Comments and predictions for New Zealand vs Ivory Coast: Falling at the last minute

Latest New Zealand vs Ivory Coast team information

New Zealand's 23-man squad includes several England-based players, such as goalkeeper Nick Zanew (Northampton Town) and defender Tyler Bindon (Reading).

Leading the attack is Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood, who enjoyed a brilliant 2024–25 season in the Premier League.

The 33-year-old striker scored 20 goals in England's top league, making a great contribution to helping the "Tricky Trees" team win a place in the European Cup.

On the other side of the front line, Ivory Coast has a squad with many stars playing in Europe, such as former Arsenal striker Nicolas Pépé, Simon Adingra (Brighton & Hove Albion) and Sébastien Haller (Utrecht) - who scored the decisive goal in the AFCON final.

Two rare names who do not play in Europe are Franck Kessié (Al-Ahli – Saudi Arabia) and goalkeeper Badra Ali Sangaré (Sekhukhune United – South Africa).

New Zealand vs Ivory Coast latest expected lineup

New Zealand:

Crocombe; Cacace, Bindon, Cacace, De Vries; Bell, Singh, Stemanic; Garbett, Wood, McCowatt

Ivory Coast:

Fofana; Singo, Gbamin, Kossounou, Operi; Sangare, Kessie; Pepe, M. Diomande, Adingra; Haller

Latest football commentary New Zealand vs Ivory Coast

New Zealand go into this game high on confidence following a run of six consecutive wins in all competitions – a run that has been explosive in both style of play and goalscoring.

Darren Bazeley's side have scored 33 goals and conceded just once during this period, including five World Cup qualifiers and a 4-0 friendly win over Malaysia.

The All Whites' most recent outing was in March's internationals, when they comfortably beat Fiji 7-0 in the Oceania zone's third round, then overcame New Caledonia 3-0 to secure the region's sole spot at the 2026 World Cup.

Having proven their continental dominance, New Zealand – currently ranked 86th in FIFA – will now face their biggest test in recent times when they take on an opponent ranked 45 places above them.

This is also an opportunity for the Oceania team to erase their bad luck when facing African representatives, after three consecutive matches without a win: a draw with the Democratic Republic of Congo, a narrow loss to Egypt 0-1 on March 22 last year and being eliminated by Tunisia on penalties four days later.

Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast), September 4, 2024

For Ivory Coast, this match took place during a period of optimism and strong recovery under coach Emerse Faé - who quickly revived the team since taking over midway through CAN 2023.

The 41-year-old coach was appointed when the team was about to be eliminated from the group stage, especially after a humiliating 0-4 defeat to Equatorial Guinea right at home in Abidjan.

However, from the brink of defeat, Faé led the Elephants through the group stage as one of the best third-placed teams, and then produced a miraculous run to the title after defeating Nigeria in the final.

Since that glorious night, the West African side have maintained a steady form with 10 wins in 15 games, along with 2 draws and just 3 defeats in all competitions.

That includes qualification for the next AFCON in Morocco and a positive start to the 2026 World Cup qualifiers – where Ivory Coast are top of Group F.

Their last two matches saw them win 1-0 against Burundi and Gambia respectively, keeping them one point clear of second-placed Gabon with four games remaining. The Canadian Shield will be their chance to keep the momentum going ahead of the crucial qualifying stages.

Latest New Zealand vs Ivory Coast score prediction

Based on the above football comments, we and the world's leading football sites have given the results of the match.New Zealand vs Ivory Coastas follows:

• Sportsmole:New Zealand 1-2 Ivory Coast

• WhoScore:New Zealand 1-3 Ivory Coast
• Our newspaper predicts:New Zealand 1-2 Ivory Coast

When and where to watch New Zealand vs Ivory Coast live?

To watch live the match New Zealand vs Ivory Coast in the international friendly taking place at 7:00 a.m. on June 8, viewers can watch onK+ Sport,K+PMor online sports channels. Wish you have fun watching football.