2012 OFC Nations Cup

2012 OFC Nations Cup
Tournament details
Host country  Solomon Islands
Dates 1–10 June 2012
Teams 8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s) Honiara, Solomon Islands (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions  Tahiti (1st title)
Runners-up  New Caledonia
Third place  New Zealand
Fourth place  Solomon Islands
Tournament statistics
Matches played 16
Goals scored 64 (4 per match)
Attendance 133,700 (8,356 per match)
Top scorer(s) New Caledonia Jacques Haeko
(6 goals)
Best player French Polynesia Nicolas Vallar
Best goalkeeper New Caledonia Rocky Nyikeine
Fair play award  Solomon Islands

The 2012 OFC Nations Cup was the ninth edition of the OFC Nations Cup organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).

The group stage of the tournament also doubled as the Second Round of the OFC qualification tournament for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The four semi-finalists advanced to the final round of OFC qualifying, where they would compete for the OFC spot in the inter-confederation play-offs.[1]

The qualifying tournament was to be the football competition at the 2011 Pacific Games in Nouméa, New Caledonia. However, in June 2011 the format was amended, and the Pacific Games were no longer part of the qualification process. The new structure saw four of the lowest ranked entrants play a single round-robin tournament from 22–26 November 2011 in Samoa. The winner of this qualifying stage joined the other seven teams that received a bye to the Nations Cup proper.

The main tournament was originally scheduled for Fiji from 3–12 June 2012,[2] but in March 2012 the hosting rights were stripped from Fiji[3] as a result of an ongoing legal dispute involving OFC general secretary Tai Nicholas and Fijian authorities.[4] The tournament was then awarded to the Solomon Islands.[5]

The winner of the 2012 OFC Nations Cup, Tahiti represented the OFC in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. Note that – unlike the previously announced format – this means the team that advances to the inter-confederation play-off may be different from the team that wins the OFC Nations Cup, and represents the OFC at the 2013 Confederations Cup.

Tahiti defeated New Caledonia in the final 1–0, winning their first title, and also became the first team other than Australia (no longer part of OFC) and New Zealand to be crowned Oceania champions.[6]

Trophies for OFC tournaments, made by London-based silversmiths Thomas Lyte, are awarded to winners.[7]

Host selection

On 30 July 2011 at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Fiji was confirmed as host of the 2012 OFC Nations Cup. However, a legal dispute between OFC General Secretary Tai Nicholas and Fijian authorities saw the tournament hosting rights revoked on 14 March 2012. This followed the stripping of both the men's and women's Olympic qualification tournaments from Fiji in January 2012.[4] On 28 March 2012 it was confirmed that the OFC Nations Cup 2012 would take place in Solomon Islands with the venue of Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara.[5]

Format

The eight second round teams competed in two round-robin groups of four. The eight teams were allocated to two pots of four teams based on the FIFA World Rankings of 27 July 2011, with the winner from Round One ranked 8th for this round. Teams ranked 1st – 4th were placed in Pot 1 with the remaining teams in Pot 2. Each group contained two teams from each of Pot 1 and Pot 2. Both group winners and runners-up advanced to the knockout stage and, separately, the third round of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Qualification

For this edition of the OFC Nations Cup, there was a qualification tournament for the four lowest ranked teams according to the July 2011 FIFA World Rankings. The qualification contained the following teams:

{{2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – OFC First Round |expanded=yes |fixtures=yes}}

The qualification tournament was played from 22–26 November 2011 in Samoa. The winner, Samoa qualified for the 2012 OFC Nations Cup.

Participating nations

Team FIFA Ranking
(As at 9 May 2012)		 Qualification Appearance
in the OFC Nations Cup		 Previous best performance
 Solomon Islands 183 Hosts 6th Runner-up (2004)
 New Zealand (TH) 130 Automatic 9th Winner (1973, 1998, 2002 & 2008)
 New Caledonia 155 Automatic 5th Runner-up (2008)
 Fiji 160 Automatic 7th Third Place (1998 & 2008)
 Vanuatu 172 Automatic 8th Fourth Place (1973, 2000, 2002 & 2008)
 Tahiti 179 Automatic 8th Runner-up (1973, 1980 & 1996)
 Papua New Guinea 193 Automatic 3rd Group Stage (1980 & 2002)
 Samoa 156 First Round Winner 1st None (debut)

Squads

Officials

Nine referees and nine assistant referees were named for the tournament.[8]

Referees
Assistant Referees
  • French Polynesia Paul Ahupu
  • Papua New Guinea David Charles (replaced by New Zealand Simon Lount)
  • New Zealand Jan-Hendrik Hintz
  • Vanuatu Michael Joseph
  • Fiji Ravinesh Kumar
  • Tonga Tevita Makasini
  • Solomon Islands Jackson Namo
  • Cook Islands Terry Piri
  • New Zealand Mark Rule

Venues

All matches were held at the Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara.[5]

 Solomon Islands

Honiara
Lawson Tama Stadium
9°26′S 159°58′E / 9.433°S 159.967°E / -9.433; 159.967 (Lawson Tama Stadium)
Capacity: 20,000

Draw

The draw for the groups was held at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 30 July 2011.

Seeding

Teams were seeded in two pots according to the July 2011 FIFA World Rankings, with Pot 1 containing the teams ranked 1–4 and Pot 2 the remaining automatic qualifiers as well as the eventual first round winner. Each group contains two teams from Pot 1 and two teams from Pot 2.

