Oceania: Swimming against the tide…
ED STUBBS looks at the battle facing world football’s small-fry
IRRELEVANT is probably, and sadly, how most of the footballing world looks at the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).
Hidden away among the Leigh Griffiths free-kicks and Hugo Lloris gaffes of the June 2017 international break, the Solomon Islands completed their second victory over Papua New Guinea in five days to move from last to first in Group B of the third round of OFC qualifying, thus securing a play-off with regional heavyweights New Zealand in the autumn.
Surprisingly, the Solomon Islands have reached the final stage of OFC World Cup qualification before, in the Germany 2006 campaign.
This comes as a greater surprise given Australia were still part of the organisation then, but a remarkable slip up by New Zealand against Vanuatu allowed the islanders to edge ahead of them after grabbing a point against Australia.
No doubt, the Socceroos weren’t particularly upset the draw meant they’d face the Solomon Islands instead of New Zealand in the final-stage OFC showdown, with the Pacific Island nations historically miles behind the two ‘big boys’ in terms of quality, development and infrastructure.
Despite the gap, there have been some positive strides made by the smaller teams in recent years, not least the aforementioned Solomon Islands shock in the 2006 qualifiers.
A big benefit for them nowadays is the lack of the Australians, who left for Asia in 2006, meaning only one Goliath need now be slayed. Tahiti’s Confederations Cup adventure in 2013 is fondly remembered for their commitment to attack, and their appearance in Brazil came thanks to New Zealand being eliminated by New Caledonia in the semifinals of the 2012 OFC Nations Cup.
Tahiti went on win the final, with their Golden Generation tag already well in place thanks to many of the team being part of the side that became the first Pacific Island to play at an international football finals, in the 2009 Under-20 World Cup in Egypt.
Somewhat more fortuitous are Fiji’s appearances at the 2015 Under-20 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.
The former tournament was hosted by New Zealand and, with the All Whites exempt from qualification, the door was open for the rest. Saying that, the Fijians performed exceptionally in the finals, with a stunning 3-0 win over Honduras meaning they only exited at the group stage on goal difference.
The Olympics didn’t go quite as well, with 23 goals shipped in three games in Brazil, and had New Zealand not been disqualified for fielding an ineligible player it’s unlikely Fiji would have made it.Vanuatu were then the first Pacific Island beneficiaries of the now expanded youth category World Cups, and featured (respectably) at the recent Under-20 finals in South Korea.
Surely converting this youth progress to senior level would be high in OFC’s plans, but a somewhat bizarre seeding system for the Russia 2018 qualifiers can be seen as a shot to the foot for the confederation.
The seeds were based on the 2016 OFC Nations Cup, a tournament which saw hosts Papua New Guinea not only progress from a group for the first time, but actually go on to reach the final.
Indeed, only a penalty shoot-out defeat to New Zealand prevented them from contesting the recent Confederations Cup.
The Papua New Guineans are much improved in recent years, but can surely be
seen as somewhat jammy for edging out of their group only thanks to an 8-0 tonking of a tired Samoa in their final game.
Anyway, the run to the final saw them as first seeds for the World Cup qualifiers, and other tournament results meant both Fiji and Tahiti, the two larger island nations who’ve made the most progress in recent years, were bottom seeds.
Furthermore, New Caledonia, possibly an even stronger side than both Fiji and Tahiti when at full strength, were in the second pot.
As a result, three of the four strongest nations (New Zealand, New Caledonia and Fiji) were lumped together in group A, and thus any chance of New Zealand being seriously challenged for that inter-continental play-off spot was seriously diminished.
Does any of this matter? Given the prize for the Solomon Islands-New Zealand victor is a near-certain defeat to CONMEBOL’s 5thplaced side (currently Argentina), surely no is
the answer? Yet, from the first bloated World Cup in 2026, OFC is guaranteed a finals spot for the first time.
Youth progress is and has been a great first step, but unless the Pacific Islands are given opportunity to develop at senior level and New Zealand are regularly challenged, then the All Whites basically have themselves a ticket to every World Cup.
I’m not sure other continents will be too pleased with that, and it raises questions over the long-term viability of OFC as a confederation.
There has long been the grumble that they should merge with the Asian Football Confederation. The greed and desire for more World Cup places is clear, from both FIFA and the assorted confederations, and with the OFC bringing little to the world table on both a competitive and economic level, their relevance will surely be questioned unless things can change.
Would the OFC want such a merger? Perhaps New Zealand could see the benefits.
However, if the region wants to maintain their identity, and the opportunity to send national teams to World Cup finals, then perhaps they need to start thinking about making their senior international tournaments more competitive, and allow the stronger island sides to test New Zealand at the final stages as much as possible. Sensible seeding would be a good start.