2012 OFC Nations Cup

2012 OFC Nations Cup

Tournament details
Host country	Solomon Islands
Dates	1–10 June 2012
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	Honiara, Solomon Islands (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Tahiti (1st title)
Runners-up	New Caledonia
Third place	New Zealand
Fourth place	Solomon Islands
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	64 (4 per match)
Attendance	133,700 (8,356 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Jacques Haeko (6 goals)
Best player	Nicolas Vallar
Best goalkeeper	Rocky Nyikeine
Fair play award	Solomon Islands

The 2012 OFC Nations Cup was the ninth edition of the OFC Nations Cup organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).

The group stage of the tournament also doubled as the Second Round of the OFC qualification tournament for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The four semi-finalists advanced to the final round of OFC qualifying, where they would compete for the OFC spot in the inter-confederation play-offs.^[1]

The qualifying tournament was to be the football competition at the 2011 Pacific Games in Nouméa, New Caledonia. However, in June 2011 the format was amended, and the Pacific Games were no longer part of the qualification process. The new structure saw four of the lowest ranked entrants play a single round-robin tournament from 22–26 November 2011 in Samoa. The winner of this qualifying stage joined the other seven teams that received a bye to the Nations Cup proper.

The main tournament was originally scheduled for Fiji from 3–12 June 2012,^[2] but in March 2012 the hosting rights were stripped from Fiji^[3] as a result of an ongoing legal dispute involving OFC general secretary Tai Nicholas and Fijian authorities.^[4] The tournament was then awarded to the Solomon Islands.^[5]

The winner of the 2012 OFC Nations Cup, Tahiti represented the OFC in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. Note that – unlike the previously announced format – this means the team that advances to the inter-confederation play-off may be different from the team that wins the OFC Nations Cup, and represents the OFC at the 2013 Confederations Cup.

Tahiti defeated New Caledonia in the final 1–0, winning their first title, and also became the first team other than Australia (no longer part of OFC) and New Zealand to be crowned Oceania champions.^[6]

Trophies for OFC tournaments, made by London-based silversmiths Thomas Lyte, are awarded to winners.^[7]

Host selection

On 30 July 2011 at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Fiji was confirmed as host of the 2012 OFC Nations Cup. However, a legal dispute between OFC General Secretary Tai Nicholas and Fijian authorities saw the tournament hosting rights revoked on 14 March 2012. This followed the stripping of both the men's and women's Olympic qualification tournaments from Fiji in January 2012.^[4] On 28 March 2012 it was confirmed that the OFC Nations Cup 2012 would take place in Solomon Islands with the venue of Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara.^[5]

Format

The eight second round teams competed in two round-robin groups of four. The eight teams were allocated to two pots of four teams based on the FIFA World Rankings of 27 July 2011, with the winner from Round One ranked 8th for this round. Teams ranked 1st – 4th were placed in Pot 1 with the remaining teams in Pot 2. Each group contained two teams from each of Pot 1 and Pot 2. Both group winners and runners-up advanced to the knockout stage and, separately, the third round of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Qualification

For this edition of the OFC Nations Cup, there was a qualification tournament for the four lowest ranked teams according to the July 2011 FIFA World Rankings. The qualification contained the following teams:

•  American Samoa
•  Cook Islands
•  Samoa
•  Tonga

{{2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – OFC First Round |expanded=yes |fixtures=yes}}

The qualification tournament was played from 22–26 November 2011 in Samoa. The winner, Samoa qualified for the 2012 OFC Nations Cup.

Participating nations

Team	FIFA Ranking (As at 9 May 2012)	Qualification	Appearance in the OFC Nations Cup	Previous best performance
Solomon Islands	183	Hosts	6th	3 !Runner-up (2004)
New Zealand (TH)	130	Automatic	9th	1 !Winner (1973, 1998, 2002 & 2008)
New Caledonia	155	Automatic	5th	3 !Runner-up (2008)
Fiji	160	Automatic	7th	5 !Third Place (1998 & 2008)
Vanuatu	172	Automatic	8th	6 !Fourth Place (1973, 2000, 2002 & 2008)
Tahiti	179	Automatic	8th	2 !Runner-up (1973, 1980 & 1996)
Papua New Guinea	193	Automatic	3rd	7 !Group Stage (1980 & 2002)
Samoa	156	First Round Winner	1st	8 !None (debut)

Squads

Officials

Nine referees and nine assistant referees were named for the tournament.^[8]

Venues

All matches were held at the Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara.^[5]

 Solomon Islands

Honiara
Lawson Tama Stadium
9°26′S 159°58′E / 9.433°S 159.967°E / -9.433; 159.967 (Lawson Tama Stadium)
Capacity: 20,000
Honiara

Draw

The draw for the groups was held at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 30 July 2011.

Seeding

Teams were seeded in two pots according to the July 2011 FIFA World Rankings, with Pot 1 containing the teams ranked 1–4 and Pot 2 the remaining automatic qualifiers as well as the eventual first round winner. Each group contains two teams from Pot 1 and two teams from Pot 2.

Pot 1	Pot 2
New Zealand  Fiji  New Caledonia  Vanuatu	Solomon Islands  Tahiti  Papua New Guinea  Samoa†

^† First round winner whose identity was not known at the time of the draw.

Group stage

Key to colours in group tables
	Winners and runners-up of each group advanced to: Semifinals of the 2012 OFC Nations Cup Third round of OFC qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup

If teams are even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams would be ranked by:^[9]

1. Goal difference in all group matches
2. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
3. Greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams
4. Goal difference in matches between the tied teams
5. Greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams
6. Coin toss or drawing of lots

This was the same as the tiebreakers for 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification, except that drawing of lots was used instead of play-off match as the final tiebreaker.

Group A

{{2012 OFC Nations Cup – Group A |expanded=yes |fixtures=yes}}

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Group B

{{2012 OFC Nations Cup – Group B |expanded=yes |fixtures=yes}}

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Knockout stage

The group winners and runners-up competed in a single elimination knockout stage to determine the Oceania Nations Cup champion. These matches had no impact on World Cup qualifying, although the winner of this knockout stage earned a place in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. These four teams all competed in the third round of Oceania World Cup qualification to determine who moved on to the inter-confederation play-offs and a chance to qualify for the World Cup finals tournament in Brazil. Unlike 2010 qualifying, the team that qualified for those playoffs can be different from the one that plays in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.

	Semi-finals				Final
	Tahiti	1
	Solomon Islands	0
					Tahiti	1
					New Caledonia	0
					Third place
	New Zealand	0		Solomon Islands	3
	New Caledonia	2			New Zealand	4

Semi-finals

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Third place match

Final

2012 OFC Nations Cup Winners
Tahiti First title

Goalscorers

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Awards

The following awards were given:^[10]

• Golden Ball (best player): Nicolas Vallar
• Golden Boot (top scorer): Jacques Haeko
• Golden Glove (best goalkeeper): Rocky Nyikeine
• Fair Play Award:  Solomon Islands

Notes

References

External links

• Results and schedule (FIFA.com version)
• Results and schedule (oceaniafootball.com version)