2012 OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament

The 2012 OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament was the qualifying tournament to the football competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London for the member nations of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).^[1] The tournament was played in New Zealand, after an OFC decision to strip Fiji of the rights to host the tournament was made in January 2012. It was announced on 7 February 2012 that Taupō would host the qualifiers, with the sole venue being Owen Delany Park.^[2]

2012 OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament

Tournament details
Host country	New Zealand
City	Taupō
Dates	16–25 March 2012
Teams	7 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	New Zealand
Runners-up	Fiji
Third place	Vanuatu
Fourth place	Papua New Guinea
Tournament statistics
Matches played	13
Goals scored	63 (4.85 per match)
Attendance	4,250 (327 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ian Paia (7 goals)
Best player(s)	Esava Naqeleca
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New Zealand won the tournament and qualified for the Olympic Games.

Participating teams

•  American Samoa
•  Fiji
•  New Zealand
•  Papua New Guinea
•  Solomon Islands
•  Tonga
•  Vanuatu

Squads

Main article: 2012 OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Football Tournament squads

Group stage

The teams' paths to the Olympics were revealed on 17 February 2012.^[3]

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Fiji	3	3	0	0	11	2	+9	9
Vanuatu	3	2	0	1	10	2	+8	6
Solomon Islands	3	1	0	2	16	4	+12	3
American Samoa	3	0	0	3	2	31	−29	0

16 March 2012

12:00 UTC+13

Solomon Islands	0–2	Fiji
	Report	Naqeleca 18' Watkins 65'

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

16 March 2012

14:30 UTC+13

Vanuatu	8–0	American Samoa
Lenga 10', 23' Tasso 13' (pen.), 21' Namatak 81', 83', 86' Mansale 89'	Report

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Attendance: 200

Referee: Bertrand Billon (New Caledonia)

---

18 March 2012

14:30 UTC+13

American Samoa	1–7	Fiji
Tualaulelei 66'	Report	Salauneune 12' Draunibaka 56', 58' Naqeleca 63', 65' Drudru 72' Watkins 88'

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Attendance: 250

Referee: Isidore Assiene-Ambassa (New Caledonia)

18 March 2012

17:00 UTC+13

Solomon Islands	0–1	Vanuatu
	Report	Kaltack 61'

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Attendance: 400

Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

---

21 March 2012^{[note 1]}

12:00 UTC+13

American Samoa	1–16	Solomon Islands
Luani 5'	Report[permanent dead link]	Paia 22', 26', 32' (pen.), 58' (pen.), 63', 73', 84' Donga 50' Teleda 52' Lea'alafa 55', 69', 74' Tafoa 67' Kakate 77', 79' Doiwale 89'

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Attendance: 100

Referee: Bertrand Billon (New Caledonia)

21 March 2012^{[note 1]}

17:00 UTC+13

Fiji	2–1	Vanuatu
Naqeleca 20' Salauneune 41'	Report	Kaltack 62'

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Attendance: 150

Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
New Zealand	2	2	0	0	11	0	+11	6
Papua New Guinea	2	1	0	1	3	1	+2	3
Tonga	2	0	0	2	0	13	−13	0

16 March 2012

17:00 UTC+13

New Zealand	1–0	Papua New Guinea
Lovemore 73'	Report

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Attendance: 550

Referee: Gerald Oiaka (Solomon Islands)

---

18 March 2012

12:00 UTC+13

Papua New Guinea	3–0	Tonga
Malagian 6' Dabinyaba 47' Seeto 86'	Report

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Attendance: 150

Referee: Bruce George (Vanuatu)

---

21 March 2012^{[note 1]}

14:30 UTC+13

Tonga	0–10	New Zealand
	Report	Draper 23' Hicks 33' Saric 43' Fenton 52', 54' Gailbraith 72', 73' Lovemore 77', 90' Musa 81'

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Attendance: 200

Referee: Gerald Oiaka (Solomon Islands)

Knockout stage

Due to the delay in the final group matches, the knockout stage was postponed by one day from the original schedule.^[5]

	Semi finals				Final
	23 March – Taupō
	Fiji	3
					25 March – Taupō
	Papua New Guinea	0
					Fiji	0
	23 March – Taupō
					New Zealand	1
	New Zealand	3
	Vanuatu	2
					Third place play-off
					25 March – Taupō
					Papua New Guinea	0
					Vanuatu	1

Semi finals

23 March 2012

13:00 UTC+13

Fiji	3–0	Papua New Guinea
Naqeleca 25' (pen.), 60' (pen.) Sahib 71'	Report[permanent dead link]

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Attendance: 200

Referee: Bertrand Billon (New Caledonia)

23 March 2012

16:00 UTC+13

New Zealand	3–2	Vanuatu
Fenton 5' Musa 8' Draper 27'	Report	Kaltack 74' Tangis 90+1'

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Attendance: 400

Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

Third place play-off

25 March 2012

13:00 UTC+13

Papua New Guinea	0–1	Vanuatu
	Report	Kaltack 38'

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Attendance: 400

Referee: Gerald Oiaka (Solomon Islands)

Final

25 March 2012

16:00 UTC+13

Fiji	0–1	New Zealand
	Report	Draper 18' (pen.)

Owen Delany Park, Taupō

Attendance: 1,250

Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

Awards

A number of awards were announced at the conclusion of the tournament.^[6]

Player of the tournament	Best goalkeeper	Top scorer	Fairplay Award
Esava Naqeleca	Jake Gleeson	Ian Paia (7 goals)	Tonga

Goal scorers

7 goals Ian Paia 6 goals Esava Naqeleca 4 goals Jean Kaltack 3 goals Micah Lea'alafa Greg Draper Louis Fenton Sean Lovemore Silas Namatak

2 goals Archie Watkins Jone Salauneune Misaele Draunibaka Karol Kakate Ethan Gailbraith James Musa Robert Tasso Roddy Lenga 1 goal Samuela Drudru Zibraaz Sahib

1 goal (continued) Daniel Saric Jason Hicks Jamal Seeto Nigel Dabinyaba Vanya Malagian Chris Tafoa Himson Teleda Jerry Donga Johan Doiwale Ailoa Tualaulelei Shalom Luani Kensi Tangis Barry Mansale

Notes

1. Matches postponed from 20 March 2012 due to extreme weather conditions in Taupō.^[4]

See also

• Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• 2012 OFC Women's Pre-Olympic Football Tournament