Fiji at Vanuatu (/Geoffrey Gete 30 52)New Caledonia at New Zealand
South Korea at North Korea
Australia at Uzbekistan
Australia's coach Pim Verbeek spoke after the win.
"It was tough match for both teams. All of my boys did their jobs very well. Uzbekistan held no surprises for me, I knew this team was very good."
Togo at Zambia (no Emmanuel Adebayor for Togo)
Goal scorers:
Vanuatu: Sakama 59; Malas 90+2
Fiji: Dunadamu 90+3
New Zealand: Smeltz 49, 76; Christie 69
North Korea: Hong Y-J 64 PK
South Korea: Ki 69
Australia: Chipperfield 26
Zambia: Katongo 32
“Vanuatu will definitely have more experience than us. However, playing at home, we know our side will do well.” -Juan Carlos Buzzetti, coach of Fiji
The August schedule is pretty light, for it only contains Match Day 1 of CONCACAF's Third Round, as well as the opening UEFA qualifier. September is much more packed. All match times are local.
Vanuatu visited New Caledonia in a match that had to be a victory for both sides. Anything less than a win would send Vanuatu home for good, meaning their two matches against Fiji in September would just be glorified friendlies. A loss by New Caledonia would have left them with no control over their destiny. Even two wins over New Zealand in September would be for naught if New Zealand could beat Fiji in November. Vanuatu’s Ken Masauvakalo committed a fatal error in the twelfth minute; he took a red card. Vanuatu had no luck playing a man down, and New Caledonia had a 1-0 lead at the half. In the second, the French colony added two more for a 3-0 victory that eliminated both Vanuatu and Fiji from World Cup contention.
“The players believe it's possible, so we'll try to fulfill this dream.” New Caledonia coach Didier Chambaron speaking about his team’s prospects of winning the OFC Nations Cup and advancing to the World Cup via the Oceania/Asia playoff.
FIFA just confirmed a portion of the dates of fixtures in Africa, South America, North America, Oceania, and Asia. Here is my attempt to sort through them. This post will be updated when more match dates are finalized.
The schedule for the first round of North American qualifying has been set.
New Zealand looked to distance themselves from the rest of their group by adding another three points to their haul with a win at home against Vanautu. They did just that, taking a 3-0 lead into the half and finishing with a 4-1 win at the final whistle. Unfortunately, the New Zealand captain Tim Brown picked up a second yellow card in second half stoppage time and was sent off the pitch. He will be inelgible for New Zealand's next qualifier. They will still have Shane Smeltz, who with four goals in three games is the top scorer in Oceania's second round of qualifying.
New Zealand, the favorites to win the OFC Nations Cup, started off their home-and-away qualifier with Vanuatu in the underdog's capital city, Port Vila. New Zealand had a 2-0 in Fiji last month, and today ran their point total in qualifying to six with a 2-1 victory. Vanuatu certainly had to have been pleased with their halftime lead of 1-0, but the New Zealanders answered early in the second half and put away a back-breaking goal in stoppage time to topple Vanuatu.
In the day's first matchup, the New Zealanders put the controversy of the last week behind them as they shutout the Fijians in Lautoka, 2-0. They scored once in the first half but almost saw their lead vanish when the tournament's top scorer Vakatalesau hit the crossbar. Smeltz buried two goals in the second half off of headers, but both were disallowed due to offsides violations. He broke through onside with under five minutes to go to complete the tally. Both teams' next games are on November 17th.
The New Zealand government refused to grant a visa to Fijian goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau. FIFA postponed the October 13 meeting between the two sides, deeming that it would have been unfair to make the two countries play each other when one team was forced to play without a full squad.
Here is the final schedule for October and November 2007, according to FIFA.com. All times are local to the host country or site.
New Zealand will begin its World Cup qualifying campaign in October. In an interesting setup, the OFC Nations Cup is made up of three home-and-away ties, the first in October 2007, the next in November 2007, and the last in September 2008. All four teams remaining in Oceania will play each other twice within a period of a week. The numbers are the squads' current ELO rankings.
In Group B action, the Solomon Islands clinched the group with a solid 3-0 win over Samoa, putting the hosts down a goal immediately after stealing the opening kickoff.
The Solomon Islands took the lead in Group B with a hard-fought victory over Vanuatu, putting themselves in a position to likely face New Caledonia in the next round. Vanuatu will most likely have to meet Group A giants Fiji in the other semifinal. Still, with Samoa and Tonga yet to be eliminated, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are not yet in the clear.
In the two early games on day four of the South Pacific Games, Tonga and the Cook Islands avoided mathematical elimination with wins over last-place teams.
Tahiti suffered a monumental setback to its campaign with a stunning 1-1 tie to Tuvalu. This sole point puts Tahiti at one point with two games left to play. They are chasing Fiji, who have six points with two games left. Tahiti must win both of their games and hope that Fiji lose their final two in order to advance. Tuvalu, despite being the tournament's surprise team, have been eliminated from the South Pacific Games.
