All eleven OFC member associations contested qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ in Russia. The qualifying process was made up of four stages, with the second doubling as part of the 2016 OFC Men’s Nations Cup in Papua New Guinea.
The four lowest ranked OFC members took part in a group phase in the first round, from which the winner progressed to the second round of the qualifying stage. The top three sides in each group at the OFC Men’s Nations Cup then progressed to the third round, where six teams were split into two groups of three. The winner of each group would face off in a two-legged play-off to decide the OFC representative for an intercontinental play-off with an opponent from the CONMEBOL confederation.
Goal difference was used to decide the first stage of the qualifying process as Samoa, American Samoa, and the Cook Islands all finished level on six points with two wins each. By virtue of conceding one less goal than the Cooks, and scoring two more than American Samoa though, it was Samoa who progressed to the second round and the OFC Men’s Nations Cup.
It was another log-jam at the top of the table in Group A of the second stage, although not involving Samoa, who finished bottom without a point to their name. Instead, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and Tahiti kept World Cup qualifying hopes alive by finishing in the top three. Group B was also tightly contested, as Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu all finished on three points each. Goal difference ensured the Solomons and Fiji progressed through to the third round, alongside New Zealand, who registered with three wins from three.
The third round of the qualifying process saw New Zealand join New Caledonia and Fiji in Group A whilst Papua New Guinea, Tahiti and Solomon Islands were drawn together in Group B. New Caledonia emerged as New Zealand’s toughest competitors, but the All Whites left them playing catch-up with a 2-0 victory at home in Auckland on the opening matchday. New Caledonia fought back to hold the All Whites to a 0-0 draw in the reverse fixture, but they couldn’t find the winning goal that would’ve kept their qualifying hopes alive. Instead, New Zealand wrapped up top spot in Group A and progression to the OFC play-off with home and away victories over Fiji.
Controversy marred the start of Group B, as the Solomon Islands fielded an ineligible player on the opening matchday and defaulted a 3-0 victory to Tahiti. The Solomons gained revenge in dramatic fashion though, claiming a 1-0 win in the reverse fixture in Honiara with an injury-time winner from Emmanuel Poila. Tahiti’s campaign stuttered whilst the Solomon Islands picked up pace, and a home defeat to Papua New Guinea cut the French Polynesian nation out of the race.
Two hard-fought wins home and away over Papua New Guinea then sealed the Solomons top spot in the group and a place in the OFC play-off final with nine points, marking a miraculous turnaround from their opening day difficulties. For all their resolve during the third round, they found it tough going against New Zealand, and were comprehensively defeated in the first leg of their OFC play-off tie at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland.
A hat-trick from star striker Chris Wood propelled the All Whites to a 6-1 victory on home soil, wrapping up the tie with a game to spare. New Zealand then further cemented their strong position with two goals inside the first 21 minutes of the second leg in Honiara, before the Solomons pulled back two second-half goals to claim a credible 2-2 draw.
The damage had been done in Auckland though, and New Zealand booked their place in an intercontinental play-off with Peru following an 8-3 victory on aggregate. Latin American opposition again stood in the way of another World Cup apperance for New Zealand, after their defeat at the hands of Mexico in attempting to qualify for the 2014 tournament.
They had hope after a goalless first leg in Wellington though, holding out the Peruvians in a tense affair. An away goal in Lima would give the All Whites the advantage in the event of another draw, but they spurned their chances and failed to find the back of the net. At the other end of the field, Peru scored twice either side of the break with goals from Jefferson Farfan and Christian Ramos to secure a 2-0 aggregate victory for the South Americans.
It was despair for New Zealand at the final hurdle, after all their hard work throughout the course of the qualifying campaign.
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