It’s the words all Kiwi football fans want to hear.
“I’m back to full fitness, I’ve been playing games for over a month, feel good, feel up to speed,” Chris Wood said.
The All Whites captain is back playing for English Premier League side Nottingham Forest, having missed the majority of the season with a knee injury.
He went under the knife in December and returned to the team at the end of March. Despite that, there were few fears he wouldn’t be fit in time to play in June’s World Cup.
This World Cup will be New Zealand's first in 16 years. The 26-man squad will start their campaign against Iran in Los Angeles, before heading to Vancouver play Egypt and Belgium.
“This won’t stop me at all, if anything it's prolonged my career, it’s given me a year hiatus so I can go on for another season or two,” Wood said of the injury lay-off.
Last week Wood was named as the All Whites captain for the World Cup - 16 years on from going to his first World Cup as an 18-year-old. Wood and defender Tommy Smith are the only two current players who played in the 2010.
“He’s got a lot more experience than I do, he started and played all those games,” Wood said of Smith, who played hundreds of matches for Ipswich Town and now is at fifth-tier Braintree Town.
“A World Cup is a different animal, it’s a big occasion for everybody to have to deal with and for people to deal with mentally,” Wood said.
Wood plays his final game of the Premier League season on Monday against Bournemouth, but before that he'll be tuning into tomorrow’s A-League grand final, where Auckland FC take on Sydney.
Watch the All Whites' FIFA World Cup and warmup matches live and free on TVNZ+
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