Qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ in Qatar was heavily disrupted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, just six nations made it to the start line for the qualifying process, which consisted of one centralised tournament behind closed doors in Qatar, the venue of the World Cup itself.
COVID outbreaks in both the Cook Islands and Vanuatu squads meant Tahiti and the Solomon Islands made up Group A, whilst New Zealand were joined by New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji in Group B. The winner of the qualifying tournament would progress to a single leg intercontinental play-off with a CONCACAF opponent for a place at the FIFA World Cup™.
As the only two teams who managed to avoid the spread of COVID-19 within their camps, Tahiti and the Solomon Islands were guaranteed progression to the semi-finals of the qualifying tournament from Group A. The only issue left to decide, was the order the pair would finish. They met three days before the semi-finals, where Raphel Lea’i stole the plaudits with a hat-trick to lead the Solomon Islands to a comfortable 3-1 victory and top spot in the group.
Aside from a difficult 1-0 victory over Papua New Guinea on the opening matchday, New Zealand cruised through Group B with little trouble. They wrapped up top spot with a 4-0 win over Fiji and a 7-1 defeat of New Caledonia, with Chris Wood scoring two goals. Wins over New Caledonia kept Fiji and Papua New Guinea in the hunt for second, and it was their clash on the final matchday that decided who would qualify for the semi-finals behind the All Whites.
Fiji took the lead inside the first twelve minutes, but Papua New Guinea responded with strikes from Ati Kepo and Tommy Semmy to secure a 2-1 victory and keep their qualifying hopes alive. Both semi-finals proved competitive affairs, and the Solomon Islands secured a place in the OFC qualifying final for the second consecutive time with a 3-2 win over Papua New Guinea.
Alvin Hou scored twice for the Solomons, in what doubled as just their second match of the qualifying process. New Zealand joined them to make it a repeat of the 2018 qualifying final, but were pushed all the way in a 1-0 victory over Tahiti. Liberato Cacace scored the game’s decisive goal with just under twenty minutes to play.
Perhaps slightly underdone with just two games together before the OFC qualifying final, the Solomon Islands were no match for New Zealand. Bill Tuiloma led the All Whites with two goals, whilst Chris Wood, Joe Bell and Matt Garbett also found the back of the net in a 5-0 win for New Zealand at the Al-Arabi Stadium in Doha. Victory booked an intercontinental play-off with Costa Rica for a place at the 2022 FIFA World Cup™.
New Zealand returned to Qatar, although this time in front of a 10,000 strong crowd, for their single leg intercontinental play-off with Costa Rica at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al-Rayyan. Joel Campbell gave Costa Rica the lead within three minutes, forcing New Zealand to chase the game.
They thought they’d scored an equaliser, when Chris Wood found the back of the net just before half-time, but the goal was ruled out for a foul in the build-up, and New Zealand failed to find the breakthrough despite being on top for long period of the 90 minutes. The 0-1 defeat made it three intercontinental play-off losses in a row for New Zealand dating back to the 2014 campaign.
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