Oceania begins its qualification process for the 2008 Olympic Games Men’s Football Tournament with a six team competition scheduled for March and hosted by Fiji in the
football-mad provinces of Ba and Lautoka.
Host nation Fiji will be joined by Cook Islands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in the race for Beijing with the tournament winner qualifying for the
sixteen team competition later this year.
www.oceaniafootball.com takes a look back in history to OFC’s Road to Atlanta…
The road to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta twelve years ago saw Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) favourites Australia triumph at the first group stage before emphatically
eliminating Canada 7-2 on aggregate in a two legged play-off.
Australia would go on to record one win against Saudi Arabia and two defeats against France and Spain as a team featuring Mark Viduka exited at the first group stage.
It was a respectable return for the Olyroos who were hardly expected to defeat the European aristocrats of FranceSpain bolstered by victory over AFC rivals, the Saudis.
and
But the mere fact Australia took its spot alongside teams boasting the talent of such luminaries as Bebeto, Robert Pires, Marco Branca, Roberto Ayala and Ronaldo, to name but a
few, could have been so different had New Zealand secured the single point it required to eliminate the Olyroos at the OFC Group Stage.
In a peculiar qualification series both Australia and New Zealand dropped maximum points to island nations as the two Anzac countries stumbled toward the Atlanta Games. Australia
could hardly be described as a “weak” team at the best of times.
But in this generation of young Aussie starlets count amongst them Mark Viduka, Danny Tiatto, Kevin Muscat, Steve Corica, Hayden Foxe and Wellington Phoenix captain, Ross Aloisi.
Eleven of Australia’s eighteen man squad were on the books of Australian clubs with only Foxe, then of Ajax Amsterdam, considered to be playing for one of Europe’s most widely recognised
clubs.
The agony of achieving that “single point” for New Zealand was made harder to bear after a 2-1 defeat in Auckland against Fiji. The result came as a bitter blow for New Zealand
after the Oly-Whites had recorded an impressive 1-0 win over Australia on their own patch, a result that had left its own sense of shock reverberating throughout Australian football’s halls. If
island nations have a habit of delivering a shock result, New Zealand’s propensity for spoiling Australia’s party has been so legendary it helps form a significant element of football’s
cultural fabric.
At Olympic Games level this has made itself less apparent but New Zealand can point to the qualification series for the 1988 Seoul Olympics when a 1-1 draw against the old enemy
threw Israel a last gasp chance to nab a berth in Korea.
The devastation of losing to Fiji was not made any easier to bear for football fans in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Fiji had previously caused New Zealand a problem in the
qualification matches for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics after it held the Kiwis to a 0-0 draw. That result had served as an exclamation mark as New Zealand’s campaign expired following two brave
defeats against Australia (2-0 and 2-1). Australia subsequently qualified for the 1992 Olympic Games after defeating Holland on the away goals rule.
Fiji and Solomon Islands capacity to cause an upset during the Oceania age-group qualification process is well documented. The Solomon Islands caused perhaps one of the greatest
upset results in OFC history when it defeated New Zealand 2-0. Alongside Solomon Islands 2-2 draw with Australia during the 2004 OFC Nations Cup/2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
match, the 2-0 victory remains one of Solomon Islands most precious results.
The prospects of similar upsets in Fiji in March appear greater than ever with competing nations boasting the presence of many senior international players in their squads.
Francois Sakama and Jean Victor Maleb star for Vanuatu, Roy Krishna for Fiji, Benjamin Totori for Solomon Islands with many potential candidates for the New Zealand squad likely to boast
experience of a FIFA world event.
1996 OLYMPIC GAMES – ATLANTA
OFC OLYMPIC GAMES QUALIFIERS – STAGE ONE
Australia vs. Fiji 10-0
Fiji vs. New Zealand 1-3
Solomon Islands vs. Vanuatu 2-1
Fiji vs. Vanuatu 4-0
New Zealand vs. Solomon Islands 2-0
Vanuatu vs. Australia 0-12
Fiji vs. Solomon Islands 4-0
Australia vs. Solomon Islands 7-0
Vanuatu vs. Solomon Islands 1-1
Fiji vs. Australia 0-5
Solomon Islands vs. New Zealand 0-6
New Zealand vs. Vanuatu 5-1
Australia vs. New Zealand 0-1
Vanuatu vs. New Zealand 0-10
Solomon Islands vs. Fiji 1-1
Australia vs. Vanuatu 9-1
New Zealand vs. Australia 0-5
Vanuatu vs. Fiji 1-0
Fiji vs. Australia 0-5
Solomon Islands vs. Australia 2-0
|
PL.
|
W.
|
|
L.
|
GF.
|
GA.
|
PTS.
|
GD.
|
||
|
1.
|
AUSTRALIA
|
8
|
6
|
0
|
2
|
48
|
4
|
18
|
+44
|
|
2.
|
New Zealand
|
8
|
6
|
0
|
2
|
28
|
9
|
18
|
+19
|
|
3.
|
Fiji
|
8
|
3
|
1
|
4
|
12
|
21
|
10
|
– 9
|
|
4.
|
Solomon Islands
|
8
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
6
|
22
|
8
|
-16
|
|
5.
|
Vanuatu
|
8
|
1
|
1
|
6
|
5
|
43
|
4
|
-38
|
OFC/CONCACAF OLYMPIC GAMES QUALIFIERS – STAGE TWO PLAYOFF
Canada vs. Australia 2-2
Australia vs. Canada 5-0
*Australia wins 7-2 on aggregate and qualifies for 1996 Olympic Games
2004 – Australia’s Ryan Griffiths celebrates his goal against New Zealand
2000 – Paul Urlovic in action for New Zealand against South Africa
2000 – Alick Maemae in action for Solomon Islands against Australia