The All Whites appear unlikely to risk star striker and captain Chris Wood for the second of two international friendlies against China at Wellington on Sunday.
The Nottingham Forest striker played no part in Thursday's goalless draw at Mt Smart Stadium and although interim coach Darren Bazeley said after the game he'd join them for the trip down to the capital, he was a conspicuous absence, when the team arrived at Wellington Airport on Friday afternoon.
Bazeley says Wood remained in Auckland to undergo further medical consultation on his thigh injury and was noncommittal, when pressed whether the striker would be with the squad at Sky Stadium.
Given Wood's importance to both the All Whites and his English Premier League side, he admits they won't take any chances this weekend.
"We're guided by the medical departments," Bazeley told Newshub. "They're in constant contact with Nottingham Forest and their medical department.
"Chris is not a player that you really want to take any risks with… we'll see how we go through the week.
"I'd like to think that we will see him. We'll catch up with them later on this afternoon.
"Obviously, there's a lot of flights between Auckland and Wellington, and if all goes well and he's still on the road to recovery, then hopefully we'll see him."
Wood's goalscoring qualities were sorely missed at Mt Smart Stadium, where the All Whites lacked the finishing touch they desperately needed to convert any of their many opportunities in the opening half.
The decisive moment came when captain Tommy Smith was shown a red card, spoiling both his own milestone 50th match and All Whites hopes of finding a winning goal, as they switched to defensive mode, and their mammoth statistical advantages in territory and possession swung in China's direction.
"The red card did change the game and it becomes really difficult playing with 10 men against a good team," Bazeley admitted.
"Off the back of the short window and having a lot of players travelling from across the world, to then play with 10 men for 30 mins was difficult, but it gave the lads a chance to show a lot of team spirit, a lot of character, a lot of resilience and I was very proud of the way we did play with 10 men."
Nevertheless, an entire calendar year without a goal - dating back to a 5-0 win over Solomon Islands in March 2022 - will be cause for concern, despite playing what Bazeley describes as a "good brand of football".
"We tried to put balls into certain areas with crosses, and getting numbers into the boxes to try and score those goals," he noted.
"I thought out of possession we were very good, very brave, very positive. We put China under a lot of early pressure, won the ball back really quickly from them and didn't really give them much chance in the first half to get their game going.
"The red card did change things.That was a mistake between three of our guys and that happens in football.
"We tried to deal with it and still had a couple of chances with 10 men, but when we score, I think everyone's going to be pretty excited."
Those anticipation levels are sure to peak for Sunday's rematch.
