A dominant All Whites performance was rewarded in style at the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium in Qatar on March 21, Fiji being put to the sword 4-0 to guarantee Danny Hay's charges' passage into the play-offs phase of their Oceania World Cup qualifying series with a game to spare. What was New Zealand's 100th World Cup fixture was marked by a significant milestone in the nation's footballing history, as Chris Wood succeeded Vaughan Coveny in becoming his country's most prolific marksman by scoring twice to take his tally to thirty goals in 'A' internationals, and 33 all told. But while he will celebrate that brace, the Newcastle United striker will be mindful that he could / should have had a hat-trick inside the opening twenty minutes of a match in which the Fijians fired just one shot in anger throughout the entire contest. Just six minutes had elapsed when the All Whites' back three of Winston Reid, Tommy Smith and Nando Pijnaker moved the ball from right to left, bringing Francis de Vries into play. The wingback sent Ben Waine galloping down the flank at pace, and after sweeping past an opponent the striker delivered a sumptuous arcing cross right onto Wood's head in the goalmouth. How the striker missed only he will know, but his header lacked both power and direction - a glorious chance, as was his next one in the eighteenth minute, ten minutes after Fiji had scrambled the ball to safety after Clayton Lewis' free-kick had picked out Nikko Kirwan beyond the far post. The latter was the instigator of a delightful All Whites move when slipping past an opponent then releasing Costa Barbarouses in space on the right. He delivered a gorgeous cross to the far post which was headed inside by Waine. Remueru Tekiate's headed clearance got as far as Wood, who hooked a volley over the bar from six yards. Two minutes later, Wood was looking skywards in frustration, having squandered another gilt-edged chance to open the scoring. Kirwan gave Lekima Gonerau the slip on the right - the fullback had already been booked for a crude foul - before crossing to the far post, where the fast-arriving figure of de Vries soared above all-comers to guide the ball down to Wood, whose six-yard shot was smothered by Mohammed Alam. Unperturbed, the All Whites continued to dominate proceedings, and within the next five minutes Waine, having been released by de Vries, whipped in a cross just behind the incoming figure of Wood. Seconds later, Barbarouses and Wood combined to present Marko Stamenic with a shooting chance, and after evading a challenge he unleashed a twenty-yarder which flew past Alam, only to cannon to safety off his left-hand upright. Amid a flurry of fouls - Fiji's indiscipline should have seen far more than four yellow cards shown to their players by Qatari referee Salman Falahi in this encounter - Barbarouses saw a shot blocked by Tekiate, before his measured cross picked out the unmarked figure of Waine, who should have done better than direct a looping header into Alam's grateful gloves. Right on the stroke of half-time, the All Whites finally got the goal their dominant display fully merited. Lewis' set-piece deliveries in this match were very good, and this one, from the left flank, found Wood arriving unmarked on the far post, from where he powered home a header to draw level with Coveny, whose tally of 29 goals has been the benchmark since May 2006.

The All Whites were swiftly into their stride in the second spell, but so were the Fijians, whose propensity for conceding fouls … until they rid their game of this collective recklessness and indiscipline, Fiji will never fulfil their potential, will always be a 'nearly' team, perennial under-achievers. Danny Hay's charges finally carved out their first opening of the half in the 61st minute. A Lewis corner was cleared to half-time substitute Elijah Just, who evaded a challenge before delivering a delightful cross to the near post for Wood, who contrived to head the ball over the bar from three yards … at least he was getting in the right positions to miss!! Two minutes later, Just made a great break down the left before his progress was thwarted by a Fijian defender. The ball broke for Wood, who slipped a pass into Kirwan's stride on the right-hand side of the penalty area. His low cross prompted an audacious back-heeled flick from Barbarouses which rolled agonisingly wide of the far post - it would have been some goal had it gone in! A goal was just around the corner, however, and like buses, two came within minutes of each other! Lewis' 71st minute corner was eventually cleared to Kirwan, who drove it back into the area and picked out Just. He rifled a shot on the turn into the top corner of Alam's net. 2-0 became 3-0 two minutes later, and a fine move featuring Stamenic, Lewis and Just resulted in Wood hurtling through the inside left channel at a great rate of knots. Down on goal he bore, luring Alam out of goal before slipping the ball beyond him and into the net to become the most prolific marksman in New Zealand's history. Straight from the kick-off, Reid and Smith got in each other's way, allowing Fijian striker Sairusi Nalaubu to latch onto the loose ball, cut in from the left and unleash a piledriver which the hitherto unoccupied Oliver Sail flew to his left to paw to safety - a great save! Heeding the warning shot, the All Whites stepped up their game for the duration, and carved out three more opportunities to improve their winning margin. Twelve minutes from time, Garbett and Lewis combined with de Vries, whose cross, targeting substitute Logan Rogerson, was well smothered by Alam. Three minutes later, Rogerson, who had entered the fray at Wood's expense, cut in off the left and evaded a challenge before letting fly, only to see his shot ricochet to safety off a team-mate. But Rogerson was to play a part in the All Whites' final goal of the night, a stoppage time penalty converted by Lewis and awarded after Alam was harshly adjudged to have fouled the striker as he looked to head home Dale Ingham's cross. The final whistle soon afterwards confirmed the All Whites' place in the knockout phase of the competition on a night Chris Wood carved his name into New Zealand football history as the country's most prolific marksman on the world stage. Fiji:          Alam (booked, 90); Raju (booked, 65), Tuivuna, Sami (Ali, 89), Tekiate, Gonerau (booked, 7); Krishna (booked, 65), Waranaivalu (Naresh, 82), Hughes (Joseph, 85), Naidu; Nalaubu All Whites:     Sail; Reid (Boxall, 82), Smith, Pijnaker (booked, 29); Kirwan (Ingham, 82), Stamenic (Garbett, 75), Lewis, de Vries; Barbarouses, Wood (Rogerson, 75), Waine (Just, 46 (booked, 68)) Referee:     Salman Falahi (Qatar)