Pot 1 Pot 2

 New Zealand
 Fiji
 New Caledonia
 Vanuatu

 Solomon Islands
 Tahiti
 Papua New Guinea
 Samoa†

† First round winner whose identity was not known at the time of the draw.

Group stage

Key to colours in group tables
Winners and runners-up of each group advanced to:

If teams are even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams would be ranked by:[9]

  1. Goal difference in all group matches
  2. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
  3. Greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams
  4. Goal difference in matches between the tied teams
  5. Greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams
  6. Coin toss or drawing of lots

This was the same as the tiebreakers for 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification, except that drawing of lots was used instead of play-off match as the final tiebreaker.

Group A

{{2012 OFC Nations Cup – Group A |expanded=yes |fixtures=yes}}

1 June 2012
12:00 UTC+11
Samoa  1–10  Tahiti
Malo  69' Report L. Tehau  8', 82', 84', 85'
J. Tehau  16', 78'
A. Tehau  18', 40'
T. Tehau  54'
Chong Hue  61'

1 June 2012
15:00 UTC+11
Vanuatu  2–5  New Caledonia
Tasso  52'
Naprapol  61'		 Report Kaï  32', 58', 76'
Gope-Fenepej  66'
R. Kayara  87'

3 June 2012
12:00 UTC+11
Vanuatu  5–0  Samoa
Naprapol  29'
B. Kaltack  45+1'
Malas  47'
Tasso  74'
Vava  90+3'		 Report

3 June 2012
15:00 UTC+11
Tahiti  4–3  New Caledonia
A. Tehau  19'
Vallar  28' (pen.)
L. Tehau  34'
Degage  86'		 Report Bako  76'
Haeko  83'
Kauma  89'

5 June 2012
12:00 UTC+11
New Caledonia  9–0  Samoa
R. Kayara  10'
Haeko  11', 45+1', 71', 89', 90+1'
Kabeu  22'
Ixoée  25' (pen.)
Gnipate  44'		 Report

5 June 2012
15:00 UTC+11
Tahiti  4–1  Vanuatu
Vallar  14' (pen.)
J. Tehau  37'
A. Tehau  57'
T. Tehau  86'		 Report Tasso  90+5'

Group B

{{2012 OFC Nations Cup – Group B |expanded=yes |fixtures=yes}}

2 June 2012
12:00 UTC+11
Fiji  0–1  New Zealand
Report Smith  11'

4 June 2012
12:00 UTC+11
Papua New Guinea  1–2  New Zealand
Hans  89' (pen.) Report Smeltz  2'
Wood  52'
Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Bruce George (Vanuatu)

4 June 2012
15:00 UTC+11
Fiji  0–0  Solomon Islands
Report
Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

6 June 2012
12:00 UTC+11
Papua New Guinea  1–1  Fiji
Jack  85' Report Dunadamu  13'
Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

6 June 2012
15:00 UTC+11
New Zealand  1–1  Solomon Islands
Wood  13' Report Totori  56'
Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 18,000
Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

Knockout stage

The group winners and runners-up competed in a single elimination knockout stage to determine the Oceania Nations Cup champion. These matches had no impact on World Cup qualifying, although the winner of this knockout stage earned a place in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. These four teams all competed in the third round of Oceania World Cup qualification to determine who moved on to the inter-confederation play-offs and a chance to qualify for the World Cup finals tournament in Brazil. Unlike 2010 qualifying, the team that qualified for those playoffs can be different from the one that plays in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Semi-finals Final
  Tahiti  1  
  Solomon Islands  0  
 
      Tahiti  1
    New Caledonia  0
Third place
  New Zealand  0   Solomon Islands  3
  New Caledonia  2     New Zealand  4

Semi-finals

8 June 2012
11:00 UTC+11
Tahiti  1–0  Solomon Islands
J. Tehau  15' Report

8 June 2012
15:00 UTC+11
New Zealand  0–2  New Caledonia
Report Kaï  60'
Gope-Fenepej  90+3'
Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

Third place match

10 June 2012
11:00 UTC+11
Solomon Islands  3–4  New Zealand
Teleda  48'
Totori  54', 87'		 Report Wood  10', 24', 29'
Smeltz  90'
Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

Final

10 June 2012
15:00 UTC+11
Tahiti  1–0  New Caledonia
Chong Hue  10' Report


 2012 OFC Nations Cup Winners 

Tahiti
First title

Goalscorers

6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal

Awards

The following awards were given:[10]

Notes

    References

    1. ↑ "2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil – Preliminary Competition Format and Draw Procedures – Oceanian Zone" (PDF). FIFA.com.
    2. ↑ "Pacific Games no longer part of qualification". oceaniafootball.com. 29 July 2011. Archived from the original on 3 January 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
    3. ↑ "OFC strip Fiji of Nation Cup hosting rights". FijiLive.com. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
    4. 1 2 "OFC takes tournaments away from Fiji". FijiLive.com. 17 January 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
    5. 1 2 3 "Honiara to host OFC Nations Cup". Oceania Football Confederation. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
    6. ↑ "Glorious Tahiti claim maiden Oceania crown". FIFA.com. 10 June 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
    7. ↑ New silverware awarded for victors
    8. ↑ "Officials confirmed for OFC Nations Cup". Oceania Football Confederation. 14 May 2012.
    9. ↑ "Regulations OFC Nations Cup 2012" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation.
    10. ↑ "Tahiti crowned kings of Oceania". oceaniafootball.com. 10 June 2012. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016.

    External links

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