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Men's Football at the South Pacific Games 2007

Tournament details
Host country	Samoa
Dates	25 August – 7 September
Teams	10 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	New Caledonia (5th title)
Runners-up	Fiji
Third place	Vanuatu
Fourth place	Solomon Islands
Tournament statistics
Matches played	24
Goals scored	110 (4.58 per match)
Attendance	13,000 (542 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Osea Vakatalesau (10 goals)
← 2003 2011 →

The 2007 Pacific Games men's football tournament was held at the Toleafoa J.S. Blatter Complex in Apia, Samoa in from 25 August to 7 September 2007.

The men's tournament formed the first stage of the Oceania Football Confederation's (OFC) qualification tournament for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the qualification tournament for the 2008 OFC Nations Cup.

Tournament

The final accredited athlete list at the SPG website Archived 2007-11-07 at the Wayback Machine shows 10 entered sides. Papua New Guinea, although listed by FIFA as having applied for the 2010 World Cup, did not enter. Tuvalu did enter (although they were not eligible for the World Cup). The group stage draw, undertaken by Tim Cahill, was held on 12 June 2007 in Auckland, New Zealand.

New Caledonia's captain, Pierre Wajoka scored a ninth-minute penalty against Tahiti in the opening fixture of the games, earning him the distinction of being the scorer of the first goal of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification process.

Group seedings

Notes:

• Tuvalu was unranked by FIFA as it was not a member (and not an entrant to the World Cup).
• Although the draw took place in June, FIFA rankings are shown as of February 2007, which accords with press reports of the rankings used in the draw seeding.

Squads

Group stage

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Fiji	4	3	1	0	25	1	+24	10			1–1	4–0	4–0	16–0
New Caledonia	4	3	1	0	6	1	+5	10				1–0	3–0	1–0
Tahiti	4	1	1	2	2	6	−4	4					1–0	1–1
Cook Islands	4	1	0	3	4	9	−5	3						4–1
Tuvalu	4	0	1	3	2	22	−20	1

1. Tuvalu were not members of FIFA and so were not eligible to qualify for the World Cup.

Tahiti	0–1	New Caledonia
	Report	Wajoka 9' (pen.)

Fiji	16–0	Tuvalu
Krishna 6', 14', 22' Rabo 11', 34', 45' Baleitoga 17' Tiwa 28', 30' Vakatalesau 42', 46', 65', 73', 82', 89' Finau 68' (pen.)	Report

Tuvalu	0–1	New Caledonia
	Report	Kabeu 52'

Fiji	4–0	Cook Islands
Vakatalesau 19' Waqa 40' Bukalidi 63' Kainihewe 82'	Report

Tuvalu	1–1	Tahiti
Sekifu 87'	Report	Williams 45+1'

New Caledonia	3–0	Cook Islands
Kabeu 35', 51', 85'	Report

Cook Islands	4–1	Tuvalu
Mateariki 28', 69' Le Mouton 88' Tom 90+3'	Report	Willis 83' (o.g.)

Tahiti	0–4	Fiji
	Report	Waqa 17' Baleitoga 38' Vakatalesau 49', 73'

New Caledonia	1–1	Fiji
Wajoka 44'	Report	Kainihewe 56'

Cook Islands	0–1	Tahiti
	Report	Tinorua 64'

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Solomon Islands	4	4	0	0	21	1	+20	12			2–0	3–0	4–0	12–1
Vanuatu	4	3	0	1	23	3	+20	9				4–0	4–1	15–0
Samoa	4	2	0	2	9	8	+1	6					2–1	7–0
Tonga	4	1	0	3	6	10	−4	3						4–0
American Samoa	4	0	0	4	1	38	−37	0

Solomon Islands	12–1	American Samoa
Totori 12', 15' Menapi 20' (pen.), 41', 75', 82' Fa'arodo 43' Waita 58', 85' Bebeu 69' Molea 77' Takayama 90+2'	Report	Ott 55' (pen.)

Vanuatu	4–0	Samoa
Iwai 21' Naprapol 43' Poida 66' Soromon 90+2'	Report

Solomon Islands	4–0	Tonga
Menapi 5', 12' Fa'arodo 51' Maemae 66'	Report

American Samoa	0–7	Samoa
	Report	Tumua 24', 51' Faaiuaso 29' Cahill 43' (pen.), 67' Fonoti 61' Michael 76'

American Samoa	0–15	Vanuatu
	Report	Poida 19' Mermer 24', 45', 45+1', 68' Sakama 43', 79', 90+1' Chichirua 56' Iwai 62' Tomake 72' Soromon 81', 84', 86', 90+2'

Samoa	2–1	Tonga
Faaiuaso 45+1' Taylor 83'	Report	Feao 54'

