The OFC qualifying tournament for the 1995 FIFA Women’s World Cup™ in Sweden was hosted in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It doubled as the 1994 OFC Women’s Nations Cup and was again contested between defending champions New Zealand, hosts Papua New Guinea and Australia.
It also followed the same format of the 1991 edition, with all three teams playing each other twice in single group, and the top side qualifying for the 1995 FIFA Women’s World Cup™ and winning the OFC Women’s Nations Cup title.
Once more qualification was decided by goal difference, with Australia and New Zealand splitting the matches between each other at a win each. Two strikes from Wendy Sharpe helped New Zealand to a 2-1 victory over Australia in the opening match of the tournament, before a Julie Murray goal inspired Australia to a 1-0 win in the reverse fixture. Hosts Papua New Guinea were more competitive then they had been in 1991, but again the tournament was determined by the nature of the winning margins for both Australia and New Zealand against them.
Australia picked up 7-0 and 4-0 victories, whilst New Zealand could only manage 2-0 and 6-0 winning margins. Having scored three more goals, Australia qualified for the 1995 FIFA Women’s World Cup™ and claimed their maiden OFC Women’s Nations Cup title. For a second consecutive edition, New Zealand’s Wendy Sharpe finished as the tournament’s top goal-scorer with three goals, alongside Australia’s Cheryl Salisbury.
Just like the Kiwis in 1991, Australia suffered a difficult FIFA Women’s World Cup™ campaign, losing all three of their group games at the tournament in Sweden. Angela Ianotta had the honour of scoring their first goal at the tournament in a 2-4 loss to China, following a devastating 0-5 humbling at the hands of Denmark to open their campaign. Their best moment came when they took the lead against the USA in their final game, only to concede four second half goals in a 1-4 defeat.
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