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

Group stage

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
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 8,131
New Caledonia 0–0 New Zealand
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Stade Yoshida, Koné
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: George Time (Solomon Islands)
Fiji 0–2 New Zealand
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 7,000
New Zealand 2–0 Fiji
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 10,133
Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)
Fiji 2–2 New Caledonia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 1,500
Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)
New Caledonia 2–1 Fiji
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 1,050

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[lower-alpha 1] — 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
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 2,200
Referee: Médéric Lacour (New Caledonia)
Solomon Islands 1–0 Tahiti
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 5,000
Papua New Guinea 1–3 Tahiti
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 4,209
Referee: Salesh Chand (Fiji)
Tahiti 1–2 Papua New Guinea
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 5,000
Solomon Islands 3–2 Papua New Guinea
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 14,700
Papua New Guinea 1–2 Solomon Islands
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
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. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
New Zealand  8–3  Solomon Islands 6–1 2–2
New Zealand 6–1 Solomon Islands
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 10,230
Solomon Islands 2–2 New Zealand
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 10,200

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
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal

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]

References
  1. "2018 WCQ Stage 3 Schedule & Results". Oceania Football Confederation. Archived from the original on 4 September 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  2. "Stage 3 draw complete". Oceania Football Confederation. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016.
  3. "Regulations – 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia" (PDF). FIFA.com.
  4. "Several member associations sanctioned for incidents during FIFA World Cup qualifiers and friendlies". FIFA.com. 19 December 2016.
  5. "New Zealand at home first in OFC play-off". FIFA. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
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