The All Whites have marked their long-awaited return to the international stage in winning fashion after taking down Curacao in Bahrain overnight Saturday.
New Zealand's men's football team had not played a match in almost 700 days due to the Covid-19 pandemic, last taking the field to play against Ireland and Lithuania in November 2019.
The return had some new faces attached to it with Mark Stamenic, Niko Kirwan and Matthew Garbett all starting in their international debuts.
The team's hiatus was quickly forgotten about with midfielder Bill Tuiloma opening the scoring for the All Whites in just the ninth minute of the match with a long range free kick that was deflected into the goal.
Premier League star Chris Wood doubled the lead soon after, finding the back of the net to put the All Whites up 2-0 after 33 minutes.
The All Whites then had a chance to push their lead to three goals with Callum McCowatt and Sarpreet Singh looking to link up with Wood but the trio failed to get a shot off.
Instead, Curacao clawed a goal in the 72nd minute via Rangelo Janga, ending the 70-minute dominant performance from the Kiwis and forcing a defensive finish to the match.
The All Whites are back in action Wednesday at 5am NZT when they take on Bahrain.
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