The OFC Nations Cup 2012 ( Engl. : OFC Nations Cup ) was the ninth playout of oceanic continental championship in football and was held from 1 to 10 June 2012 for the first time on the Solomon Islands instead. Seven teams were set for the tournament: Fiji , New Zealand , New Caledonia , Papua New Guinea , Solomon Islands , Tahiti and Vanuatu . Eighth place on the grid went to the winner of a qualifying round in which the four underperforming teams from Oceania participated and in which Samoa prevailed in front of a home crowd. The game was played in two groups of four teams. The respective group first and second reached the semi-finals. The tournament also served as the second round of qualifying for the Oceania zone for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil . However, the representative of Oceania at the World Cup was determined independently of the results of the final round. A total of 131,700 spectators at the 16 tournament games set a new record for the Soccer Oceania Championship.
The qualification for the Oceania Championship did not take place as in 2007 as part of the Pacific Games. The four underperforming members of the OFC (according to the world rankings ) played the eighth participant of the main tournament in the league system from November 22nd to 26th, 2011 in the Toleafoa JS Blatter Soccer Stadium in Apia , Samoa . This qualification was also the 1st round of the Oceania qualification for the 2014 World Cup .
The two American Samoa games, which earned them 4 points, were the first non-lost games recognized by FIFA in the history of the American Samoan national team. The win over Tonga was also the first World Cup qualifier in which the American Samoans managed to score two goals.
Main competition
The OFC Nations Cup was played from June 1 to 10, 2012 in Honiara , the capital of the Solomon Islands . All games took place as double-events at Lawson Tama Stadium , which has a capacity of 25,000. The group matches of the OFC Nations Cup also counted as the 2nd round of Oceania qualification for the 2014 World Cup . From September 7, 2012 to March 26, 2013, the four semi-finalists determined the oceanic representative for the intercontinental qualification against the fourth-best team in the CONCACAF zone in a further group stage with home and away matches.
Another 7 players with two each and 15 players with one goal.
Awards
The “Golden Ball” for the best player of the tournament went to the Tahitian Nicolas Vallar , the “Golden Shoe” for the best goalscorer went to the New Caledonians Jacques Haeko and the “Golden Glove” for the best goalkeeping performance went to his compatriot Rocky Nyikeine . The Solomon national football team was recognized as the fairest team .
Impact on the FIFA World Ranking
As a result of the victory, Tahiti improved by 41 places to 138th place in the FIFA world rankings published on July 4, 2012. The rankings also improved; New Caledonia by twelve places to rank 143, New Zealand by five places to rank 95 and the Solomon Islands by nine places to rank 174. Samoa lost most of the places, which lost 17 places and fell back to rank 173.
Tahiti (1st title)
Solomon Islands
Jacques Haeko (6 goals)
yellow cards
Yellow-red cards
Red cards
Samoa
American Samoa
Tonga
Cook Islands
Vanuatu
New Zealand
Fiji
Papua New Guinea
1-0 Steevy Chong Hue (10th)
