Wikipedia

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 advance 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)New Caledonia Joris Pibke (9 goals)

Qualified teams edit

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament[A]
  Papua New Guinea Qualifying tournament winners 18 March 2002 1 (1980)
  New Caledonia Qualifying tournament runners-up 18 March 2002 2 (1973, 1980)
  1. ^ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Format edit

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

Tiebreakers edit

The ranking of teams in the standings were based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 15):[1]

  1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
  2. Overall goal difference
  3. Overall goals scored
  4. Score from direct
  5. Drawing of lots by the OFC Organising Committee

Schedule edit

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 edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Papua New Guinea 4 4 0 0 20 2 +18 12 Qualification to 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
6   Cook Islands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Withdrew
Source: SportingPulse
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

Matches edit

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
 Report
Samoa  2–0  Tonga
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 edit

Goalscorers edit

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

9 goals

5 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Regulations for the 2002 OFC Nations Cup". SportingPulse. Archived from the original on 31 August 2006. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Oceanian Nations Cup 2002". RSSSF. 21 March 2004.
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