Chris Wood has scored six goals across three group matches
Chris Wood scored a hat-trick as New Zealand beat Samoa 8-0 in a World Cup qualifier.
The Nottingham Forest striker scored a first-half double before completing his hat-trick on the hour mark in Auckland.
He was joined on the scoresheet by Callum McCowatt, Marko Stamenic, Francis de Vries, Elijah Just and Ben Waine.
Wood scored two goals in two minutes in New Zealand's 8-1 win against Vanuatu on Friday, after also scoring in his side's 3-0 defeat of Tahiti in their opening qualifier last month.
The 32-year-old has enjoyed an impressive start to the Premier League season, scoring eight goals in 11 games. Only Manchester City striker Erling Haaland (12) has scored more.
The All Whites captain is his country's all-time leading men's goalscorer with 41 goals in 80 appearances.
"It doesn't matter how they come or in what fashion, we just need to tick off wins," Wood said.
"That's the results business that we're in at the moment to get to the World Cup. We've got a semi-final to go and we need to win that to go through the final. And then win that to go through to the World Cup.
"So we're looking forward to the challenge ahead."
New Zealand have topped Group B of the Oceania Football Confederation qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup with three wins from three games.
Wood and his team-mates will face Fiji in March, and will play either New Caledonia or Tahiti should they progress.
The winner of that final will secure a place at the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, while the runner-up will progress to the inter-confederation play-off.
New Zealand have only appeared at two World Cup finals, the most recent coming in South Africa in 2010.
