World Cup Qualifying: New Zealand vs Peru preview

New Zealand are looking to get to their third World Cup tournament but first they will have to get past Peru in the play-offs. The first leg of the tie will be played at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington and the home side are heavy underdogs. The two teams have never met before but judging by their history at the World Cup we can see Peru as favourites because they have reached the final tournament on four occasions. However, Peru have not been at the World Cup since 1982, while New Zealand have played at the 2010 World Cup and were unlucky to be eliminated after having recorded three draws in the group stage. New Zealand have cruised through the Australia and Oceania section of the World Cup qualifying campaign, they have not lost any of their nine matches and eased past the Solomon Islands in the final round with a 6-1 victory at home and a 2-2 draw in the second leg. However, the quality of the opponents they faced so far is nowhere near a side from South America like Peru. New Zealand will most likely rely on their experienced defence and hope to pull something off a the other end of the pitch through striker Chris Wood. Peru had a much tougher qualification campaign in South America, they battled for a top-five spot until the very last match and needed just one more point to secure automatic qualification. They have not lost any of their last six qualification matches and managed to finish ahead Chile, a much better side on paper. Even though they are favourites against New Zealand, Peru have suffered an important blow as top scorer Paolo Guerrero is unavailable because of a doping ban. Probable line-ups: New Zealand: Marinovic - Smith, Reid, Durante - Boxall, Rojas, McGlinchey, Thomas, Wynne - Wood, Barbarouses Peru: Gallese - Corzo, Rodriguez, Ramos, Trauco - Tapia, Yotun - Carrillo, Cueva, Flores - Farfan My prediction: 1-1 draw. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: New Zealand win - 5.09 Draw - 3.50 Peru win - 1.83