Eleven nations contested OFC qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil, consisting of three stages, with the second doubling as part of the 2012 OFC Men’s Nations Cup. The four lowest ranked OFC members played out a group stage in the first round, from which the winner would progress to the second.
The four semi-finalists from the OFC Men’s Nations Cup would then secure qualification for the third round, a home and away group stage from which the winner would progress to an intercontinental play-off.
Playing with home advantage in Apia, Samoa emerged to progress from the first stage of the qualifying process. All of the matches were hotly contested though, and it took a very late winner from Silao Malo to book top spot for Samoa with a 1-0 victory over neighbouring rivals American Samoa on the final day of the competition. Tonga held the hosts to a draw on the second matchday, but finished three points behind in joint-second alongside American Samoa.
As first round winners, Samoa qualified for the 2012 OFC Men’s Nations Cup in the Solomon Islands and kept their World Cup qualifying hopes alive. They joined Tahiti, New Caledonia and Vanuatu in Group A of the tournament, whilst New Zealand were drawn alongside the tournament hosts, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
Tahiti made their ambitions clear with a commanding 10-1 victory over Nations Cup debutants Samoa to open Group A, whilst a decisive hat-trick from Bertrand Kai helped New Caledonia to a 5-2 win over Vanuatu elsewhere. The two opening winners met on matchday two, with Tahiti claiming the spoils 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller, sealing their place in the semi-finals with a match to play.
Vanuatu kept themselves in the race for second spot with a 5-0 win over Samoa, but they fell to a 1-4 defeat to Tahiti on the final matchday as the latter secured top spot. A 9-0 win for New Caledonia over Samoa ensured they joined Tahiti in the final four and advanced to the third round of World Cup qualifying.
New Zealand found navigating the group stage difficult. They were made to battle hard for 1-0 and 2-1 wins over Fiji and Papua New Guinea respectively, to secure top spot, before being held to a 1-1 draw by the Solomon Islands on the final matchday. Goals were hard to come by for all sides in Group B, with just nine scored across the six fixtures, compared to a whopping 44 in Group A.
That left the stakes high as the remaining three sides battled it out for the final spot in the third round. Fiji played out draws with both the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, but it was the hosts slender 1-0 success over Papua New Guinea on the opening matchday that secured their place in the final four and the third stage of World Cup qualifying alongside New Zealand.
The crucial game in the third round took place on the opening matchday, as New Zealand pushed ahead in the race for an intercontinental play-off spot with a 2-0 win over New Caledonia away in Noumea. Shane Smeltz and Chris Wood scored first half goals for the All Whites, whilst elsewhere, the Solomon Islands picked up their only victory of the stage with a 2-0 home victory over Tahiti.
The opening defeat left New Caledonia playing catch-up, but they kept their hopes alive with two big victories on the road, first beating Tahiti 4-0, before defeating the Solomons 6-2 with a hat-trick from Georges Gope-Fenepej. New Zealand matched them, with victories over the same opposition home and away.
That left New Caledonia requiring a shock three points away in Dunedin on the fourth matchday, and they pushed New Zealand all the way, before the All Whites eventually prevailed 2-1 with a dramatic injury-time winner from Tommy Smith. With six wins from six, New Zealand wrapped up top spot and secured an intercontinental play-off with Mexico for a place in Brazil.
Pitted against Latin American heavyweights Mexico, it was always going to be a tough ask for New Zealand to replicate the heroics of 2010, and they were all but eliminated from the tie after the first leg in front of a raucous crowd at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, falling to a 1-5 defeat as Oribe Peralta led El Tri with two goals either side of half-time.
Chris James scored the lone goal for the All Whites, which proved to be mere consolation late on. Peralta again rose to the occasion in the second leg in Wellington, blowing New Zealand out of the water with a first-half hat-trick. The All Whites scored twice late on through Chris James and Rory Fallon, but a goal from Carlos Pena wrapped up a 4-2 second leg victory for Mexico, and a 9-3 win on aggregate.
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