Preview: Australia vs New Zealand - prediction, team news, lineups

Two teams that have already qualified for the 2026 World Cup will meet for an international friendly on Friday, with Australia and New Zealand locking horns at the GIO Stadium in Bruce, Australia.

The pair will actually again face off in another friendly in Auckland, New Zealand next week, and it will be fascinating to see how both perform considering their impressive form of late.

Match preview

Australia went from the brink of disaster to automatic World Cup qualification over the summer, with Tony Popovic leading the national side to a spot at next year's tournament after arriving in September 2024.

Under Popovic, Australia have won five and drawn three of their eight matches, with the team finishing second behind Japan in Group C to ensure that they will be present at the 2026 tournament.

The Socceroos reached the last-16 stage of the 2022 World Cup, which represented their joint-best performance in the competition, having also been present in that round in 2006.

Australia have not actually lost a single match since September 2024, and they have four more friendlies lined up to finish the year, also tackling Canada and USA in October after their two September games with New Zealand.

The Socceroos comfortably lead the overall head-to-head record against New Zealand, winning 41 times and suffering only 13 defeats, and they have not been beaten by Friday's opponents since July 2002.

New Zealand, meanwhile, have also qualified for the 2026 World Cup, beating New Caledonia 3-0 in the final of their qualification section after topping Group B and then overcoming Fiji in the semi-finals.

The All Whites have twice been in the finals of a World Cup, featuring at the tournament in 1982 and 2010, but they failed to make it past the group stage of the competition on both occasions.

Darren Bazeley's side will enter this match off the back of a 2-1 defeat to Ukraine in their last friendly on June 10, but the national team have won eight of their last nine games.

New Zealand will also play two more friendlies in October, tackling Poland and Norway, and they will again be looking to Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood for inspiration.

Wood is second in terms of appearances for New Zealand, representing the national side on 84 occasions, while he is comfortably their all-time leading goalscorer on 44.

Australia friendlies form:

LLDLWW

Australia form (all competitions):

DDWWWW

New Zealand friendlies form:

LDWWWL

New Zealand form (all competitions):

WWWWWL

Team News

Australia head coach Popovic will look to use all of his squad in the next two friendlies with New Zealand, but a strong XI is set to take to the field for the first whistle on Friday.

Port Vale goalkeeper Joe Gauci is set to line up between the sticks, with the 25-year-old expected to earn his eighth cap, while Swansea City's Cameron Burgess and Blackburn Rovers' Lewis Miller should feature at the back.

Further forward, Martin Boyle, who represents Hibernian at club level, is the leading goalscorer in the squad with 10, and the 32-year-old is in line to start in the final third.

As for New Zealand, Wood is comfortably the most high-profile player in both squads, and the Forest striker is set to lead the line on his 89th appearance for the All Whites.

Wood's support will come from Kosta Barbarouses, who has scored nine times for his country, while Motherwell's Elijah Just is also in line for a spot in the starting side.

Millwall goalkeeper Max Crocombe should also start, while there are likely to be roles in the first XI for Sheffield United's Tyler Bindon and Swansea City's Marko Stamenic.

Australia possible starting lineup:

Gauci; Degenek, Burgess, Miller, Rowles; Hrustic, Metcalfe, O'Neill; Boyle, Silvera, Irankunda

New Zealand possible starting lineup:

Crocombe; Payne, Bindon, De Vries, Surman; Stamenic, Rufer, Bell; Just, Wood, Barbarouses

We say: Australia 2-1 New Zealand

We are expecting this to be a tight match, with New Zealand in strong form, but Australia's performances have been excellent since Popovic's arrival, and we are expecting the hosts to shade this international friendly.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.