Wood, who scored 18 goals for Premier League third-place Nottingham, sustained a suspected hip injury in the final of the Oceania World Championship qualifying round and was substituted in Auckland in the 54th minute.
When the striker left the pitch, the score was unexpectedly 0–0 in the match against New Caledonia, a French territory that became a full member of the International Football Federation (Fifa) in 2004.
Seven minutes later, however, Michael Boxall scored the decisive 1–0 goal, and New Zealand was ultimately able to secure a spot in the World Championship for the third time in history with a 3–0 win. The country has previously played in the World Championship in 1982 and 2010 without winning a single match.
Thanks to the expansion of the tournament to 48 teams next summer, Oceania has been awarded a direct spot in the World Championship – previously, one team had to play a qualifying final against a team from another continental federation.
New Caledonia – ranked 152nd in the world – can still make it. The team will now play a playoff for two World Championship spots against five teams from Africa, Asia, South America, and North and Central America.
Australia has been part of the Asian Football Federation since 2006.
In addition to the host nations USA, Mexico, and Canada, Japan has also recently qualified for the championship next summer.
Corrected version: An earlier version contained an error regarding how teams from Oceania previously qualified for the World Championship.
