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Auckland, Christchurch to host All Whites

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Auckland, Christchurch to host All Whites

3News NZ

All Whites celebrate Shane Smeltz's goal at the OFC Nations Cup 2012 (Photosport file)

All Whites celebrate Shane Smeltz's goal at the OFC Nations Cup 2012 (Photosport file)

Auckland and Christchurch will host the All Whites' first two home matches of their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign.

The matches, part of the third stage of Oceania qualifying, will be played against the Solomon Islands at North Harbour Stadium on September 11 and against Tahiti at Christchurch's AMI Stadium on October 16.

The latter match will be the first the All Whites have played in the South Island since a 1-0 win over Malaysia at QEII Park in 2006.

The venue for New Zealand's third home qualifier, on March 22, 2013, is yet to be decided.

New Zealand Football chief executive Grant McKavanagh was pleased to be able to acknowledge the strong influence of Canterbury players in past and present All Whites sides.

"It's exciting to be able to bring the national team back to Christchurch given what the region has given to the All Whites," McKavanagh said in a statement.

New Zealand's first match in the Oceania qualifying campaign is away to New Caledonia in Noumea on September 7.

The winners of the qualifying series progress to a home and away playoff against the fourth-placed qualifiers from the North and Central America region in November 2013 for a place at the World Cup finals in Brazil a year later.

NZN

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