Oceania Nations
Cup
Tahiti 2000
2000 Oceania Championships
Venue: Tahiti
Date: Late June
Holders: New Zealand
Qualifying: Top two from Melanesian and Polynesian Cups
Automatic Qualifiers: Australia, New Zealand
Melanesian Cup Placings: Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New
Caledonia, PNG
(Vanuatu replaced Fiji because of a government coup)
Polynesian Cup Placings: Tahiti, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, American
Samoa
Pool A
Australia vs Cook Islands: 17-0
Solomon Islands vs Cook Islands: 5-1
Australia vs Solomon Islands: 6-0
Pool B
NZ vs Tahiti: 2-0
NZ vs Vanuatu: 3-1
Tahiti vs Vanuatu: 1-3
Semi Finals
Australia vs Vanuatu: 1-0
NZ vs Solomon Islands: 2-0
Third Place Play-off
Solomon Islands vs Vanuatu: 2-1
Final
Australia vs NZ: 2-0
First Round
The early rounds saw little surprises as Australia racked up a national record of 17 goals
against the hapless Cook Islands who were kept scoreless and reduced to just one decent
shot in the game. Nine players scored with Foster getting 4, Zane getting 3 in only
6 minutes after coming off the bench, doubles to Muscat, Agostino and Zrdillic, and
sinlges to Tiatto, Corica, Popovic and Lazaridis. This eclipsed the 16-0 score
against the same team at the last championships, however, it could have been so much
more. The Cook Islands goalie performed heroically and made many outstanding saves.
So many, in fact, that he was man of the match. In the other group, NZ has
had it tougher with the technically competent Tahitians doing well by using rugged, and
often brutal tactics, to hold them to a 2-0 win despite having a man sent off early in the
game.
Second Round
NZ's second game was even closer with the even more unfancied Vanuatu leading at half time
and in line for one of the most monumental upsets ever in world football. However,
NZ got their act together to score three second half goals to run out easy, if
unconvincing, winners. For Australia, the Solomon Islands put up a good performance
in restricting Australia to a 6-0 win, which was actually the score at half time after
Zane scored two, and Muscat a penalty, in the first 19 minutes. This compares with
the last Championships in which they lost 13-0 and 6-2. Australia fielding a team
with 6 changes - supposedly to keep the entire squad hungry - seemingly lost
concentration and intensity after the half time break The final group game saw
somewhat of an upset when Vanuatu overcame a 1 goal deficit to overrun a tiring host
nation Tahiti with blistering pace, to end up winning 3-1. This was their first
victory over Tahiti in 29 years, back when Vanuatu were known as the New Hebrides.
Their Uruguayan coach maintains that against their semi-final opponents Australia, they
won't show the respect or sit back like the Solomon and Cook Islands did respectively, and
will play mentally tough football by constantly pressuring them when they are in
possession. Apparently, the Solomons stood in awe for 45 minutes watching Australia
warm up, with their coaching saying they were "frightened" to face the larger
Australians. To combat Vanuatu's promises, Farina announced that the Australian team
will be at full strength. Whatever the outcome, it has been a good achievement for
the late inclusions. The other semi will see NZ take on the Solomons.
Semi Finals
Australia put their full strength team on the field - the one that beat Paraguay 2-1 in
the recent friendly series - and looked like to continue their goal scoring frequency when
Muscat - who seems to be Australia's dedicated penalty taker these days - converted a
penalty after just 5 minutes. However, despite the coach's pre-match talk, Vanuatu
did sit back with 9 men behind on the ball to curtail further Australian scoring for the
remainder of the match. A remarkable achievement for such a tiny nation, but in
truth, Australia really took their foot of the accelerator, and completely dropped all
intensity, to play out the match injury free. For all their defensive efforts, and
other than a good penalty claim, Vanuatu showed little forward with Australia never
troubled. After the match, most players reiterated this - that they just wanted to
get through to the final hassle free as possible - so too coach Farina, who described it
as an ugly and flat win, but got what he wanted. So it was not too disappointing as
many would expect. In the other semi, NZ defeated the Solomons, 2-0. Another
encouraging result for the island nations and proof that Fifa's excellent funding of the
region is paying off with these once total easy-beats being able to hire overseas coaches
and put out competitive teams.
Final
In a physical game, Australia contained NZ superbly, controlled the match,
created the best chances, and went on to win 2-0 in their best performance of the
tournament. NZ created their best chance of the game about 10 minutes before half
time, when a mid-range dipping shot from Simon Elliot was saved well by Kalac. Shaun
Murphy then scored the first goal just a few minutes later when he had time to juggle, and
slam home the ball, off a Lazaridis corner. As NZ lead the yellow card count 3-2,
Tiatto's amazing recent form down the left continued when he beat two players as he
sprinted down the flank, then fired in a pin-point cross for Foster to head in at the 66th
minute. Australia continued to control the game from here and ran out winners with
little trouble. Earlier, in the game for third place, the Solomon Islands beat
Vanuatu 2-1after trailing 1-0 at the break.
So revenge is exacted, and Australia now qualifies for the next Confederation Cup, whenever that will occur. Fifa has indicated that in their attempt to harmonise the world football calendar, the Confederations Cup may be dropped altogether in favour of the Club World Championships. Coach Farina was naturally relieved with the result, but equally pleased with the good performance. His win/loss record now also looks decidedly better, and his team did not concede a goal for the entire tournament.
This has been the fourth, and arguably the most successful Oceania Tournament, especially with the emergence of competitive teams from the Pacific island nations. However, Oceania chairman Jack Dempsey has hinted that he would like to see the championships revert to the home and away knockout series that occurred for the first two incarnations. Why, I don't know. Every other Confederation has fully fledged tournaments, and Oceania should be no different. It also is cheaper and more dynamic to have the current system, where the smaller nations have a better chance of winning. As with Vanuatu against Australia, a nation like this can put up one great performance and almost snatch a win. But under home and away conditions, they would need two such performances and that would be near impossible. Also, home and away means a drawn out series meaning the old overseas-player problems would become an issue. Especially if the Confederations Cup is abandoned, do you really think overseas players will put their club careers on line merely for the glory of becoming Oceania Champion. Of course not, and I personally would not expect them too.
Home and away would also mean there would be no continuity in the series that only tournament conditions can offer. He states that with growing TV demand, home and away would be preferable. But you only have to look at how the "other" major Confederation is holding their championships in Europe: the exciting, dynamic games have enthralled fans around the world, and while significance of Oceania is no where near the magnitude to that of Europe, one it might just be, especially for the small Pacific nations that could eventually see a finals appearance, the greatest day of their lives. And that is what the world game is all about.
Australia's Squad: Zeljko Kalac, Kevin Muscat, Shaun Murphy, Paul Okon, Tony Popovic, Craig Foster, Danny Tiatto, Stan Lazaridis, David Zdrilic, Brett Emerton, Paul Agostino, Stephen Laybutt, Aurelio Vidmar, Simon Colosimo, Clayton Zane, Clint Bolton, Pablo Cardozo, Steve Corica, Steve Horvat, Scott Chipperfield.