2004 OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament

Summary

The original dates of the 2004 edition was originally going to be held in June 2003 but after a meeting in March 2003, it was moved to January 2004 due to the fact that New Zealand was competing at the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup while the other South Pacific nations were competing at the 2003 South Pacific Games which was being held in Fiji.

The matches for the group stage was playing at two venues. That being at Marconi Stadium which played out Group A which featured Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Group B was played at the North Harbour Stadium which featured New Zealand, Vanuatu, Tonga, Cook Islands and American Samoa.

Group A saw Australia not concede a single goal during the group stage as they finished with twenty-six goals from four games and not conceding any in return as they finished top of the group, finishing ahead of Fiji. Coming in third was Samoa who defeated the Solomon Islands to overtake them especially after drawing with Papua New Guinea in the final match-day to record their best result in an OFC tournament. Group B saw New Zealand have a tougher time with a scrappy match against Tonga before falling behind early in the final group game against Vanuatu as they came back from two goals after nineteen minutes to secure a 3-2 win with Brent Fisher getting the winning goal to book their spot in the final.

The final round was played over two legs with the first leg being played at Parramatta Stadium. Two second-half goals from Jonathan McKain and Ahmad Elrich gave Australia a two goal advantage heading into the second leg which was played at North Harbour Stadium. The second leg was a different story with New Zealand having the chances before scoring in the 51st minute from Shane Smeltz. Though Australia would score in the 71st minute when Ryan Griffiths outpaced the New Zealand defender Rupesh Puna to give Australia an away goal in which New Zealand wouldn't be able to respond securing Australia's spot at the 2004 Olympics.

First round

Group A

Sam
Fa'arodo Guti Elrich
Brosque
Thwaite
Holman Elrich
McKain
Dilevski
North
Carle
Pelikan Vidovi
Toma Vulivuli
Vakatalesau Sabutu
Lui
Vulivuli Holman
Wilkshire
Griffiths
Cansdell-Sherriff Fa'aiuaso
Timo
Bureta Lapani Holman
Macallister

Group B

Papani
Feao

• Jones
• Pritchett
• Pearce
• Smith
• Smeltz
• Mulligan
• Smith
• Puna Qorig
  Mahe
  Manumua Yakeula
  Thompsen
  Kapi
  Joe
  Vava
  Angene
• Turner Thompsen
  Qorig
  Tabe
  Kapi Best
• Smeltz
• Fisher
• Thompsen

Final

;First Leg 16:50 AEST Elrich

;Second Leg 19:30 NZST

Australia won 3–1 on aggregate.

Goalscorers

;7 goals

• VAN Jean Maleb
• NZL Shane Smeltz

;6 goals

• VAN Lorry Thompsen
• AUS Dylan Macallister

;5 goals

• NZL Allan Pearce

;4 goals

• NZL Brent Fisher
• AUS Ahmad Elrich
• AUS Brett Holman
• FIJ Thomas Vulivuli

;3 goals

• PNG Nathaniel Lepani
• VAN Isaac Kapi

;2 goals

• AUS Luke Wilkshire
• AUS Nicky Carle
• FIJ Veresa Toma
• PNG Alexander Davani
• SAM Richmond Faaiuaso
• SOL Jerry Sam
• SOL Alick Maemae
• American Samoa Duane Atuelevao
• CKI Tuka Tisam
• NZL James Pritchett
• NZL Jarrod Smith
• VAN Dimitri Yakeula
• VAN Alphose Qorig

References

References

1. "OFC Men’s Olympic Qualifiers moved to January 2004".
2. "Thrilling finale to OFC Olympic group qualifiers".
3. "A night of upsets".
4. "Australia dominates NZ in first Olympic play off".
5. "Olyroos book ticket to Athens".