2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification

2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification
Tournament details
Dates9 March 2002 – 18 March 2002
Teams5
Tournament statistics
Matches played10
Goals scored62 (6.2 per match)
Top scorer(s)New Caledonia Joris Pibke (9 goals)

The 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification tournament was a football competition that was played in March 2002 to determine the two of OFC's five lowest-ranked members men's national teams to advance to the 2002 OFC Nations Cup final tournament played in New Zealand in July 2002. The national teams of six OFC member associations entered the qualifying process. Cook Islands withdrew from the competition.

Qualified teams

[edit]
Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament[A]
 Papua New Guinea Qualifying tournament winners 18 March 2002 1 (1980)
 New Caledonia Qualifying tournament runners-up 18 March 2002 2 (1973, 1980)
  1. ^ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Format

[edit]

With the end of the Polynesian and Melanesian Cups between the 2000 and 2002 tournaments, (the two competitions formerly served a secondary function as qualifiers for the OFC Nations Cup), a new format was created to decide the teams which would be accepted for the Nations Cup. Retaining their round-robin group qualifier style, the OFC this time chose to adopt the FIFA rankings to order all the entrants.[1] With New Caledonia not yet a FIFA member, they were placed last by default. The lowest six teams were then made to compete for two places via a round-robin group stage, with the highest-placed two teams qualifying for the Oceania Nations Cup.

The Rankings of all the teams involved in the OFC Nations Cup are below. The positions were taken as of October, 2001, with the eleven ranked teams appearing in the following order:

Teams who automatically entered the 2002 OFC Nations Cup
Team Rank
 Australia (title holders) 48
 New Zealand 84
 Fiji 123
 Tahiti 128
 Solomon Islands 134
 Vanuatu 169
Teams who entered the 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualifying stage
Team Rank
 Samoa 172
 Tonga 175
 Cook Islands 176
 Papua New Guinea 195
 American Samoa 201
 New Caledonia N/A

Tiebreakers

[edit]

The ranking of teams in the standings were based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 15):[1]

  1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
  2. Overall goal difference
  3. Overall goals scored
  4. Score from direct
  5. Drawing of lots by the OFC Organising Committee

Schedule

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Below was the schedule of the 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification.[2]

Stage Matchday Dates
Qualifying tournament Matchday 1 9 March 2002
Matchday 2 12 March 2002
Matchday 3 14 March 2002
Matchday 4 16 March 2002
Matchday 5 18 March 2002

Standings

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Papua New Guinea 4 4 0 0 20 2 +18 12 Qualification to 2002 OFC Nations Cup
2  New Caledonia 4 3 0 1 25 4 +21 9
3  Samoa (H) 4 2 0 2 8 9 −1 6
4  Tonga 4 1 0 3 7 18 −11 3
5  American Samoa 4 0 0 4 2 29 −27 0
6  Cook Islands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Withdrew
Source: SportingPulse
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

Matches

[edit]

Before the first group stage began, the  Cook Islands withdrew, resulting in the group stage being played between only five nations.

New Caledonia 10–0 American Samoa
 Report
Tonga 7–2 American Samoa
Suli 3', 72', 80'
Maamaloa 5'
Taufahema 19'
Uele 29'
Fifita 39'		 (Report) Atualevao 15'
Afu 70'
New Caledonia 9–0 Tonga
Faye 17', 85'
Pibke 18', 26', 85'
Voudjo 18'
Kabeu 45'
Kauma 74'
Jose 90'		 (Report)

 Papua New Guinea and  New Caledonia progress to the second group stage.

Statistics

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Goalscorers

[edit]

There were 62 goals scored in 10 matches, for an average of 6.2 goals per match.

9 goals

5 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

References

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  1. ^ a b "Regulations for the 2002 OFC Nations Cup". SportingPulse. Archived from the original on 31 August 2006. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Oceanian Nations Cup 2002". RSSSF. 21 March 2004.
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