SAN FRANCISCO, October 14, (THEWILL) – New Zealand have withdrawn from a mid-November international friendly with the Three Lions of England at Wembley due to Covid-19-related complications.
The New Zealand Football Association, which made this withdrawal public, says they will not play the friendly scheduled for November 12 “due to further travel and player availability complications caused by COVID-19.”
Chief Executive Officer at New Zealand Football, Andrew Pragnell, in his explanation said, “The shifting nature of travel restrictions and commercial flight availability under COVID means that we do not have certainty we could assemble a squad at Wembley on this day and defaulting on this fixture at the last minute is not an option.”
Pragnell added that New Zealand would now look forward to the March 2021 international window as the All Whites kickoff their qualifying campaign for the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
In response, the official England Twitter account posted this message:
“We can confirm New Zealand’s withdrawal from next month’s international friendly. We will announce replacement opposition in due course.”
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