All Whites star striker Chris Wood says a nine-team tournament next year to decide which Oceania side will reach the intercontinental playoff for a spot at the World Cup finals has been scheduled poorly and could affect player welfare.
Oceania does not have an automatic place at the World Cup. The winner of the March 14-30 competition in Qatar will face the fourth-placed team from the CONCACAF region, which features sides from North and Central America, and the Caribbean.
FIFA granted the Oceania Football Confederation a one-day extension to the March international window, due to run from March 21-29, to allow teams to call up overseas-based players from the final round of group matches onwards.
But Wood, who plays for Premier League side Burnley, says some players could also face a club-against-country battle, because of the format of the competition, with group games taking place before the international window.
"I think it's ridiculous, because - as a squad - we won't be able to get some of our best players there," Wood tells the LancsLive website. "We're looking at up to 16 players who won't be able to get there for the first couple of games.
"I don't think FIFA should have ever allowed us to be in this situation. It could take away a lot of our players, which - in theory - takes away from the competition and who is the best from OFC going to the World Cup.
"I'd expect FIFA to look at it more in depth and come up with a solution around it. It's not a great format, as we speak.
"Hopefully, they can change it, because player welfare isn't right, if you're making people play five games in 13 days.
"Also, you are making players either miss club games or miss internationals that are key World Cup qualifiers. I think they have structured it extremely wrong and hopefully they are looking at changing it."
New Zealand were the last country from the region to qualify for the World Cup, when they appeared in South Africa in 2010.
"OFC have not been favourable to us," Wood continues. "They have done what is best for them and what is voted on, and of course, all the teams are going to vote for this format, because it limits and restricts us.
"We have a full team of professional players, who have to stick by official FIFA rules and guidelines of international breaks.
"[NZ Football] have already looked at it and spoke to OFC before the announcement came out, but OFC have decided to go ahead with it.
"I think FIFA need to have a proper look it and maybe take it out of OFC’s hands."
Reuters.
