Coronavirus: All Whites’ matches against Oman and Bahrain canned, more could follow

The All Whites' matches against Oman and Bahrain this month are off and the Football Ferns and the OFC Nations Cup could be next to feel the effect of coronavirus. 

NZ Football affirmed on Thursday that the pair of friendlies in the Middle East, booked for March 27 (NZ time) and March 31, had been dropped by the host countries. 

With those matches dropped, the Football Ferns' benevolent against Japan in Sendai on April 11 is the nation's next universal apparatus in danger, and after that it will be the OFC Nations Cup, which is set to happen in Auckland in June. 

NZ Football CEO Andrew Pragnell didn't wish to address either occasion explicitly, yet recognized that it was an ever-developing, liquid circumstance and one that they were checking intently. 

"Globally, everything is up for a really huge conversation now," Pragnell said. 

Danny Hay and the All Whites won't play in the Middle East one month from now. 

"You would have seen the Asian World Cup qualifiers have been deferred as far as possible of the year, so even the domino impact that moving those apparatuses will have will be huge. 

"I would prefer not to estimate on that specific occasion (the Nations Cup) right now, however there is no uncertainty there will be a domino impact and there will be a great deal of rethinking and rescheduling of football comprehensively." 

The Oceania Football Confederation reported on Monday that it was suspending all gatherings, competitions, and workshops until May 6 as a careful step to battle the coronavirus pandemic. 

New Zealand is the main nation in the OFC to have revealed instances of coronavirus – five as of Thursday – so it was a strong advance for the confederation to take, however one that may demonstrate reasonable if the worldwide circumstance keeps on raising. 

"Associations are reacting quickly around the globe and settling on choices actually rapidly," Pragnell said. 

"It would have been a choice made by the Oceania official board and we're spoken to on that, yet these are kind of choices that should be made on the spot. 

"It's not something I've been effectively engaged with, however actually, the circumstance is unique in relation to it was two days prior, or even yesterday, so while it may appear to be very mindful yesterday, today it may appear the best activity, and individuals may be stating in seven days 'extraordinary foreknowledge'." 

The OFC's choice methods the OFC Under-17 Women's Championship, planned for Tahiti in April, and the knockout phases of the OFC Champions League, are by and by in limbo. 

The All Whites' games in the Middle East during the March window have been canned. 

Pragnell said the crossing out of the All Whites' matches had been normal – and was not a direct result of the spread of coronavirus in the host nations, which were revealing 110 and 18 cases separately, as of Thursday, per the World Health Organization. 

"The wellbeing hazard is clearly genuine, yet at the same time generally low in Bahrain and Oman. 

"Probably the greatest hazard is that we have players caught in conditions who can't get back and come back to their vocations and the equivalent with our staff, and that could have enormous repercussions for them by and by." 

"Bahrain and Oman officially dropped medium-term, yet it was our desire developing to that that that would occur. 

"We've been observing the circumstance on an hourly premise instead of simply day by day, so it was something we were foreseeing."