2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification

The 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification tournament was a football competition that was played in March 2002 to determine the two of OFC's five lowest ranked members men's national teams to advanced to the 2002 OFC Nations Cup final tournament played in New Zealand in July 2002. The national teams of six OFC member associations entered the qualifying process. Cook Islands withdrew from the competition.

2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification
Tournament details
Dates9 March 2002 – 18 March 2002
Teams5
Tournament statistics
Matches played10
Goals scored62 (6.2 per match)
Top scorer(s) Joris Pibke (9 goals)

Qualified teams
Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament[upper-alpha 1]
 Papua New GuineaQualifying tournament winners18 March 20021 (1980)
 New CaledoniaQualifying tournament runners-up18 March 20022 (1973, 1980)
  1. Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Format

With the end of the Polynesian and Melanesian Cups between the 2000 and 2002 tournaments, (the two competitions formerly served a secondary function as qualifiers for the Oceania Nations Cup), a new format was created to decide the teams which would be accepted for the Nations Cup. Retaining their round-robin group qualifier style, the OFC this time chose to adopt the FIFA rankings to order all the entrants.[1] With New Caledonia not yet a FIFA member, they were placed last by default. The lowest six teams were then made to compete for two places via a round-robin group stage, with the highest-placed two teams qualifying for the Oceania Nations Cup.

The Rankings of all the teams involved in the OFC Nations Cup are below. The positions were taken as of October, 2001, with the eleven ranked teams appearing in the following order:

Teams who automatically entered the 2002 OFC Nations Cup
Team Rank
 Australia (title holders) 48
 New Zealand 84
 Fiji 123
 Tahiti 128
 Solomon Islands 134
 Vanuatu 169
Teams who entered the 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualifying stage
Team Rank
 Samoa 172
 Tonga 175
 Cook Islands 176
 Papua New Guinea 195
 American Samoa 201
 New Caledonia N/A

Schedule

Below was the schedule of the 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification.[2]

Stage Matchday Dates
Qualifying tournament Matchday 1 9 March 2002
Matchday 2 12 March 2002
Matchday 3 14 March 2002
Matchday 4 16 March 2002
Matchday 5 18 March 2002

Standings
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Papua New Guinea 4 4 0 0 20 2 +18 12 Qualified for the 2002 OFC Nations Cup
2  New Caledonia 4 3 0 1 25 4 +21 9
3  Samoa (H) 4 2 0 2 8 9 −1 6
4  Tonga 4 1 0 3 7 18 −11 3
5  American Samoa 4 0 0 4 2 29 −27 0
Source: SportingPulse
(H) Host

Matches

Before the first group stage began, the  Cook Islands withdrew, resulting in the group stage being played between only five nations.

New Caledonia 10–0 American Samoa
  • Case  10'
  • Pibke  11', 40', 54', 58', 70'
  • Jose  25'
  • Kauma  36'
  • Wanakaija  55'
  • Voudjo  74'
 Report
Samoa 2–0 Tonga
  • Timo  52'
  • Lemana  83'
Tonga 7–2 American Samoa
Suli  3', 72', 80'
Maamaloa  5'
Taufahema  19'
Uele  29'
Fifita  39'		 (Report) Atualevao  15'
Afu  70'
Papua New Guinea 4–1 New Caledonia
Kombi  31'
Tomda  57'
Aisa  70'
Davani  85'		 (Report) Voudjo  40'
Papua New Guinea 5–0 Tonga
Lohai  19'
Moiyap  61'
Davani  70'
Aisa  84'
Andrew Kassam  89'		 (Report)
Samoa 5–0 American Samoa
Timo  3'
Faaiuaso  24', 68'
Lemana  31'
Fasavalu  48'		 (Report)
New Caledonia 9–0 Tonga
Faye  17', 85'
Pibke  18', 26', 85'
Voudjo  18'
Kabeu  45'
Kauma  74'
Jose  90'		 (Report)
Samoa 1–4 Papua New Guinea
Lemana  56' (Report) Kombi  20'
Wasi  30'
Elizah  60'
Moiyap  76'
Papua New Guinea 7–0 American Samoa
Davani  12', 20', 43'
Posman  32'
Aisa  46'
Lohai  61'
Wasi  90+'		 (Report)
Samoa 0–5 New Caledonia
(Report) Kauma  10'
David Hay  41', 69'
Pibke  59'
Mapou  89'

 Papua New Guinea and  New Caledonia progress to the second group stage.

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 62 goals scored in 10 matches, for an average of 6.2 goals per match.

9 goals

5 goals

3 goals

  • Robert Kauma
  • Tell Voudjo
  • Joe Aisa
  • Pualele Lemana
  • Amone Suli

2 goals

  • Yves Faye
  • David Hay
  • Jose Euribora Jose
  • Paul Kombi
  • Michael Lohai
  • Francis Moiyap
  • Maori Wasi
  • Desmond Faaiuaso
  • Ben Timo

1 goal

  • Savaliga Afu
  • Duane Atualevao
  • Jean-Marc Case
  • Jamel Kabeu
  • Marvis Mapou
  • Michel Wanakaija
  • Selan Elizah
  • Andrew Kassam
  • Tapas Posman
  • Yanding Tomda
  • Tama Fasavalu
  • Siua Maamaloa
  • Klifi Uele
  • Heweli Vete Fifita

References
  1. "Regulations for the 2002 OFC Nations Cup". SportingPulse. Archived from the original on 22 August 2006.
  2. "Oceanian Nations Cup 2002". RSSSF. 21 March 2004.
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