New Zealand’s All Whites turned the tables on New Caledonia with a 2-0 success in Noumea while Solomon Islands were also in a vengeful mood and accounted for Tahiti 2-0 in Honiara to banish memories of their loss to the Oceania champions on the same soil three months ago.
The victories mean the All Whites and the Bonitos share an early ascendency in the fight for a spot at Brazil 2014 and a top-of-the-table clash between the pair is now in store at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium on Tuesday.
The day’s earlier kick-off took place at Lawson Tama Stadium and turned out to be a tale of two captains, Bonitos skipper Henry Fa’arodo getting his side’s scoring underway in the first half before opposite number Nicolas Vallar had an unwanted effect on Tahiti’s chances by being dismissed just before the break.
Fa’arodo pounced on a Benjamin Totori cross in the 17th minute to give the hosts an early lead and looked like he could be in for a double when finding himself in on goal as the first half drew to a close. But Vallar, player of the tournament at the Nations Cup, had no intention of letting him find the net again and brought Fa’arodo down to earn the red wrath of New Zealand referee Jamie Cross.
That gave the Toa Aito a steep hill to climb and the task did not get any easier on 59 minutes, a slick passing move between Himson Teleda and Fa’arodo on the edge of the box resulting in Teleda placing a strike beyond Xavier Samin’s reach to extend the lead, much to the delight of a characteristically raucous Honiara crowd.
Although disappointed not to have added further goals to the ledger, Solomon Islands coach Jacob Moli was pleased to have gotten off to a bright start.
“We prepared well for this match and I am thoroughly satisfied with how our players performed today,” he said. “We kept our focus until the final whistle and that is the way we wanted to start our campaign.”
With expectations heightened by the Nations Cup title win, Tahiti counterpart Eddy Etaeta admitted his charges must lift their game quickly.
“I felt we had the capability to win the game but we didn’t put the right effort into winning it,” he said. “We need to focus on our recuperation because we will have to rebuild the team for the next game.”
New Caledonia coach Alain Moizan has a similar problem after watching the All Whites record a comfortable victory over Les Cagous thanks to goals from Shane Smeltz and Chris Wood in a dominant first-half performance.
“We didn’t keep the ball well enough in the first half and, in football, if you don’t do that then you don’t give yourself a good chance to win,” Moizan said. “The second half was better for us but the difference was that they scored during their period of dominance and we didn’t.”
Smeltz opened the scoring in just the 12th minute when goalkeeper Rocky Nyikeine could only parry Wood’s shot into the path of his fellow striker and it was Wood’s turn to find the net in the 40th minute as he headed home his sixth goal in the last five internationals to further boost the All Whites’ quest for redemption.
“We could have scored a lot more goals but we’ve kept a clean sheet and our goalkeeper didn’t have to make a save so we’re very pleased,” All Whites coach Ricki Herbert said.
“Most of the players here haven’t played together much since the World Cup two years ago and it’s good to have them back. Players like Ryan Nelsen, Winston Reid and Mark Paston are important for us and it may take time for everyone to gel but we don’t have a lot of it because we have to front up again on Tuesday.”
The All Whites will face Solomon Islands on Tuesday in Auckland from 7.35pm local time while Tahiti host New Caledonia in Papeete at 8pm local time.
New Caledonia vs. New Zealand Match Summary Download Here
Solomon Islands vs. Tahiti Match Summary Download Here
Match Day 1 Competition Summary Download Here

Share