The famous match where All Whites captain Chris Wood started ahead of England captain Harry Kane
Saturday, 6 June 2026
What: FIFA World Cup warmup match, All Whites v England. Where: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa. When: 8am Sunday (NZT), TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+.
Tampa, Florida: You might have seen how it ended – without even knowing what it was, because it was a small footnote in a much larger event.
Anthony Knockaert steps up to take a stoppage-time penalty to send Leicester City through to the final of the English Championship's promotion playoffs in 2013, but Watford goalkeeper Manuel Almunia comes up trumps and saves it, then saves the follow-up.
Within 20 seconds, The Hornets are up the other end of the pitch, scoring a goal that breaks the deadlock and sends them through instead. “Here's Hogg… Deeney!” was Jonathan Pearce’s immortal line of commentary. “Most dramatic end to a football match?” asked Watford's YouTube account. A highlight everyone except fans of the losing team will never get tired of watching.
The New Zealand interest lies in what happened for Leicester 97 minutes before that.
As the biggest match of their season began at Vicarage Road, Chris Wood – then a 30-cap All White, now a record-breaking 89-cap All White, on the verge of leading them at this year's World Cup – was joined up front for The Foxes by one-cap England international David Nugent.
On the bench were future England internationals Harry Kane – now their 2026 World Cup captain and the owner of 112 caps – and Jamie Vardy, who retired with 26 to his name. Kane replaced Wood just after the hour mark, while Vardy – three seasons away from scoring for fun in the English Premier League as Leicester won a remarkable title in fairytale fashion – remained unused.
Put simply: The All Whites’ current skipper started ahead of England’s current skipper, as he did quite often that year, after a brief stretch where they were paired together early on.
On Sunday (NZT) in Tampa, Florida, Wood and Kane are expected to lead their sides as they meet in a pre-World Cup friendly, one that has taken on added importance for New Zealand in the wake of their 4-0 loss to Haiti in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday.
Thirteen years ago, they were team-mates at Leicester, sharing a field together 10 times and playing in the same match another five.
Wood had arrived as that year started, in a permanent move from West Bromwich Albion shortly after turning 21, while Kane was there on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, aged 19.
Wood finished that season with nine goals in 20 Championship matches for Leicester, while Kane scored two in nine.
Kane’s star began to shine with Spurs in the Premier League two seasons later, when he scored 21 goals as a 21-year-old. Wood scored his first Premier League goal for Leicester the same season, but after that needed two more moves and two more seasons in the Championship before he became a regular at the top level for Burnley.
When he moved to Bayern Munich in Germany three years ago, Kane had scored 213 Premier League goals and sat second on the competition’s all-time list. With 92 to his name and now at Nottingham Forest, Wood sits 41st.
So what does New Zealand's most-capped player and leading goalscorer remember about playing and training with England’s leading goalscorer, who is on track to soon be his country's most-capped player?
“He was an excellent finisher, both left foot and right foot,” Wood told Stuff in Florida. “He was one of the most clinical finishers I'd ever seen. His finishing ability was top, even then, and there was no surprise when he went back to Tottenham and started scoring the goals that he scored.
“It was no surprise to me, because he had that finishing ability on lock. I think he just needed a manager to give him confidence. He made that [striker's] role at Spurs his own and he was fantastic for them for a long time.”
It took him a bit longer, but Wood eventually found his Premier League backer at Burnley in Sean Dyche. There, then at Newcastle United and at Forest, he came up against Spurs teams featuring Kane 12 times, sharing a pitch with him on 11 more occasions.
The All Whites will be bigger underdogs against England than any of Wood’s Premier League clubs ever were against Tottenham, but they know they have a striker who is no stranger to scoring against players of the Three Lions’ quality.
The big question is whether the defenders who conceded four to Haiti can keep out Kane and co.
It doesn't appear England's talisman has ever been asked about his former team-mate, even though the reverse has happened many times.
It would be something if there was to be a reason for that to change this weekend in Tampa.