OFC qualifying for the 2002 FIFA World Cup™ in Japan and South Korea featured ten nations and consisted of two rounds. The ten nations were split into two groups of five for the first round, playing each other once, before the winners of each group progressed to a home and away play-off for the chance to compete in an intercontinental play-off for a place at the World Cup.
Australia were drawn alongside Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and American Samoa in Group 1, whilst New Zealand were joined by Tahiti, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the Cook Islands in Group 2.
Australia proved far too strong in Group 1. The Socceroos made history by recording the largest winning margin in an international football match with a huge 31-0 win over American Samoa at Coffs Harbour, having beaten Tonga 22-0 a week prior at the same venue. Samoa were pushed aside 11-0, whilst Fiji did well to hold them to just a 2-0 margin, as Australia finished top the group with four wins from four.
It was also one-way traffic for New Zealand in Group 2, who scored five or more goals in three of their four matches. Cook Islands held them to an admirable 2-0 defeat, but the All Whites were rampant against the rest, scoring seven against Vanuatu, and five each against Tahiti and the Solomon Islands respectively to top the group with four wins from four.
For the third consecutive qualifying tournament, Australia and New Zealand met in the OFC play-off for a place in the intercontinental play-offs. It was a repeat of the two previous occasions, as two goals from Brett Emerton helped Australia to a 2-0 victory in Wellington, before they rounded out a 6-1 aggregate win with a 4-1 result at home in Sydney, helped by two goals from David Zdrilic.
Uruguay awaited Australia in a two-legged intercontinental play-off for a place at the 2002 FIFA World Cup™. Four years on from their devastating 2-2 draw with Iran which saw Australia miss out on the 1998 FIFA World Cup™ on the away goals rule, the Socceroos made amends at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with a 1-0 win over Uruguay in the first leg.
A late second-half penalty from Kevin Muscat proved the difference for Australia in front of over 80,000 fans, but they couldn’t finish the job away in Montevideo. Two second-half strikes from Richard Morales cut the Socceroos apart as Uruguay stormed to a 3-0 victory in front of their home fans in the second leg, and claimed a 3-1 win on aggregate in the tie.
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