2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC–OFC play-off)

The 2010 FIFA World Cup AFC–OFC qualification play-off was a two-legged home-and-away tie between the winners of the Oceania qualifying tournament, New Zealand, and the fifth-placed team from the Asian qualifying tournament, Bahrain.

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
(AFC–OFC play-off)

Event	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
Bahrain New Zealand 0 1
New Zealand won 1–0 on aggregate
First leg
Bahrain New Zealand 0 0
Date	10 October 2009
Venue	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa
Referee	Viktor Kassai (Hungary)
Weather	Clear 29 °C (84 °F)[1]
Second leg
New Zealand Bahrain 1 0
Date	14 November 2009
Venue	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Referee	Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)
Weather	Scattered clouds 13 °C (55 °F)[2]

The games were played on 10 October and 14 November 2009 in Riffa and Wellington, respectively. With New Zealand winning 1–0 on aggregate to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time since the 1982 tournament.

It was the second consecutive FIFA World Cup play-off for Bahrain, which lost 2–1 on aggregate to Trinidad and Tobago in their 2006 play-off.

New Zealand took part in their first FIFA World Cup inter-confederation play-off after years of Australia^[3] appearing in the inter-confederation play-offs of 1986 vs Scotland, 1994 (1st play-off vs Canada and 2nd play-off vs Argentina), 1998 vs Iran, 2002 vs Uruguay, and 2006 vs Uruguay, and Israel appearing in 1990 against Colombia.^[4]

The draw for the order in which the two matches would be played was held on 2 June 2009 during the FIFA Congress. New Zealand won 1–0 on aggregate and a second consecutive appearance for an OFC team in the FIFA World Cup.

Venues

Bahrain National Stadium (left) and Westpac Stadium, venues for the series

Background

Bahrain		Round	New Zealand
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Australia 8 6 2 0 12 1 11 20  Japan 8 4 3 1 11 6 5 15  Bahrain 8 3 1 4 6 8 −2 10  Qatar 8 1 3 4 5 14 −9 6  Uzbekistan 8 1 1 6 5 10 −5 4		Final standings	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
Opponent	Result	Fifth round (AFC)	Opponent	Result
Saudi Arabia (H)	0–0	1st leg
Saudi Arabia (A)	2–2	2nd leg

Match details

First leg

10 October 2009

18:30 UTC+03:00

Bahrain	0–0	New Zealand
	Report

Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa

Attendance: 37,000

Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

Bahrain

New Zealand

GK 1 Sayed Mohammed Jaffer RB 15 Abdullah Omar CB 16 Sayed Mohamed Adnan CB 17 Hussain Ali Baba LB 14 Salman Isa  79' CM 5 Mohamed Hubail CM 7 Sayed Mahmood Jalal CM 10 Mohamed Salmeen (c) AM 12 Faouzi Mubarak Aaish CF 9 Husain Ali  65' CF 6 Jaycee John Okwunwanne  86' Substitutions: GK 18 Abbas Ahmed Khamis DF 2 Mohamed Husain MF 3 Ahmed Hassan Taleb MF 4 Abdulla Baba Fatadi MF 13 Mahmood Abdulrahman  79' FW 8 A'ala Hubail  86' FW 11 Ismail Abdul-Latif  65' Manager: Milan Máčala

GK 1 Mark Paston  76' RB 11 Leo Bertos CB 6 Ryan Nelsen (c)  90+1' CB 4 Ben Sigmund LB 3 Tony Lochhead DM 5 Ivan Vicelich DM 7 Simon Elliott CM 8 Tim Brown  68' RF 14 Rory Fallon  66' CF 10 Chris Killen LF 9 Shane Smeltz Substitutions: GK 18 James Bannatyne DF 2 Aaron Scott DF 15 Dave Mulligan DF 16 Andrew Boyens MF 12 Michael McGlinchey  68' MF 17 Andrew Barron FW 13 Chris Wood  66' Manager: Ricki Herbert

Officials Assistant referees: Gábor Erős (Hungary) Tibor Vámos (Hungary) Fourth official: Tamás Bognár (Hungary)

Match rules 90 minutes 3 (of 7) substitutions permitted

---

Second leg

14 November 2009

20:00 UTC+13:00

New Zealand	1–0	Bahrain
Fallon 45'	Report

Westpac Stadium, Wellington

Attendance: 36,500

Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)

New Zealand

Bahrain

GK 1 Mark Paston RB 11 Leo Bertos CB 6 Ryan Nelsen (c) CB 4 Ben Sigmund LB 12 Michael McGlinchey  64' DM 5 Ivan Vicelich DM 3 Tony Lochhead  3' CM 8 Tim Brown  90' RF 14 Rory Fallon CF 10 Chris Killen  82' LF 9 Shane Smeltz Substitutions: GK 18 James Bannatyne DF 2 Aaron Scott DF 15 Dave Mulligan DF 16 Andrew Boyens  90' MF 7 Simon Elliott MF 17 Andrew Barron  64' FW 13 Chris Wood  82' Manager: Ricki Herbert

GK 1 Sayed Mohammed Jaffer RB 15 Abdullah Omar CB 16 Sayed Mohamed Adnan CB 17 Hussain Ali Baba LB 14 Salman Isa RM 5 Mohamed Hubail  85' CM 7 Sayed Mahmood Jalal  79' LM 10 Mohamed Salmeen (c) AM 4 Abdulla Baba Fatadi AM 12 Faouzi Mubarak Aaish  27'  73' CF 6 Jaycee John Okwunwanne  90+3' Substitutions: GK 18 Abbas Ahmed Khamis DF 2 Mohamed Husain MF 3 Ahmed Hassan Taleb  85' MF 13 Mahmood Abdulrahman  79' FW 8 A'ala Hubail FW 9 Husain Ali FW 11 Ismail Abdul-Latif  73' Manager: Milan Máčala

Officials Assistant referees: Pablo Fandiño (Uruguay) Mauricio Espinosa (Uruguay) Fourth official: Roberto Silvera (Uruguay)

Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level 3 (of 7) substitutions permitted

Aftermath

New Zealand qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals in South Africa and were drawn into Group F with defending champions Italy, Slovakia and Paraguay. After drawing 1–1 with Slovakia in their opening match, New Zealand drew 1–1 with Italy, and in their final match, they also drew 0–0 with Paraguay; meaning they finished third in the group on three points. New Zealand's three draws meant that they were the only unbeaten team at the 2010 World Cup.

After the play-off, Bahrain qualified for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar. They went on to finish third in Group C; losing 2–1 to South Korea in their opening match, then beating India 5–2, before being eliminated from the competition after a 1–0 defeat to Australia.