Soccer-New Zealand skipper Wood to return to Forest with knee query

Oct 15 - New Zealand captain Chris Wood will return to embattled Nottingham Forest under a fitness query after coming off with knee soreness in the 1-1 draw against Norway.

Coach Darren Bazeley took Wood off on the hour-mark following a clash in the friendly in Oslo on Tuesday where the striker became the All Whites' equal-most capped player with Ivan Vicelich.

Bazeley said Wood's knee had been bothering him during the international window, but the team had managed it so he could start against the Norwegians and match Vicelich's record.

"It's been a little bit sore for this week. Nothing too bad," Bazeley said in the post-match press conference.

"I think when you saw him go down, he was holding it a little bit. It's a little bit of tightness within his knee.

"So I think he will be fine. But we knew throughout the week he wasn't 100% fit. So he didn't play much against Poland.

And then, we worked through so that he could start today because today he became the ... joint-leading appearance maker with 88 caps.

New Zealand's all-time leading goal-scorer was kept on the bench until the 84th minute of the 1-0 friendly defeat to Poland in Chorzow last Thursday.

Wood's struggles come at a bad time for Forest, who are winless in seven matches in all competitions under Ange Postecoglou ahead of meeting Chelsea at home on Saturday.

Wood scored two goals in Forest's Premier League opener against Brentford but has not been on the scoresheet since.

He appeared a shadow of the striker that netted 20 goals last season as Forest lost 2-0 at Newcastle United in their last start, heaping further pressure on Postecoglou.

Against Norway, Wood missed two chances in two minutes to put the All Whites 2-0 up early in the second half when he volleyed into the cross-bar before heading wide.

Minutes after Wood came off, Norway substitute Antonio Nusa scored from close range, cancelling out Finn Surman's sliding effort on the stroke of half-time.

New Zealand, already qualified for next year's World Cup, ended Norway's nine-game winning streak but were denied their first win in Europe since 2010.

"Not losing is good, but we haven't won. That's our next step - to beat European teams, to beat South American teams," said Bazeley.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

Source: HindustanTimes
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