Qualifying Recap: OCEANIA

Double Post today as I do some catch-up before games start. Injury reports are being built in to team previews which should start Monday. North and South America qualifying recaps tomorrow and Friday at the latest.

RUNDOWN

Teams Entered in Qualfiying: 11
Spots Allocated by FIFA: 0.5
Number of Rounds: 3
Number of Matches Played: 36
Goals Scored: 124
Top Goal-Scorer: 8 Goals; Georges Gope-Fenepej (NCL)

Oceanic Countries Previously in Cup Finals: 1
Most Appearances: New Zealand (2)
Best Finish: Group Stage (New Zealand 1982 and 2010)

INTRODUCTION

The weakest of all 6 confederations associated with the World Cup, Oceania is still trying to recover from Australia jumping to the Asian Confederation prior to 2010 qualifying.

The 11 teams in Oceania qualifying were seeded with the top 7 given byes directly to Round 2, which doubled as the 2012 OFC Nations Cup. The lowest four seeds took part in Round 1, with the group winner advancing to Round 2. Round 2 consisted of 2 groups of 4 teams, with the top 2 teams in each group advancing to Round 3. The group winner from Round 3 advanced to an intercontinental playoff against a North American representative for a chance to qualify.

ROUND 1 (November 2011)

Team	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Points
Samoa	2	0	1	5	3	2	7
Tonga	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
American Samoa	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
Cook Islands	0	2	1	4	6	-2	1

Held as a single round-robin with all games in Samoa, this round was instituted with the hopes of ensuring the best competition from the bottom of the ladder in Oceania would go against the top teams and avoid some of the blowouts that have historically occurred in the region.

American Samoa opened qualifying with a shock 2-1 victory over Tonga. This was American Samoa's first ever victory in a competitive match against a fellow FIFA member. Samoa twice surrendered a lead in their first match but an injury time goal from Albert Bell gave them a victory over Cook Islands in their opener.

A pair of draws in the second games set up an all-or-nothing game between Samoa and American Samoa. Holding the advantage in goals for, Samoa only needed a draw to advance at home to Round 2. A last-second goal by Silao Malo made a tiebreak unnecessary as Samoa won 1-0 and advanced to Round 2 as group winner.

Full Results

American Samoa 2-1 Tonga
Cook Islands 2-3 Samoa
American Samoa 1-1 Cook Islands
Samoa 1-1 Tonga
Tonga 2-1 Cook Islands
Samoa 1-0 American Samoa

ROUND 2 (June 2012)


Round 2 of qualifying occurred at the 2012 OFC Nations Cup, the same tournament that would determine Oceania's representative at the 2013 Confederations Cup. The tournament was held in Solomon Islands and the teams were divided in to groups of 4, playing a single round-robin. The top 2 teams from each group would advance to the semifinals of the tournament. While the semifinals and finals would be played to determine the cup champion, all semifinalists would advance to Round 3 of World Cup qualifying.





Group 1

Team	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Points
Tahiti	3	0	0	18	5	13	9
New Caledonia	2	1	0	17	6	11	6
Vanuatu	1	2	0	8	9	-1	3
Samoa	0	3	0	1	24	-23	0

The OFC's aim of preventing blowouts was ultimately unsuccessful as Samoa gave up 8 goals per game on average in this round. Tahiti and New Caledonia were the clear class in this group, topping third place Vanuatu in their games by 3 goals each and easily securing advancement. This round also introduced the world to the Tehau family, members of which scored 14 of Tahiti's 18 goals this round.

Full Results

Samoa 1-10 Tahiti
Vanuatu 2-5 New Caledonia
Vanuatu 5-0 Samoa
Tahiti 4-3 New Caledonia
New Caledonia 9-0 Samoa
Tahiti 4-1 Vanuatu

Group 2
 

Team	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Points
New Zealand	2	0	1	4	2	2	7
Solomon Islands	1	0	2	2	1	1	5
Fiji	0	1	2	1	2	-1	2
Papua New Guinea	0	2	1	2	4	-2	1

Story in this group was the manner in which New Zealand struggled against far inferior competition, opening with a pair of 1-goal wins before tying Solomon Islands in the finale. Never a doubt that New Zealand would advance but close to the performance that carried them to South Africa in 2010.

Full Results

Fiji 0-1 New Zealand
Solomon Islands 1-0 Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea 1-2 New Zealand
Fiji 0-0 Solomon Islands
Papua New Guinea 1-1 Fiji
New Zealand 1-1 Solomon Islands
 
While the semifinals and finals aren't relevant to the World Cup, they stunned everyone watching. Tahiti knocked off Solomon Islands 1-0 off another Tehau goal. In the second match, New Zealand's struggles continued, leading to a 60th minute goal for New Caledonia's Bertrand Kai. Despite their efforts to tie, they were unsuccessful, and a second goal in injury time gave New Caledonia the stunning 2-0 victory. Tahiti scored early in the final and held on to beat New Caledonia 1-0 in the final, sending Tahiti as the surprise representative to the Confederations Cup last year.

ROUND 3 (September 2012-March 2013)


Round 3 consisted of the 2012 Nations Cup semifinalists. All 4 teams were in 1 group playing a double round-robin. The group winner would advance to an intercontinental playoff against North America.

Team	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Points
New Zealand	6	0	0	17	2	15	18
New Caledonia	4	2	0	17	6	11	12
Tahiti	1	5	0	2	12	-10	3
Solomon Islands	1	5	0	5	21	-16	3

Whatever was wrong with New Zealand in Round 2 got fixed awfully quick in the 3 months between rounds. New Zealand breezed thru the round, surrendering only 2 goals in the process, and regaining the form people expected from them in Round 2. On the back of their Nations Cup success, people expected Tahiti to contend for second place in the group at least. Their scoring touch was lost though as they failed to score in 5 of their 6 games, including the first 4 games.

Despite dropping the opener to New Zealand, New Caledonia won their next 3, and entered their return match against New Zealand down just 3 points. Able to survive with a draw, New Caledonia knew they would likely have to grab a win in Dunedin, New Zealand. Down 1-0 at halftime, Cesar Lolohea was able to find the back of the net in the second half to tie the game at 1. Just when it appeared New Caledonia would remain alive in qualifying, Tommy Smith scored deep in injury time for New Zealand, handing them the win and the group.

Full Results

Solomon Islands 2-0 Tahiti
New Caledonia 0-2 New Zealand
New Zealand 6-1 Solomon Islands
Tahiti 0-4 New Caledonia
Solomon Islands 2-6 New Caledonia
Tahiti 0-2 New Zealand
New Zealand 3-0 Tahiti
New Caledonia 5-0 Solomon Islands
New Zealand 2-1 New Caledonia
Tahiti 2-0 Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands 0-2 New Zealand
New Caledonia 1-0 Tahiti

Will recap New Zealand's intercontinental playoff tomorrow when I do the North America recap.