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OFC Group 1: New Caledonia nudged out by defiant Tahiti
Group one of the first stage of OFC qualifying was the most exciting to witness of the two groups despite the rising stars of the Solomon Islands.
In the first round of matches results went according to plan. The Solomon Islands downed Tonga 6-0. Henry Fa'arodo scored a hat-trick, Alick Maemae netted a brace while Jack Samani scored the final goal. Tahiti struggled against group one whipping boys the Cook Islands. They scored early through Samuel Garcia but were unable to capitalise on the lead until Rino Moretta put it away in the 79th minute. The result, while three points, was a bitter disappointment for Tahiti.
Round two continued the trend of Solomon's bounding ahead towards success and Tahiti struggling. Solomon Islands flogged Cook Islands 5-0. All five goals coming from different players including Stanley Waita, Gideon Omokirio and Leslie leo who all opened their OFC qualifying accounts. Samani and Maemae added to their goals from the match against Tonga. Tahiti however faced the impressive New Caledonia. Coming from nowhere, the French islands have proven a new force in the region and held Tahiti to a 0-0 draw.
Round three saw a battle for the woodenspoon and a battle for supremacy. Tonga and Cook Islands fought in te match neither wanted to lose. It was effectively the only match either had a realistic chance at winning. Tonga came away 2-1 winners thansk to a 47th minute goal from Mark Uhatahi and a 65th minute strike from Viliami Vaitaka. Cook Islands kept it interesting, scoring between the Tongan goals with a 55th minute goal from John Pareanga. The Solomons faced New Caledonia in what would be the French side's toughest test. The Solomon's got the three points but New Caledonia have nothing to be ashamed of, losing only 2-0. George Suri and Omokirio scoring the goals.
The fourth round saw New Caledonia find it's scoring boots. After being held to 0-0 and 0-2 they opened up, netting eight against a hapless Cook Islands. Michel Hmae shot himself up ntowards the top of the leading scorers board and equaled the most goals scored by one man in a game for this qualifying series with five goals. Pierre Wajoka, Ramon Djamali and Jose Hmae scored the other three that thumpped the Cooks. Tahiti struggled once more, only managing a 2-0 win over a Tongan side that they were expected to give a hiding to. Gabriel Wajoka and Axel Temataua scored for the Tahitans.
This left the situation being Tahti having to play the unbeaten Solomon Islands. New Caledonia was to play Tonga. New Caledonia needed a win to have a chance while Tahiti needed at least a point from the match. An unlikely situaton considering the form that Solomon Islands were in.
New Caledonia lived up to their side of the bargain. an 8-0 win seeing Paul Poatinda netting a hat-trick while Wajoka scored twice. J. Hmae and M. Hmae both added to their tallies while Robert Kauma made sure his name was up in lights by the end of the night. This left Tahiti needing at least a point or face being knocked out on goal difference to New Caledonia.
Tahiti shocked the home crowd though as they took an early lead. Vincent Simon put the ball away on 30 minutes to make sure tahiti had a real shot. New Caledonia were sitting on the edge of their seats as the Solomons couldn't find the back of the net. Finally Batram Suri got through the Tahitan defence and scored, keeping the small flame of hope alive for New Caledonia. However it was a late goal and only left 10 minutes for any difference to be made. Unfortunatly for New Caledonia, fortunatly for Tahiti the final ten minutes kept the score the same and Tahiti went through with the Solomon Islands to the second stage in Adelaide, Australia.
Solomon Islands schedule for the six nation tornament is as follows:
Vanuatu - May 29
New Zealand - May 31
Tahiti - June 2
Fiji - June 4
Australia - June 6
Tahiti schedule for teh six nation tornament is as follows:
Fiji - May 29
Australia - May 31
Solomon Islands - June 2
New Zealand - June 4
Vanuatu - June 6
22 May, 2004 |
