2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – OFC third round

The third round of OFC matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification began on 7 November 2016 and ended on 5 September 2017.^[1]

Format

A total of six teams which had advanced from the OFC Nations Cup (second round) were drawn into two groups of three teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winners of each group advanced to the OFC Final, played home-and-away over two legs, and the winners of the final advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Qualified teams

Group (Nations Cup)	Winners	Runners-up	Third-placed teams
A	Papua New Guinea	New Caledonia	Tahiti
B	New Zealand	Solomon Islands	Fiji

Seeding

The draw for the third round was held on 8 July 2016, 11:00 NZST (UTC+12), at the OFC headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.^[2]

The seeding was based on the results of the 2016 OFC Nations Cup (second round):

• The OFC Nations Cup champions (New Zealand) and runners-up (Papua New Guinea) were seeded as A1 and B1 respectively.
• Pot 1 contained the OFC Nations Cup losing semi-finalists (New Caledonia and Solomon Islands).
• Pot 2 contained the third-placed teams of the OFC Nations Cup group stage (Fiji and Tahiti).

Each group contained a seeded team, a team from Pot 1, and a team from Pot 2. The same group compositions as the OFC Nations Cup were not allowed by the draw (i.e., Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and Tahiti in one group, New Zealand, Solomon Islands and Fiji in the other group). The fixtures of each group were confirmed by the OFC after the draw, taking into account the need for New Zealand to have a bye in June 2017 for playing in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, and Papua New Guinea to have a bye in November 2016 for hosting the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.^[2]

Note: Bolded teams qualified for the inter-confederation play-offs. Italicised teams qualified for the OFC final but lost.

Seeded teams	Pot 1	Pot 2
New Zealand (assigned to A1)  Papua New Guinea (assigned to B1)	New Caledonia  Solomon Islands	Fiji  Tahiti

Group stage

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tiebreakers

In league format, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7):[3] Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss) Overall goal difference Overall goals scored Points in matches between tied teams Goal difference in matches between tied teams Goals scored in matches between tied teams Away goals scored in matches between tied teams (if the tie was only between two teams in home-and-away league format) Fair play points first yellow card: minus 1 point indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points direct red card: minus 4 points yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	New Zealand	4	3	1	0	6	0	+6	10	Advance to OFC Final		—	2–0	2–0
2	New Caledonia	4	1	2	1	4	5	−1	5			0–0	—	2–1
3	Fiji	4	0	1	3	3	8	−5	1			0–2	2–2	—

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

New Zealand	2–0	New Caledonia
Rojas 42', 72'	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)

12 November 2016 (2016-11-12)

15:00 UTC+13

QBE Stadium, Auckland

Attendance: 8,131

Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

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New Caledonia	0–0	New Zealand
	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)

15 November 2016 (2016-11-15)

17:00 UTC+11

Stade Yoshida, Koné

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: George Time (Solomon Islands)

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Fiji	0–2	New Zealand
	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)	Wood 48' (pen.) Rojas 55'

25 March 2017 (2017-03-25)

13:00 UTC+12

Churchill Park, Lautoka

Attendance: 7,000

Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

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New Zealand	2–0	Fiji
Thomas 27', 68'	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)

28 March 2017 (2017-03-28)

19:35 UTC+13

Westpac Stadium, Wellington

Attendance: 10,133

Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

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Fiji	2–2	New Caledonia
Waqa 45+2' Krishna 54'	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)	Wamowe 13', 24'

7 June 2017 (2017-06-07)

16:00 UTC+12

Churchill Park, Lautoka

Attendance: 1,500

Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

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New Caledonia	2–1	Fiji
Ounei 43' (pen.) Sele 73'	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)	Saukuru 66'

11 June 2017 (2017-06-11)

17:00 UTC+11

Stade Numa-Daly Magenta, Nouméa

Attendance: 1,050

Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Solomon Islands	4	3	0	1	6	6	0	9	Advance to OFC Final		—	1–0	3–2
2	Tahiti	4	2	0	2	7	4	+3	6			3–0[a]	—	1–2
3	Papua New Guinea	4	1	0	3	6	9	−3	3			1–2	1–3	—

