OFC Auckland: The island nation members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) are set for battle in the opening Stage 1 OFC Nations Cup / FIFA World Cup group qualifying tournaments which commence next Monday 10 May, at 2:00pm local time.
Ten teams will vie for four qualifying spots and the prize of taking part in the Stage 2 qualifiers in Adelaide, Australia from 29 May – 6 June. Awaiting the four teams in Adelaide are seeded teams Australia and New Zealand. The winner and runner up of Stage 2 progress through to the final playoffs.
Stage 1 hosts, the Solomon Islands (Group 1) and Samoa (Group 2) are ready for what many anticipate as an epic struggle between the Pacific Island nations with the higher stakes involved as a result of combining the flagship OFC competition, the OFC Nations Cup and the 2006 FIFA World Cup preliminaries.
Group 1 will be an arm wrestle between hosts Solomon Islands, Tahiti and New Caledonia with Tonga and the Cook Islands not to be underestimated.
The Solomon Islands have impressed under English coach Alan Gillett and have rediscovered their attacking vigour which was long a trait of Solomons teams of the past. In their warm-up matches, the Solomons twice defeated Vanuatu in Port Vila and followed this up with a series whitewash of the touring Brisbane Wolves. The four pronged attack of Commins Menapi, Batram Suri, Henry Fa’arodo and newcomer Alick Maemae be the players to stop but buoyed on by a parochial home crowd, this will prove difficult.
New Caledonia surprised many at the South Pacific Games last year by thrashing Tahiti 4-0 and making the final against Fiji. They have assembled a strong all-round side of high calibre players led by prolific goal-scorer Ramon Djamali.
Tahiti has long held the mantle as being the top ranked island nation and will be seeking to make amends for their ordinary performance in the SP Games. They boast talent across the park with the likes of experienced trio Felix Tagawa, Teva Zaveroni and Naea Bennett but the return of playmaker Samuel Garcia to the midfield after a stint in France might prove crucial.
Tonga have steadily gained in statute under for Real Madrid star turned coach Milan Jankovic while the Cook Islands under Australian based coach Tim Jerks have warmed up for Honiara with a short tour of New Zealand drawing nil all in a friendly match with Samoa in Auckland on Wednesday.
Group 2 is sizing up as a battle between Melanesian rivals Fiji and Vanuatu with improvers Papua New Guinea and Samoa also laying down their own challenges to claim the two qualifying berths on offer.
American Samoa also promise to be a much improved unit under reputed Australian based coach Ian Crook who has been with the team for the past month.
Vanuatu has promised to bounce back after their consecutive losses to Solomon Islands last month. Their key player will no doubt be youngster Jean Maleb who was a star in January’s Oceania Olympic Qualifiers. Vanuatu, led by Uruguayan coach Carlos Buzzetti departs for Samoa tonight after some warm up matches in Auckland.
Fiji coach Tony Buesnel brings with him to Samoa a talented mix of youth and experience led by ace striker/midfielder Esala Masi. The overpowering size and pace of the Fijian team will be the biggest obstacle for the Group 2 teams.
Samoa has completed a short tour of New Zealand emerging with a draw and a loss to a strong Otago provincial selection as well as a narrow loss to Central United in Auckland earlier this week. Coach David Brand gave his reserves a run in their nil all draw to the Cook Islands on Wednesday and he is confident his charges will return home to Apia ready to play even with the loss of several key players over the past four months.
The host countries are now in the last stages of their preparations as they brace for the arrival of the teams and officials over the weekend.
“The Solomon Islands people are die-hard soccer fans and we have waited years for this moment to host a tournament of this magnitude,” said Solomon Islands Football Federation chief executive officer, Matthew Kausimae.
“We have had crowds of over 12,000 spectators per match turning up to Lawson Tama Stadium over the past week just to watch our national team in their warm-up games against the touring Brisbane Wolves team so by next Monday when we play Tonga we are expecting a sell-out.”
Samoa Football (Soccer) Federation executive director, Tilomai Solia, explains that it is the first time a World Cup qualifying tournament has been held in Samoa. Samoa hosted the OFC Nations Cup preliminaries in 2002 and local fans are keenly anticipating the arrival of class teams such as Vanuatu and Fiji.
“We are looking forward to seeing our national team play the current South Pacific Games champion Fiji and one of the rising powers in Oceania, Vanuatu,” she remarked.
“The SFSF is also privileged to be hosting the official FIFA Centennial celebrations in Apia where we will have officials from OFC present as well as government dignitaries and the prime minister himself.
Results will be posted straight to the OFC website at www.oceaniafootball.com