2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification

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.

2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification

Tournament details
Dates	9 March 2002 – 18 March 2002
Teams	5
Tournament statistics
Matches played	10
Goals scored	62 (6.2 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Joris Pibke (9 goals)

Qualified teams

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

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

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

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

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

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

9 March 2002

New Caledonia	10–0	American Samoa
Case 10' Pibke 11', 40', 54', 58', 70' Jose 25' Kauma 36' Wanakaija 55' Voudjo 74'	Report

Toleofoa J.B. Soccer Complex, Apia

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9 March 2002

Samoa	2–0	Tonga
Timo 52' Lemana 83'

Toleofoa J.B. Soccer Complex, Apia

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12 March 2002

Tonga	7–2	American Samoa
Suli 3', 72', 80' Maamaloa 5' Taufahema 19' Uele 29' Fifita 39'	(Report)	Atualevao 15' Afu 70'

Toleofoa J.B. Soccer Complex, Apia

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12 March 2002

Papua New Guinea	4–1	New Caledonia
Kombi 31' Tomda 57' Aisa 70' Davani 85'	(Report)	Voudjo 40'

Toleofoa J.B. Soccer Complex, Apia

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14 March 2002

Papua New Guinea	5–0	Tonga
Lohai 19' Moiyap 61' Davani 70' Aisa 84' Andrew Kassam 89'	(Report)

Toleofoa J.B. Soccer Complex, Apia

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14 March 2002

Samoa	5–0	American Samoa
Timo 3' Faaiuaso 24', 68' Lemana 31' Fasavalu 48'	(Report)

Toleofoa J.B. Soccer Complex, Apia

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16 March 2002

New Caledonia	9–0	Tonga
Faye 17', 85' Pibke 18', 26', 85' Voudjo 18' Kabeu 45' Kauma 74' Jose 90'	(Report)

Toleofoa J.B. Soccer Complex, Apia

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16 March 2002

Samoa	1–4	Papua New Guinea
Lemana 56'	(Report)	Kombi 20' Wasi 30' Elizah 60' Moiyap 76'

Toleofoa J.B. Soccer Complex, Apia

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18 March 2002

Papua New Guinea	7–0	American Samoa
Davani 12', 20', 43' Posman 32' Aisa 46' Lohai 61' Wasi 90+'	(Report)

Toleofoa J.B. Soccer Complex, Apia

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18 March 2002

Samoa	0–5	New Caledonia
	(Report)	Kauma 10' David Hay 41', 69' Pibke 59' Mapou 89'

Toleofoa J.B. Soccer Complex, Apia

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

Statistics

Goalscorers

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

9 goals

• Joris Pibke

5 goals

• Reginald Davani

3 goals

• Robert Kauma
• Tell Voudjo
• Joe Aisa
• Pualele Lemana
• Amone Suli

2 goals

• Yves Faye
• David Hay
• Jose Euribora Jose
• Paul Kombi
• Michael Lohai
• Francis Moiyap
• Maori Wasi
• Desmond Faaiuaso
• Ben Timo

1 goal

• Savaliga Afu
• Duane Atualevao
• Jean-Marc Case
• Jamel Kabeu
• Marvis Mapou
• Michel Wanakaija
• Selan Elizah
• Andrew Kassam
• Tapas Posman
• Yanding Tomda
• Tama Fasavalu
• Siua Maamaloa
• Klifi Uele
• Heweli Vete Fifita