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Notes:

1. FIFA awarded Tahiti a 3–0 win as a result of the Solomon Islands fielding the ineligible player Henry Fa'arodo, after Tahiti had defeated the Solomon Islands 1–0. Fa'arodo failed to serve a one-game ban after receiving two yellow cards in the 2016 OFC Nations Cup.^[4]

Tahiti	3–0 Awarded[note 1]	Solomon Islands
Keck 53'	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)

7 November 2016 (2016-11-07)

19:00 UTC–10

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 2,200

Referee: Médéric Lacour (New Caledonia)

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Solomon Islands	1–0	Tahiti
Poila 90+3'	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)

13 November 2016 (2016-11-13)

15:00 UTC+11

Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Matthew Conger (New Zealand)

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Papua New Guinea	1–3	Tahiti
Dabinyaba 45+1'	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)	Graglia 59', 85' T. Tehau 90+4'

23 March 2017 (2017-03-23)

16:00 UTC+10

Sir John Guise Stadium, Port Moresby

Attendance: 4,209

Referee: Salesh Chand (Fiji)

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Tahiti	1–2	Papua New Guinea
Keck 90+3'	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)	Aisa 62' Gunemba 74'

28 March 2017 (2017-03-28)

19:00 UTC–10

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Matthew Conger (New Zealand)

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Solomon Islands	3–2	Papua New Guinea
Kaua 12' Totori 37' Lea'alafa 74'	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)	Foster 48' Aisa 61'

9 June 2017 (2017-06-09)

15:00 UTC+11

Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara

Attendance: 14,700

Referee: Jarred Gillett (Australia)

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Papua New Guinea	1–2	Solomon Islands
Gunemba 18'	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)	Fa'arodo 33' (pen.) Donga 45+2'

13 June 2017 (2017-06-13)

17:00 UTC+10

PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby

Attendance: 2,035

Referee: Jumpei Iida (Japan)

Final

The draw for the final (which decided the order of legs) was held on 15 June 2017, 16:00 NZST (UTC+12), at the OFC headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.^[5]

The winners of the final advanced to inter-confederation play-offs. Dates were set for the two-legged final as being on 1 and 5 September 2017.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
New Zealand	8–3	Solomon Islands	6–1	2–2

New Zealand	6–1	Solomon Islands
Wood 18', 36', 90+3' Barbarouses 39' Thomas 56' McGlinchey 81'	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)	Fa'arodo 53' (pen.)

1 September 2017 (2017-09-01)

19:35 UTC+12

North Harbour Stadium, Auckland

Attendance: 10,230

Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

Solomon Islands	2–2	New Zealand
Lea'alafa 28' (pen.) Fa'arodo 78' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (OFC)	Bevan 14' Sale 21' (o.g.)

5 September 2017 (2017-09-05)

14:00 UTC+11

Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara

Attendance: 10,200

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)

New Zealand won 8–3 on aggregate and advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Goalscorers

There were 41 goals scored in 14 matches, for an average of 2.93 goals per match.

4 goals

• Chris Wood

3 goals

• Marco Rojas
• Ryan Thomas
• Henry Fa'arodo

2 goals

• Mone Wamowe
• Patrick Aisa
• Raymond Gunemba
• Micah Lea'alafa
• Sylvain Graglia
• Tauhiti Keck

1 goal

• Roy Krishna
• Epeli Saukuru
• Saula Waqa
• Emile Ounei
• Richard Sele
• Kosta Barbarouses
• Myer Bevan
• Michael McGlinchey
• Nigel Dabinyaba
• Michael Foster
• Jerry Donga
• Atkin Kaua
• Emmanuel Poila
• Benjamin Totori
• Teaonui Tehau

1 own goal

• Hadisi Aengari (against New Zealand)

Notes

1. FIFA awarded Tahiti a 3–0 win as a result of the Solomon Islands fielding the ineligible player Henry Fa'arodo, after Tahiti had defeated the Solomon Islands 1–0. Henry Fa'arodo failed to serve a one-game ban after receiving two yellow cards in the 2016 OFC Nations Cup.^[4]