New Zealand's Chris Wood signs autographs. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / www.photosport.nz
Analysis - New Zealand are through to the semi-finals of Oceania's FIFA World Cup qualifiers. It was a relatively straightforward international window, the All Whites netting eight goals in each of their fixtures.
Such rampant displays makes it difficult to deduce any meaningful lessons on the field of play. Off of it, however, New Zealand Football will surely have one key takeaway - it is time to take the All Whites on the road.
New Zealand played their first fixture against Vanuatu at the FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton and it proved a big hit. Over 10,000 people watched on as Darren Bazeley's side hammered Vanuatu 8-1. From King Country to the Bay of Plenty, fans turned out in their droves on a Friday night just to get a glimpse of the best New Zealand has to offer in men's football. The attendance might have been even more, had the heavens not opened over the Waikato for much of the afternoon and evening.
It was a striking contrast to the disappointing 5327 in attendance for the 8-0 win over Samoa at Mount Smart on Monday night. The novelty of seeing the All Whites in action has certainly drifted again in Auckland especially, with all due respect to their plucky opponents, against a side ranked 186 in the world.
Liberato Cacace of New Zealand. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Wellington and Auckland are undoubtedly the hubs for the All Whites and rightly so. However, Friday's fixture was long overdue. It was the first time New Zealand have played a home game outside of Auckland or Wellington since Ricki Herbert led his side to an October 2012 win over Tahiti in Christchurch. Much like last week in Hamilton, just over 10,000 fans packed into Rugby League Park in Addington on that night.
It's odd to consider now, but 102 years ago, New Zealand's international heritage began far from Tāmaki Makaurau or Te Whanganui a Tara on the hallowed turf of Carisbrook in Dunedin. Since then, a handful of other towns and cities have had the honour of hosting the All Whites. A League of Ireland XI tour in 1982 stopped through Rotorua, Invercargill and Gisborne. Separate Fijian tours in 1985 and 1993 saw the Bula Boys pitch up at humble grounds in Tauranga, Napier and Palmerston North.
Nowadays, such extraordinary excursions are extremely rare.
Of course, options are limited. Nobody is suggesting a revisit to the site of a 1985 5-0 triumph over Fiji at the one stand mecca that is Mount Maunganui's Links Avenue. However, Forsyth Barr in Dunedin played host to six games at last year's FIFA Women's World Cup while venues in Christchurch, New Plymouth and Whangārei all played their part in hosting the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup - so plenty of options have FIFA approval.
New Zealand's Storm Roux. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / www.photosport.nz
There are other issues as well. The tight international window and far flung nature of an All Whites squad does not allow ample time for travel to other locations. Imagine being Joe Bell, spending 24 hours hitching a ride to Auckland from Norway, only to then head down to Dunedin. There's also the risk that overdoing it would spoil that novelty factor, and crowds would swiftly dwindle.
So no, it shouldn't be a regular thing. But at least once in every four-year World Cup cycle, it would be a massive boost for football fans across Aotearoa if the All Whites did play somewhere outside those recognised hubs in Auckland and Wellington.
At the Vanuatu game you could see fans adorned in a variety of different local club colours - from the Lakers of Taupō AFC, Edgecumbe's own Plains Rangers AFC or the avocado resplendent representatives of Katikati FC, among many others. These are New Zealand football fans who, more often than not, are geographically inhibited from seeing their national team in action. Removing that barrier again, across different regions both North and South, should be a priority for New Zealand's football decision makers.