By David Gold
March 15 – Oceania’s Olympic men’s football qualifiers get underway tomorrow in New Zealand, with seven teams battling for one spot at London 2012.
They will compete in two groups, before the top two from each group progress to the semi-finals.
The winners of the semi-finals will then compete for the one spot at London 2012 for Oceania.
The tournament is taking place at the Owen Delany Park (pictured) in Taupo after being moved from Fiji following a legal row with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).
Group A of the qualifiers will include American Samoa (pictured below), Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, with Tonga, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand in Group B.
New Zealand will be the overwhelming favourites to win the tournament, even more as they are hosting it.
They qualified for Beijing 2008 and have one player, Jake Gleeson, competing in the United States’ Major Soccer League.
Coach Neil Emblen also called up two players, Greg Draper and Ian Hogg, who were in Beijing four years’ ago.
“With their experience of professional football, Olympic Games or senior international football, we expect them to be leaders on and off the field in what will be a testing tournament,” Emblen, an Englishman who formerly played for Millwall, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Crystal Palace, Norwich City and Walsall.
“Not only are the boys trying to get the country to the Olympics, they are playing for places knowing players are likely to be coming in if the team is successful in getting to the Games.”
Papua New Guinea can call upon the experience of coach Frank Farina, who took charge of Australia between 1999 and 2005.
“My knowledge and experience of teams in Oceania will put me in good stead,” Farina said.
“This country has the talent and the mental game to prove themselves in the region.”
Papua New Guinea lost to New Zealand, Fiji and the Solomon Islands in qualifiers for Beijing 2008 and must do better in Taupo to stand a chance.
Tonga will begin as outsiders in Group B despite being able to call upon a number of senior national team players for the qualifiers.
Group A will be more evenly balanced, with traditional also-rans American Samoa, bottom of the FIFA rankings, buoyed by the country’s first ever international victory last year in Brazil 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
Shalom Luani will spearhead their campaign after becoming a national hero after scoring the winning goal against Tonga in that historic World Cup qualifier.
Fiji, Vanautu and the Solomon Islands will all be confident of picking up the points necessary to advance to the semi-finals and take on the hosts.
Fiji may be narrow favourites after a good showing in the last Olympic qualifiers, where they only narrowly lost to New Zealand and almost finished second.
“We are ready for the play-offs and look forward to a positive outing,” coach Imdad Ali said.
“All the teams will be tough to play against and we will not be underestimating any side.”
The Solomon Islands, who beat Fiji in 2008 qualifiers, will be a tough opponent again, and have been working with Brazilian coach Giovani Fernandes prior to travelling to Taupo.
“We feel privileged to have had someone of his calibre with us,” Solomon Islands Football Federation general secretary Eddie Ngava said.
“I am sure a little of that Brazilian magic will be passed on to the players.
“This is very welcome support and I wish to thank Giovani for making time in his busy schedule to travel to the Solomon Islands.”
Fiji will get the chance to avenge their Beijing 2008 qualifying defeat to Solomon Islands when they face each other in the opening game of the tournament on Friday.
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February 2012: Legal row forces Oceania London 2012 qualifiers to be moved from Fiji to New Zealand