenty-five yard curler was grabbed by Sablan, before the same player made a pig's ear of an opening presented to him by a sublime measured cross from Callum McCowatt in the 78th minute. Four minutes later, the crowd was singing Singh's praises after he found the top far corner of the net from ten yards out, Cacace and Garbett having once more opened up the Vanuatu rearguard down the All Whites' left flank. That made it 7-1, to which Vanuatu responded by forcing an opening which saw Bindon thwart substitute Alex Saniel's bid to reduce the deficit in the dying minutes. McCowatt hit the post and Singh sent a header flashing across the face of goal following a Cacace corner, but these efforts were preceded by the game's final goal, McCowatt sliding in on the far post to direct the ball beyond Sablan, having been picked out by Singh's pinpoint cross. A good night's work for the All Whites, which, coupled with their defeat of Tahiti in Port Vila in October, means that Monday's encounter with group minnows Samoa at GoMedia Mt Smart Stadium, while academic, offers the champions of Oceania the chance to dip their bread and establish a new goalscoring record for the All Whites, surpassing the 13-0 World Cup qualifying win over Fiji which was recorded at the same venue in August 1981. All Whites:     Crocombe; Roux, Boxall, Bindon, Cacace; Stamenic (Bell, 62), Rufer, Garbett (Gillion, 84); Rogerson (Singh, 62), Wood (Waine, 75), Just (McCowatt, 75) Vanuatu:     Sablan; Boulet (Ruben, 64), Clark, Kaltak, Jeffrey (booked, 37); Spokey Jack, Alick, Vatu (Coulon, 46), Tasip (Kaltack, 75); Tangis (Saniel, 46), Cooper (Kalo, 64) Referee:     Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)