2008 OFC Nations Cup

2008 OFC Nations Cup

Tournament details
Dates	17 October 2007 - 19 November 2008
Teams	4 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	5 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	New Zealand (4th title)
Runners-up	New Caledonia
Third place	Fiji
Fourth place	Vanuatu
Tournament statistics
Matches played	12
Goals scored	39 (3.25 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Shane Smeltz (8)
← 2004 2012 →

The 2008 OFC Nations Cup was the eighth edition of the OFC Nations Cup, and the first under a new format that was introduced. It took place as a series of as a home-and-away round-robin tournament on FIFA match dates in 2007 and 2008. Doubling as the qualification tournament for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the tournament was substantially different from earlier editions: 2004 champions Australia did not compete after leaving the Oceania Football Confederation for the Asian Football Confederation, and for the first time since the 1996 OFC Nations Cup, no fixed venue was used. Unlike the 2004 OFC Nations Cup, which had featured ten teams from the Oceania Football Confederation, the 2008 tournament would feature just four teams.

The Cup was won by New Zealand, who as a result qualified for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, and the World Cup qualifying play-off with the AFC 5th-placed team, Bahrain, in which New Zealand were successful.

Participating teams

The four qualifying teams for the 2008 OFC Nations Cup were:

•  New Zealand (automatic qualifier)
•  New Caledonia (gold medalists at the 2007 South Pacific Games)
•  Fiji (silver medalists at the 2007 South Pacific Games)
•  Vanuatu (bronze medalists at the 2007 South Pacific Games)

Squads

See 2008 OFC Nations Cup Squads

Final tournament

Ranking

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  New Zealand 6 5 0 1 14 5 +9 15  New Caledonia 6 2 2 2 12 10 +2 8  Fiji 6 2 1 3 8 11 −3 7  Vanuatu 6 1 1 4 5 13 −8 4   Fiji  – 3 – 3 0 – 2 2 – 0 New Caledonia  4 – 0 – 1 – 3 3 – 0 New Zealand  0 – 2 3 – 0 – 4 – 1 Vanuatu  2 – 1 1 – 1 1 – 2 –

Results

17 October 2007 16:00 UTC+12	Fiji	0 – 2	New Zealand	Churchill Park, Lautoka Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Jair Marrufo (USA)
		Report	Vicelich  37' Smeltz  86'

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17 November 2007 14:00 UTC+11	Vanuatu	1 – 2	New Zealand	Korman Stadium, Port Vila Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Job Minan (Papua New Guinea)
	Naprapol  32'	Report	Smeltz  53' Mulligan  90+3'

17 November 2007 15:00 UTC+12	Fiji	3 – 3	New Caledonia	Govind Park, Ba Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Peter O'Leary (New Zealand)
	Nawatu  2' Vakatalesau  27'  86'	Report	Gjamaci  66' Kaudre  83' M. Hmaé  87'

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21 November 2007 19:00 UTC+13	New Zealand	4 – 1	Vanuatu	Westpac Stadium, Wellington Attendance: 2,500 Referee: Averii Jacques (Tahiti)
	Mulligan  17'  81' Smeltz  29' (pen.)  34'	Report	Sakama  50'

21 November 2007 19:00 UTC+11	New Caledonia	4 – 0	Fiji	Stade Numa-Daly Magenta, Noumea Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Matthew Breeze (Australia)
	Wajoka  29' (pen.) M. Hmaé  32'  61' Mapou  64'	Report

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14 June 2008 14:00 UTC+11	Vanuatu	1 – 1	New Caledonia	Korman Stadium, Port Vila Attendance: 4,000 Referee: Rakesh Varman (Fiji)
	Mermer  77'	Report	Djamali  73'

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21 June 2008 15:00 UTC+11	New Caledonia	3 – 0	Vanuatu	Stade Numa-Daly Magenta, Noumea Attendance: 2,700 Referee: Michael Hester (New Zealand)
	Wajoka  36' M. Hmaé  60' Diaike  87'	Report

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6 September 2008 15:00 UTC+12	Fiji	2 – 0	Vanuatu	Govind Park, Ba Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Job Minan (Papua New Guinea)
	Kumar  7' Dunadamu  87'	Report

6 September 2008 17:00 UTC+11	New Caledonia	1 – 3	New Zealand	Stade Numa-Daly Magenta, Noumea Attendance: 2,589 Referee: Rakesh Varman (Fiji)
	M. Hmaé  55'	Report	Sigmund  16' Smeltz  65'  75'

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10 September 2008 14:00 UTC+11	Vanuatu	2 – 1	Fiji	Korman Stadium, Port Vila Attendance: 1,200 Referee: Peter O'Leary (New Zealand)
	Sakama  59' Malas  90+2'	Report	Dunadamu  90+3'

10 September 2008 19:30 UTC+12	New Zealand	3 – 0	New Caledonia	North Harbour Stadium, Auckland Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)
	Smeltz  49'  76' Christie  69'	Report

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19 November 2008 18:00 UTC+12 [note 1]	New Zealand	0 – 2	Fiji	Churchill Park, Lautoka (Fiji)[note 1] Attendance: 4,500 Referee: Lencie Fred (Vanuatu)
		Report	Krishna  63'  90'

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} The New Zealand vs Fiji match was originally scheduled for 13 October 2007, but was postponed by FIFA after Fijian goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau was denied a visa by the New Zealand immigration authorities. The match was first rescheduled to be played in the neutral country of Samoa,^[1][2] but subsequently moved again to Fiji.^[3]

2008 OFC Nations Cup Winners
New Zealand Fourth title

Goalscorers

There were 39 goals scored in 12 games, for an average of 3.25 goals per game. Players in bold advanced to the next round in qualifying.

8 goals

• Shane Smeltz (NZL)

5 goals

• Michel Hmaé (NCL)

3 goals

• David Mulligan (NZL)

2 goals

Maciu Dunadamu (FIJ) Roy Krishna (FIJ)

Osea Vakatalesau (FIJ) Pierre Wajoka (NCL)

Francois Sakama (VAN)

1 goal

Salesh Kumar (FIJ) Valerio Nawatu (FIJ) Patrick Diaike (NCL) Ramon Djamali (NCL) Ramon Gjamaci (NCL)

Mael Kaudre (NCL) Marius Mapou (NCL) Jeremy Christie (NZL) Ben Sigmund (NZL)

Ivan Vicelich (NZL) Derek Malas (VAN) Etienne Mermer (VAN) Jean Nako Naprapol (VAN)

References

1. ^ Media Statement: New Zealand vs Fiji Match, Oceania Football Confederation. Accessed 2009-09-09. Archived 2009-09-11.
2. ^ FIFA cancels New Zealand-Fiji, FIFA.com
3. ^ New Zealand to finish World Cup qualifying campaign in Fiji, Oceania Football Confederation.

External links

• RSSF. Accessed 21 February 2010.