1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)

Listed below are the dates and results for the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for the Oceanian zone (OFC). For an overview of the qualification rounds, see the article 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification.

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)

Tournament details
Dates	16 September 1996 – 29 November 1997
Teams	10 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	22
Goals scored	85 (3.86 per match)
Attendance	99,533 (4,524 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Noel Berry (7 goals)
← 1994 2002 →

A total of 10 teams entered the competition. The Oceanian zone was allocated 0.5 places (out of 32) in the final tournament.

Format

There would be three rounds of play:

• First round: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tahiti, the four best ranked teams according to FIFA, received byes and advanced to the second round directly. The remaining six teams were divided into two groups of three teams each, namely the Melanesian group and the Polynesian group, based on geographical considerations. The teams played against each other once. The winner of the Melanesian group advanced to the second round. The runner-up of the Melanesian group and the winner of the Polynesian group advanced to the first round play-off. In the play-off, they played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner advanced to the second round.
• Second round: The six teams were divided into two groups of three teams each. The teams played against each other twice. The group winners advanced to the final round.
• Final round: The two teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner advanced to the AFC–OFC inter-confederation play-off.

First round

Melanesian group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Papua New Guinea	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4	Second round		—	1–1	2–1
2	Solomon Islands	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2	Play-off		—	—	1–1
3	Vanuatu	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1			—	—	—

Source: ^[1]

16 September 1996

Papua New Guinea	1–1	Solomon Islands
Daniel 15'	Report	Rukumana 71'

Lae, Papua New Guinea

Attendance: 4,500

Referee: Eugene Brazzale (Australia)

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18 September 1996

Solomon Islands	1–1	Vanuatu
Berry 16'	Report	Naukoot 37'

Lae, Papua New Guinea

Attendance: 2,500

Referee: Massimo Raveino (Tahiti)

---

20 September 1996

Papua New Guinea	2–1	Vanuatu
Furigi 88' Karang 89'	Report	Garo 27'

Lae, Papua New Guinea

Attendance: 7,500

Referee: Eugene Brazzale (Australia)

Polynesian group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tonga	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	6	Play-off		—	1–0	2–0
2	Western Samoa	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3			—	—	2–1
3	Cook Islands	2	0	0	2	1	4	−3	0			—	—	—

Source: ^[1]

11 November 1996

Tonga	2–0	Cook Islands
Moleni 20', 67'	Report

Nukuʻalofa, Tonga

Attendance: 500

Referee: Shameem Khan (Fiji)

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13 November 1996

Western Samoa	2–1	Cook Islands
Tapunuu 10' Palusami 20'	Report	Stenter 68'

Nukuʻalofa, Tonga

Attendance: 400

Referee: Neil Fox (New Zealand)

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15 November 1996

Tonga	1–0	Western Samoa
Vane 29'	Report

Nukuʻalofa, Tonga

Attendance: 1,500

Referee: Derek Rugg (New Zealand)

Play-off

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Tonga	0–13	Solomon Islands	0–4	0–9

15 February 1997

Tonga	0–4	Solomon Islands
	Report	Kiriau 34' Seni 73' Berry 85' Peli 87'

Nukuʻalofa, Tonga

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Derek Rugg (New Zealand)

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1 March 1997

Solomon Islands	9–0	Tonga
Berry 3', 41', 57' Rukumana 12' Wabo 37' Seni 61', 63', 74' Kiriau 66'	Report

Honiara, Solomon Islands

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Massimo Raveino (Tahiti)

Solomon Islands won 13–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Second round

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	4	4	0	0	26	2	+24	12	Final round		—	13–0	5–0
2	Solomon Islands	4	1	1	2	7	21	−14	4			2–6	—	4–1
3	Tahiti	4	0	1	3	2	12	−10	1			0–2	1–1	—

Source: ^[1]

11 June 1997

Australia	13–0	Solomon Islands
Mori 2', 15', 36', 65', 80' Aloisi 33', 53', 81', 86', 87' Foster 68' Tapai 78' Bosnich 88' (pen.)	Report

Sydney, Australia

Attendance: 3,127

Referee: Bruce Edward Grimshaw (New Zealand)

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13 June 1997

Australia	5–0	Tahiti
Vidmar 14' Trimboli 37', 42' Arnold 47' Bingley 66'	Report

Sydney, Australia

Attendance: 2,869

Referee: Brian Geoffery Precious (New Zealand)

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15 June 1997

Solomon Islands	4–1	Tahiti
Seni 37' Berry 39', 80' Toata 89'	Report	Ludivion 82'

Sydney, Australia

Attendance: 253

Referee: Neil Fox (New Zealand)

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17 June 1997

Solomon Islands	2–6	Australia
Peli 59' Suri 65'	Report	Slater 15' Arnold 17' Kaierea 38' (o.g.) Tapai 47', 51' Vidmar 75' (pen.)