Tonga	4–0	American Samoa
Moala 37' (pen.) Palu 54', 61' K. Uhatahi 86'	Report

Vanuatu	0–2	Solomon Islands
	Report	Bebeu 60' Fa'arodo 64'

Samoa	0–3	Solomon Islands
	Report	Totori 1', 37' Maemae 69'

Tonga	1–4	Vanuatu
Savieti 50'	Report	Soromon 24', 34', 41' Maleb 76'

Knockout stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	Solomon Islands	2
	New Caledonia	3
					New Caledonia	1
					Fiji	0
	Fiji	3
	Vanuatu	0
					Third place
					Solomon Islands	0
					Vanuatu	2

Semi-finals

Solomon Islands	2–3	New Caledonia
Fa'arodo 40' Menapi 47'	Report	Kabeu 37' P. Toto 54' Mercier 90+4'

Fiji	3–0	Vanuatu
Baleitoga 44' Vakatalesau 69' (pen.) Krishna 70'	Report

Third place match

Solomon Islands	0–2	Vanuatu
	Report	Soromon 45+3' Sakama 50'

Final

New Caledonia	1–0	Fiji
Hmaé 61'	Report

2007 South Pacific Games winners
New Caledonia Fifth title

(Note): The three medallists, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Vanuatu, advanced to the 2008 OFC Nations Cup (together with automatic qualifier New Zealand).

Advancement questions

Tuvalu

There remained some uncertainty as to what procedure would occur to Tuvalu advance - as they were not members of FIFA (and therefore did not enter the 2010 FIFA World Cup). While no explicit ruling was communicated on this matter, comments in the press release for the OFC Second Stage draw referred to "nine eligible nations", suggesting that Tuvalu would not have advanced to the OFC Nations Cup regardless of their performance in the South Pacific Games. Had Tuvalu finished in a medal position, the fourth place team would presumably have qualified for the next round of qualifying with the other two medal winners and New Zealand. Tuvalu's early elimination from the competition put an end to any complication over the qualifying process for the next round.

This was the first time ever that a non-FIFA nation has competed in the World Cup. The closest situation in the past was the case of New Caledonia during the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. However, they were at the time in the process of accession to the organisation, and were eliminated from contention for the finals just days before their final admission to the FIFA family.

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea, having initially entered the 2010 World Cup and indicated their intention to enter the South Pacific Games, were involved in a dispute with their sporting authorities and failed to meet the official accreditation deadline for the South Pacific Games. This meant they were effectively disqualified from the World Cup.

Goalscorers

There were 110 goals scored in 24 matches, for an average of 4.58 goals per match.

10 goals

• Osea Vakatalesau

9 goals

• Seule Soromon

7 goals

• Commins Menapi

5 goals

• Iamel Kabeu

4 goals

• Roy Krishna
• Henry Fa'arodo
• Benjamin Totori
• Etienne Mermer
• François Sakama

3 goals

• Pita Baleitoga
• Pita Rabo

2 goals

• Teariki Mateariki
• Malakai Kainihewe
• Malakai Tiwa
• Taniela Waqa
• Pierre Wajoka
• Chris Cahill
• Desmond Fa'aiuaso
• Penitito Tumua
• Godwin Bebeu
• Alick Maemae
• Stanley Waita
• Pio Palu
• Richard Iwai
• Moise Poida

1 goal

• Ramin Ott
• Thomas La Mouton
• Kunda Tom
• Joasaia Bukalidi
• Peni Finau
• José Hmaé
• Yohann Mercier
• Poulidor Toto
• Damien Fonoti
• Junior Michael
• Lionel Taylor
• Judd Molea
• Samson Takayama
• Temarii Tinorua
• Axel Williams
• Unaloto Feao
• Lafeale Moala
• Malakai Savieti
• Kaisani Uhatahi
• Viliamu Sekifu
• Andrew Chichirua
• Victor Maleb
• Jean Nako Naprapol
• Tom Tomake

1 own goal

• Stephen Willis (against Tuvalu)

See also

• Pacific Games
• Football at the 2007 South Pacific Games – Women's tournament

References

1. OFC - WORLD CUP & OLYMPIC MATCH SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED Archived 2007-11-15 at the Wayback Machine OFC; 15 June 2007
2. OFC - OFC 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP ROUTE VIA ASIA Archived 2007-04-28 at the Wayback Machine OFC; 7 December 2006; Accessed 15 February 2007
3. ^ "FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC) 2010, football - table and standings". soccer365.me. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
4. Long World Cup qualifying road starts in Samoa Reuters; 23 August 2007

• 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)
• Football at the 2007 South Pacific Games
• International association football competitions hosted by Samoa
• 2007–08 in OFC football
• 2007 South Pacific Games