2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)

The 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification for the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) selected New Zealand to compete in a two-legged home-and-away playoff against Bahrain, the fifth-place team from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for a spot in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. (Oceania is the only confederation that does not have an automatic place in the finals.) Its final round was the 2008 OFC Nations Cup. Consequently, New Zealand is also considered the OFC Nations Cup champion, and represented the OFC in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

This was the first OFC World Cup qualifying campaign since Australia's move from the OFC to the AFC.

Format

The first phase began at the 2007 Pacific Games in Samoa, with the football tournament doubling as an OFC World Cup qualifying competition. The gold, silver, and bronze medallists (New Caledonia, Fiji, and Vanuatu, respectively) advanced to the second phase.

The three medallists joined seeded side New Zealand in a home-and-away round-robin tournament on FIFA match dates in 2007 and 2008, also acting as the 2008 OFC Nations Cup.

There were some confusion as to how the final qualifier for the playoff against an AFC nation would be selected. The FIFA website initially indicated that the top two sides from the round robin would advance to a play-off which would determine the qualifier, but the OFC articles did not include this round (with the round-robin winner advancing automatically). Later FIFA articles confirmed that the round-robin winner would advance automatically.^[1][2]

First round

The 2007 South Pacific Games held the first round. The draw was held on 12 June 2007 in Auckland, New Zealand. Tuvalu were not members of FIFA and so would have been unable to qualify for the World Cup had they proceeded to the OFC Nations Cup stage. It was not even clear whether Tuvalu would be eligible to advance that far had they finished in a medal position, as the OFC press release for the second stage draw stated that "nine eligible member associations battle it out for the gold, silver and bronze medals that will hand them a berth in a Stage Two round robin home and away playoff with New Zealand" - implying one nation (Tuvalu) would not be eligible. This question was rendered moot, however, as Tuvalu finished last in their table.

Papua New Guinea, having initially entered the 2010 World Cup and indicated their intention to enter the South Pacific Games, were involved in a dispute with their sporting authorities and failed to meet the official accreditation deadline for the South Pacific Games. This meant they were effectively disqualified from the World Cup.

Group stage

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Fiji 4 3 1 0 25 1 +24 10  New Caledonia 4 3 1 0 6 1 +5 10  Tahiti 4 1 1 2 2 6 −4 4  Cook Islands 4 1 0 3 4 9 −5 3  Tuvalu * 4 0 1 3 2 22 −20 1	Cook Islands  0 – 4 0 – 3 0 – 1  4 – 1 Fiji  1 – 1 4 – 0 16 – 0 New Caledonia  1 – 0  1 – 0 Tahiti   1 – 1 Tuvalu

* Tuvalu were not members of FIFA and so were not eligible to qualify for the World Cup.

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Solomon Islands 4 4 0 0 21 1 +20 12  Vanuatu 4 3 0 1 23 3 +20 9  Samoa 4 2 0 2 9 8 +1 6  Tonga 4 1 0 3 6 10 −4 3  American Samoa 4 0 0 4 1 38 −37 0	American Samoa  0 – 7 1 – 12 0 – 4 0 – 15 Samoa  0 – 3  2 – 1 0 – 4  Solomon Islands  4 – 0 2 – 0  Tonga  1 – 4  Vanuatu

Knockout stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	Solomon Islands	2
	New Caledonia	3
					New Caledonia	1
					Fiji	0
					Third place
	Fiji	3		Solomon Islands	0
	Vanuatu	0			Vanuatu	2

The three medallists, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Vanuatu, advanced to the 2008 OFC Nations Cup (together with automatic qualifier New Zealand).

Second round

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  New Zealand 6 5 0 1 14 5 +9 15  New Caledonia 6 2 2 2 12 10 +2 8  Fiji 6 2 1 3 8 11 −3 7  Vanuatu 6 1 1 4 5 13 −8 4   Fiji  – 3 – 3 0 – 2 2 – 0 New Caledonia  4 – 0 – 1 – 3 3 – 0 New Zealand  0 – 2 3 – 0 – 4 – 1 Vanuatu  2 – 1 1 – 1 1 – 2 –

New Zealand qualified for the play-off with the AFC 5th-placed team, as well as the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa.

Play-off

The Oceania champion (New Zealand) played the 5th Place team from the Asian qualifiers, Bahrain, in a two-legged play-off; New Zealand beat Bahrain to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

The draw for the order in which the two matches would be played was held on 2 June 2009 during the FIFA Congress in Nassau, the Bahamas.^[3]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bahrain	0–1	New Zealand	0–0	0–1

Goalscorers

There were 150 goals scored over 38 games (including the intercontinental play-off), for an average of 3.95 goals per game.

Pos	Player	Country	Total goals	Goals by round
				S-G	S-F	ONC	PO
1	Osea Vakatalesau	Fiji	12	9	1	2	X
2	Seule Soromon	Vanuatu	9	8	1	0	X
3	Shane Smeltz	New Zealand	8	—	—	8	0
4	Commins Menapi	Solomon Islands	7	6	1	X	X
5	Roy Krishna	Fiji	6	3	1	2	X
	François Sakama	Vanuatu		3	1	2	X
7	Michel Hmaé	New Caledonia	5	0	0	5	X
	Iamel Kabeu	New Caledonia		4	1	0	X
	Etienne Mermer	Vanuatu		4	0	1	X
10	Pierre Wajoka	New Caledonia	4	2	0	2	X
	Henry Fa'arodo	Solomon Islands		3	1	X	X
	Benjamin Totori	Solomon Islands		4	0	X	X
13	Pita Baleitoga	Fiji	3	3	0	0	X
	Pita Rabo	Fiji		3	0	0	X
	David Mulligan	New Zealand		—	—	3	0
16	Teariki Mateariki	Cook Islands	2	2	X	X	X
	Maciu Dunadamu	Fiji		0	0	2	X
	Malakai Kainihewe	Fiji		2	0	0	X
	Malakai Tiwa	Fiji		2	0	0	X
	Taniela Waqa	Fiji		2	0	0	X
	Chris Cahill	Samoa		2	X	X	X
	Desmond Fa'aiuaso	Samoa		2	X	X	X
	Penitito Tumua	Samoa		2	X	X	X
	Godwin Bebeu	Solomon Islands		2	0	X	X
	Alick Maemae	Solomon Islands		2	0	X	X
	Stanley Waita	Solomon Islands		2	0	X	X
	Pio Palu	Tonga		2	X	X	X
	Richard Iwai	Vanuatu		2	0	0	X
	Jean Nako Naprapol	Vanuatu		1	0	1	X
	Moise Poida	Vanuatu		2	0	0	X

• Shane Smeltz (New Zealand) with 8 goals was the 2008 OFC Nations Cup top scorer.

Key:
— - Bye
X - Eliminated

1 goal

Own goal

References

• Oceania zone at FIFA.com
• OFC - OFC 2010 FIFA World Cup route via Asia
• OFC - Stage two World Cup draw announced
• OFC - 2010 Qualification Format