New Zealand’s home FIFA Series™ campaign has kicked off with a 2-0 defeat to Finland at Eden Park in Auckland.
Welcoming European opposition to New Zealand for the first time in 30 years, the All Whites lacked a cutting edge in the final third and were caught out twice defensively by the Finns – suffering their seventh international defeat from their last eight games.
New Zealand were guilty of making a slow start, in the first of two home send-off fixtures before they head to FIFA World Cup 2026™. A defensive lapse at set-piece from Francis De Vries was punished in the 25th minute, allowing Joel Pojhanpalo to leap up and nod the ball into the back of the net for his 19th international goal.
An injury for De Vries just before the end of the first half was another blow, forcing coach Darren Bazeley into an early change, as his side continued to struggle to impose themselves on the game.
The All Whites best chance of the match fell to half-time substitute Jesse Randall with 15 minutes to play, who cut inside off the left flank, but pulled his effort inches over the top of the crossbar from a tight angle.
Pushing numbers forward in an attempt to get the equaliser, New Zealand were caught out again for the second goal. A fantastic Finnish counter-attack was finished off by Jaako Oksenen in the 85th minute, sealing Finland’s first victory against a nation outside of Europe since 2018.
New Zealand were far from outplayed but will want to deliver a much-improved performance when they take on Chile in their second FIFA Series match at the same venue on Monday evening.
New Zealand: 0
Finland: 2 (Joel POHJANPALO 25′, Jaako OKSENEN 85′)
HT: 0-1
The Solomon Islands first match against European opposition has also ended in defeat, losing 10-2 to Bulgaria in their FIFA Series™ match at the Galora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Two goals from Raphael Lea’i were bright moments on an otherwise chastening night, as new head coach Ben Cahn marked the start of his tenure in charge of the national team with a heavy defeat.
The Solomon Islands struggled to stem the flow of goals throughout, leaking five in either half – Vladimir Nikolov highlighting the scoring for Bulgaria with a hat-trick. Marin Petkov and Filip Krastev were the others to score more than once for Bulgaria, both grabbing a brace.
After conceding twice inside the first 13 minutes, Raphael Lea’i scored the first of his two goals for the Solomon Islands in the 29th minute from the penalty spot – halving the deficit and briefly giving the Melanesian side some hope.
Lea’i’s second goal in the 70th minute was arguably one of the best of the night – blasting a long range effort into the left-hand side of the net from outside the box to take his international goal-scoring tally to 14.
Petkov and Krastev both completed their doubles before the half-time break though, before Nikolov got in on the act with a hat-trick in the second half as Bulgaria cruised to their biggest win since 1968.
Whilst it isn’t a result they’ll look back fondly on, the contest provided invaluable experience for the Solomon Islands against European opposition.
They’ll return to action for their second FIFA Series match against St Kitts & Nevis at the same stadium on Monday night.
Solomon Islands: 2 (Raphael LEA’I (P) 29′, 70′)
Bulgaria: 10 (Marin PETKOV 5′, 45+2′, Tonislav YORDANOV (P) 13′, Filip KRASTEV 39′, 44′, Vladimir NIKOLOV 53′, 81′, 90+3′, Georgi RUSEV (P) 63′, Kristiyan BALOV 65′)
HT: 1-5
Photo credit: FIFA via Getty Images