Sydney, Australia

Attendance: 2,122

Referee: Brian Geoffery Precious (New Zealand)

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19 June 1997

Tahiti	0–2	Australia
	Report	Zelic 8' Trimboli 86'

Sydney, Australia

Attendance: 2,918

Referee: Bruce Edward Grimshaw (New Zealand)

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21 June 1997

Tahiti	1–1	Solomon Islands
Rousseau 38'	Report	Kwaomae 43'

Sydney, Australia

Attendance: 266

Referee: Bruce Edward Grimshaw (New Zealand)

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	New Zealand	4	3	0	1	13	1	+12	9	Final round		—	5–0	7–0
2	Fiji	4	2	0	2	4	7	−3	6			0–1	—	3–1
3	Papua New Guinea	4	1	0	3	2	11	−9	3			1–0	0–1	—

Source: ^[1]

31 May 1997

Papua New Guinea	1–0	New Zealand
Niakuam 80'	Report

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Nik Ahmad Haji Yaakub (Malaysia)

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7 June 1997

Fiji	0–1	New Zealand
	Report	Jackson 80' (pen.)

Ba, Fiji

Attendance: 5,500

Referee: Eugene Brazzale (Australia)

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11 June 1997

New Zealand	7–0	Papua New Guinea
Coveny 10', 13', 67' Rufer 22', 31' Elliott 40' Stevens 80'	Report

Auckland, New Zealand

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Eddie Lennie (Australia)

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15 June 1997

Fiji	3–1	Papua New Guinea
Pita 22' Masinisau 26' Duguga 89'	(report)	Waiwai 68'

Suva, Fiji

Attendance: 1,500

Referee: Eddie Lennie (Australia)

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18 June 1997

New Zealand	5–0	Fiji
Rufer 17', 77' Coveny 63' Viljoen 80' van Steeden 85'	Report

Auckland, New Zealand

Attendance: 12,033

Referee: Massimo Raveino (Tahiti)

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21 June 1997

Papua New Guinea	0–1	Fiji
	(report)	Driu 1'

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Pirom Anprasert (Thailand)

Final round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
New Zealand	0–5	Australia	0–3	0–2

28 June 1997

19:30

New Zealand	0–3	Australia
	Report	Aloisi 18' Vidmar 42' Foster 67'

Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand

Attendance: 23,000

Referee: Masayoshi Okada (Japan)

New Zealand

Australia

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6 July 1997

20:15

Australia	2–0	New Zealand
Zelić 6' Arnold 54'	Report

Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia

Attendance: 14,045

Referee: Jamal Al Sharif (Syria)

Australia

New Zealand

Australia won 5–0 on aggregate and advanced to the AFC–OFC inter-confederation play-off.

Inter-confederation play-off

Main article: 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC–OFC play-off)

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Iran	3–3 (a)	Australia	1–1	2–2

Goalscorers

There were 85 goals scored in 22 matches, for an average of 3.86 goals per match.

7 goals

• Noel Berry

6 goals

• John Aloisi

5 goals

• Damian Mori
• Robert Seni

4 goals

• Vaughan Coveny
• Wynton Rufer

3 goals

• Graham Arnold
• Ernie Tapai
• Paul Trimboli
• Aurelio Vidmar

2 goals

• Craig Foster
• Ned Zelic
• George Kiriau
• Augustine Peli
• Eddie Rukumana
• Timote Moleni

1 goal

• Mark Bosnich
• Matthew Bingley
• Robbie Slater
• Mani Stenter
• Solome Pita
• Esala Masinisau
• Liuai Duguga
• Alivate Driu
• Chris Jackson
• Simon Elliott
• Tim Stevens
• Riki van Steeden
• Nik Viljoen
• Richard Daniel
• Batman Furigi
• Roy Karang
• Francis Niakuam
• Wesley Waiwai
• Michael Junior Palusami
• T. Tapunuu
• Jeffrey Kwaomae
• Batram Suri
• Moses Toata
• Danny Wabo
• Jean Ludivion
• Jean-Loup Rousseau
• Tolutau Vane
• Reginal Garo
• Iau Tuan Naukoot

1 own goal

• Jimmy Kaierea (against Australia)