New Caledonia and Fiji were first-day winners as the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup Oceania qualifiers got underway in Suva.
New Caledonia beat Papua New Guinea 3-1 to take an early lead in Group A, while 10-man Fiji hung on for a 1-0 win against the Solomon Islands.
Main photo: Fiji goalscorer Roy Krishna (second left) celebrates with teammates. Photo credit: OFC Media / Kirk Corrie / Phototek.
Fiji scrape home against Solomon Islands
Fiji narrowly overcame the Solomon Islands in their opening match despite spending most of the 90 minutes with only ten men.
Roy Krishna’s goal from a narrow angle proved enough for coach Rob Sherman’s side who had Aporosa Yada sent off for a lunging tackle in the 39th minute.
The Solomon Islands started the brighter, pinning the hosts in their own half but struggling to create any chances of real note.
Krishna broke the deadlock to give a noisy and passionate home crowd something to cheer.
The Odisha FC forward took advantage of poor defensive play to fire in from a narrow angle, and through the legs of goalkeeper Phillip Mango.
Despite establishing a measure of control having taken the lead, Fiji went a man down not long before half-time.
Aporosa Yada stretched to win the ball just outside of Solomon Islands’ penalty area, catching his man to the extent that the referee felt it necessary to brandish a red card.
With a man advantage, Solomon Islands struggled to make their advantage count, to the frustration of coach Josh Smith.
Fiji’s defensive hard work kept their opponents at bay for much of the second half.
Rafa Le’ai was a common outlet for the Solomon Islands, but the pacey forward couldn’t find a way to regularly threaten Fiji’s defence, which was dropping deeper and deeper as the match wore on.
Much to Fiji’s credit, the loss of Yada wasn’t overly apparent, despite the Solomon Islands domination of possession.
Fiji goalkeeper Jerome Narayan was largely untroubled, aside from comfortably claiming a number of dangerous crosses.
Leroy Jennings almost punished Solomon Islands’ profligacy when his opportunistic effort nearly caught out Mango, who tipped over the bar.
Krishna had a better chance moments later, taking advantage of slack defending, but his effort was deflected onto the near post by a desperate Mango.
New Caledonia impressive in 3-1 win against PNG
New Caledonia made a winning start to their campaign with an impressive victory over Papua New Guinea in poor weather conditions in Suva.
Heavy rain hit HFC Bank Stadium not long after kick-off and appeared to contribute to a stagnant start by both teams.
New Caledonia were the strong side as the first half wore on and were given the perfect chance to take the lead, when a trip in the penalty area gave Joseph Athale the opportunity to open the scoring.
He duly did, calmly rolling the ball into the corner, with Papua New Guinea goalkeeper Ronald Warisan diving the wrong way.
The goal gave Johann Sidaner’s players even more confidence, though Tommy Semmy occasionally looked menacing on the break for Papua New Guinea.
New Caledonia scored their second goal as the match entered stoppage time of the first period.
A clearance from Rocky Nyikeine carried the length of the field and when Warisan’s clearance fell straight to Georges Gope-Fenepej, he expertly lifted the ball over the ‘keeper and the covering defenders.
The second half was high on intensity but perhaps not quality.
The rain relented but the surface still proved tricky to navigate, with the ball skipping away and first touches proving troublesome.
Papua New Guinea enjoyed more of the ball in the second spell but continued to find the New Caledonia defence resolute, not giving them any time and space on the ball in the final third.
New Caledonia continued to press for a third that would kill off the game.
Jean-Jaques Katrawa spurned an excellent opportunity when set-up by Gope-Fenepej but his effort skewed wide from close range.
Papua New Guinea gave themselves hope with a little over ten minutes left and it was no surprise that it came from Tommy Semmy. The powerful forward rose highest to plant a superb header past Nyikeine and reduce the arrears.
The hope was short-lived as New Caledonia re-established their two-goal lead.
A corner from the left-hand side flew deep, before being headed back through the penalty area, with Germain Haewegene on hand to smash home from five metres.
Acknowledgement
We thank OFC Media for providing information for this story.
Feature: The costs and hurdles of past FIFA Men’s World Cup campaigns >>>>
Results
Games played on Thursday October 10, 2024
Group A
New Caledonia 3 (Joseph Athale 20′ pen, Georges Gope-Fenepej 45′, Germain Haewegene 83′)
Papua New Guinea 1 (Tommy Semmy 78′)
Solomon Islands 0
Fiji 1 (Roy Krishna 13′)
Fixtures
Game to be played on Friday October 11, 2024
Group B
New Zealand v Tahiti
VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu, 3pm (NZT)
Game to be played on Saturday October 12, 2024
Group B
Vanuatu v Samoa
VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu, 4pm (NZT)
This story was first published on October 11, 2024.
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