OFC Auckland: With just days to go until the opening match of Stage 2 this weekend, all eyes are now fixed on Adelaide as Oceania’s top six soccer nations vie for the top two berths to the OFC Nations Cup and FIFA World Cup Oceania Zone final playoffs.
Undoubtedly the feature match of the opening round on Saturday, 29 May, the defending Nations Cup champions New Zealand take on the region’s number one FIFA ranked nation Australia. The two Oceania giants face off in the feature match at Hindmarsh Stadium at 8:00pm local time with two equally tantalizing matches preluding the main clash.
Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands rekindle their fierce rivalry in the opening match of the tournament at the Marden Sports Complex with the former eager to set the record straight after losing two straight friendlies to the touring Solomons team in Port Vila back in April.
While the curtain-raiser match to the Socceroos-All Whites extravaganza will see the official top FIFA ranked ‘island’ nation Tahiti take on South Pacific Games champion Fiji in a battle between the best teams from Melanesia and Polynesia.
The six teams will each play five matches over nine days with the winner and runner up advancing to a two-tier final playoff starting in October with the home and away playoffs to determine the OFC Nations Cup champion. To be played on FIFA sanctioned dates on 9 & 13 October, the winner will represent the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany.
The second playoff will be played on 3 & 7 September 2005, involving the same two teams. The winner of next year’s playoff will be declared the Oceania Champion and will take on the fifth ranked qualifier from South America (CONMEBOL) in a home and away playoff to determine who progresses to the FIFA World Cup in 2006.
The Socceroos will warm to the home advantage and with two valuable warm-up matches against Turkey under their belts, will be a hard nut to crack for coach Mick Waitt and his All Whites. The New Zealanders have troubled the Australians in the past and Socceroos coach Frank Farina needs no reminder of the resilience of the kiwis with the memory of the Socceroos painful 1-0 loss to the All Whites in Auckland almost two years ago. Australia has assembled a much stronger team this time round with calibre players such as FA Cup finalist Tim Cahill joining the squad to further bolster an already formidable line-up.
With much at stake, there is no shortage of motivation for the four island nation qualifiers also. Rubbing shoulders with the Aussies and Kiwis is a prospect every island player dreams off. Opportunities to be exposed at this level are limited and they will soak up the experience and at the same time, show just how far they have improved. With flair and athleticism in abundance, the technical and tactical aspect has slowly but surely come to the fore with the influx of overseas coaches and the growth of the game, helped by crucial FIFA funding and infrastructural support.
Vanuatu, Fiji, Tahiti and the Solomon Islands enter Stage 2 battle hardened after a fiercely fought Stage 1 preliminary round. The evidence was there that the gaps were closing with the majority of the matches evenly contested with surprise upsets along the way. New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea could be justified in feeling unlucky they had not advanced to Stage 2 going by their performances.
But it was not just on the pitch where the atmosphere reigned. In Honiara, the locals flocked in their thousands to witness international soccer returning to the Solomons, stricken by years of ethnic violence. When over 23,000 spectators turned up to Lawson Tama Stadium for the final Group 1 match between the hosts and Tahiti, it was apparent the beautiful game had been a unifying force between the various ethnicities.