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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Nottingham Forest striker and New Zealand captain Chris Wood has defended the decision to give FIFA's smallest confederation, Oceania, direct qualification to the 2026 World Cup. New Zealand will play Fiji and Tahiti will play New Caledonia in Wellington, New Zealand in the semifinals of the Oceania qualifying tournament on Friday. The final will be played in Auckland next Mondsy and the winner will be among the first teams to join hosts Canada, the United States and Mexico at next year's expanded 48-team World Cup. Wood says "I do believe Oceania should have an automatic entry to make it a full World Cup of every continent — it's truly a fair way of doing it."
