New Caledonia 4 - Tahiti 0

Photo by La Depeche employee

In the final September 2012 match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Tahiti played host to New Caledonia in the Francophone derby in Pirae.  Interestingly, Tahiti are on the other side of the International Date Line from their three group counterparts, so their home matches are played nearly twenty-four hours after the other match in their group on their three OFC Third Round home matchdays.  Tahiti captain Nicolas Vallar was suspended for this matchup, and the 2012 OFC Nations Cup champions appeared to be all out of sorts during the rematch of the final without his presence.  New Caledonia had the better of the few chances in a scoreless first forty-five minutes.

The second period would see Les Cagous take it to the Oceania champions.  A deflected ball was heading for a Tahiti own goal  until Cesar Loholea (pictured, red with ball) slid along the line to claim the opener as his own.  Three minutes on, Loholea slotted across the box for a tap-in by Bertrand Kai, giving the visitors an unexpected 2-0 lead on the road.  Just two minutes after that, Loholea continued his man-of-the-match performance with an absolutely ridiculous bicycle-kick cross that found the head of Georges Gope-Fenepej for Les Cagous' third goal in six minutes.  A stoppage-time strike was added by Gope-Fenepej.  New Caledonia win 4-0, leaving Tahiti in an unexpected last-place position with four matchdays left to play.

New Zealand 6 pts +7
New Caledonia 3 pts +2
Solomon Islands 3 pts -3
Tahiti 0 pts -6

Goals
New Caledonia
Cesar Loholea 57
Bertrand Kai 60
Georges Gope-Fenepej 62, 90

Match Reports:
http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/050ca6eb-d8c7-4716-8332-fbe55cd580ac/language/en-US/Default.aspx
http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/719019ef-db05-46ec-987e-f28d620fc468/language/en-US/Default.aspx
http://www.ladepeche.pf/article/football/terrible-desillusion-pour-tahiti

Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtNv0MKYREk&feature=g-all-u