Bula Boys’ tough path
THE chief executive officer of Fiji Football Association Mohammed has confirmed the dates and fixtures for the Digicel national football team preparing for the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) qualifiers in March 2022.
Yusuf said the Bula Boys would face a five-match OFC campaign late next March.
“The Bula Boys path to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has been laid out,” Yusuf said.
“Our task is far from straight forward with group matches lined up against two-time OFC Nations Cup finalists New Caledonia, traditional rivals New Zealand and 2016 continental runner-up Papua New Guinea in Group B.
“We’re probably in the pool of death. We play New Caledonia first, New Zealand and our final pool opponent will be Papua New
Guinea.
“The two group winners and the two group runner-up will qualify for the semi-finals.
“The winners of the two semifinals will meet in the final to determine the OFC representative that will face the CONCACAF representative, which is currently occupied by Russia 2018 participants, Panama in the FIFA intercontinental play-offs in June 2022 for a place in the final competition.”
The national team would play New Caledonia on March 18, NZ three days later and PNG on March 24 in their pool matches.
The OFC qualifiers would be played in a mini-tournament format featuring eight teams consisting of a round-robin group stage, semi-finals and final.
A single qualification match would be played between Tonga and the Cook Islands, being the two lowest-ranked OFC teams in the FIFA rankings. Samoa and American Samoa had withdrawn from the event.
The matches would be staged in Qatar from March 14-30.
Meanwhile, Group A is spearheaded by 2012 continental champions Tahiti and 2004 runner-up, the Solomon Islands with Vanuatu and either Tonga or the Cook Islands.