Fiji 0 - Solomon Islands 0; New Zealand 2 - Papua New Guinea 1

Photo by Photosport employee

The matches of the OFC Second Round rival those of CONMEBOL when it comes to drama this month in qualifying for Brasil 2014.  The All Whites of New Zealand made their second appearance in Honiara in three days, this time against Papua New Guinea.  After only one minute and change had elapsed, Kiwi Jeremy Brockie sent in a cross that was nodded home by Shane Smeltz (pictured, white), giving New Zealand an early 1-0 lead for the second time in as many matches.  However, after a quarter hour New Zealand no longer had control of the match.  Three minutes before time, the Kapuls nearly equalized, but Mike Foster's long shot was tipped over the bar by Jake Gleeson.  The Kiwis lead 1-0 at the break.

Raymond Gunemba missed an open header in the box two minutes after play restarted.  The Kapuls were caught with both fullbacks forward seven minutes later, and Smeltz played a great ball across the box to Chris Wood, who finished for a 2-0 lead.  Smeltz hit the crossbar four minutes after that.  From then on, the Kapuls looked dangerous.  Substitute Neil Hans slid to cross to shoot off a low cross, and the ball floated just over the crossbar, but Hans scored five minutes later from the penalty spot after Tony Lochhead had handled a Hans shot in the penalty area.  New Zealand held on for the 2-1 win.

Hosts Solomon Islands then took to the pitch against Fiji in an exciting rivalry match in Honiara.  This may have been the most up-and-down match of the entire 2014 FIFA World Cup so far.  Fijian striker Osea Vakatalesau missed on a solo breakaway five minutes into the match.   Eight minutes after that, Henry Fa'arodo appeared to have netted the opener for the host Bonitos, but he was ruled offside, which he realized after his celebration had begun.  Four minutes later, Fa'arodo's shot was parried aside by Fiji goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau.  Joe Luwi got onto the rebound but drove his shot right back to Tamanisau.  Ten minutes after that, Pita Bolaitoga reached up with the hand of god to score an illegal goal, for which he received a yellow card.  Vakatalesau came close twice in the next twelve minutes, the second time heading over the crossbar from around ten yards with Bonitos goalkeeper Felix Ray beaten.  Three minutes after that, Joe Luwi's cross found James Naka's head.  The header bounced off the ground and toward the underside of the crossbar, but Tamanisau tipped it over.  Despite twenty-shots (thirteen for Fiji), the first half ended scoreless.

In the second period, old soccer adages were disobeyed.  Thirteen minutes after the whistle to resume was blown, Fiji had two headers in the box off a corner.  Two headers always equals a goal, but Alvin Singh sent the second one off frame.  Three minutes later, Ray smothered Roy Krishna's one-on-one breakaway to keep the hosts level at zero goals apiece.  With three minutes left in the match, Bolaitoga knocked a header home, but he was deemed to be offside.  Two minutes later, Vakatalesau was stonewalled by Ray who then immediately rolled an outlet pass to the right side that led to Nicolas Muri getting into the box, but his shot was pushed away by Tamanisau.  Despite fifteen shots in the second half (eight for Fiji), the match ended at 0-0.

With the tie in the second match of the day, New Zealand secure their progression to the OFC Third Round with one match remaining.  Papua New Guinea are eliminated from the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but they do have a match left against Fiji on 6 June 2012.  Solomon Islands will host New Zealand in the last match in Group B.  The crazy scenario of the final matchday is as follows: if both New Zealand and Fiji win by exactly one goal and Fiji score exactly one more goal than the Solomon Islands do during Matchday Three, then qualification will be decided by a drawing of lots between the Solomon Islands and Fiji.

New Zealand 6 pts IN
Solomon Islands 4 pts +1 1 goal scored
Fiji 1 pts -1 0 goals scored
Papua New Guinea OUT

Goals
New Zealand
Shane Smeltz 2
Chris Wood 54

Papua New Guinea
Neil Hans 87 PK

Match Reports
http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/eb30638e-c428-438c-b428-6b5ae7000f1a/language/en-US/Default.aspx
http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/2f537946-88bb-4959-a419-b4340039046e/language/en-US/Default.aspx
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1643812/index.html?intcmp=newsreader_news_box_3

Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLM7JLIBxkU&feature=g-all-u (New Zealand v. Papua New Guinea)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMA-4YBMRd0&feature=g-all-u (Fiji v. Solomon Islands)