Soccer Oceania Championship 2004

Soccer Oceania Championship 2004
OFC Nations Cup 2004
Number of nations	6  (of 12 applicants)
Oceania Champion	Australia (4th title)
venue	Australia ( Adelaide )
Opening game	May 29, 2004
Endgame	June 6, 2004
Games	17th
Gates	69  (⌀: 4.06 per game)
spectator	71,561  (⌀: 4,209 per game)
Top scorer	Tim Cahill Vaughan Coveny (6 goals each)

The OFC Nations Cup 2004 ( Engl. : OFC Nations Cup ) was the seventh playout of oceanic continental championship in football and was from May 29 to June 6, 2004 for the second time in 1998 in Australia. The games were played at Hindmarsh Stadium and Marden Sports Complex in Adelaide. Only six teams participated in the tournament: Australia , the Cook Islands , New Zealand , Tahiti , the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu . Australia and New Zealand were set for the main competition. The other countries had to play a qualifying round beforehand. Everyone against everyone was played in the league system. The final, however, with a return leg.

With the exception of the finals, the competition was also considered to qualify the Oceania zone for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Australia won their fourth title, qualifying for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany.

qualification

The qualification was also the 1st round of the qualification of the Oceania zone for the Soccer World Cup 2006 .

Group 1

The Group 1 games took place in May 2004 at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara , Solomon Islands .

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Solomon Islands	4th	3	1	0	014: 100	+13	10
2.	Tahiti	4th	2	2	0	005: 100	+4	08th
3.	New Caledonia	4th	2	1	1	016: 200	+14	07th
4th	Tonga	4th	1	0	3	002:170	−15	03
5.	Cook Islands	4th	0	0	4th	001:170	−16	00

10th of May
Solomon Islands	-	Tonga	6-0
Tahiti	-	Cook Islands	2-0
12th of May
Solomon Islands	-	Cook Islands	5-0
Tahiti	-	New Caledonia	0-0
May 15
Tonga	-	Cook Islands	2: 1
Solomon Islands	-	New Caledonia	2-0
17th of May
New Caledonia	-	Cook Islands	8-0
Tahiti	-	Tonga	2-0
May 19th
New Caledonia	-	Tonga	8-0
Solomon Islands	-	Tahiti	1: 1

The Solomon Islands and Tahiti qualified as the best in Group 1 for the 2004 Oceania Championship.

Group 2

The Group 2 games took place in May 2004 at the Toleafoa JS Blatter Soccer Stadium in Apia , Samoa .

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Vanuatu	4th	3	1	0	016: 200	+14	10
2.	Fiji	4th	3	0	1	019: 500	+14	09
3.	Papua New Guinea	4th	2	1	1	017: 600	+11	07th
4th	Samoa	4th	1	0	3	005:110	−6	03
5.	American Samoa	4th	0	0	4th	001:340	−33	00

10th of May
Papua New Guinea	-	Vanuatu	1: 1
Samoa	-	American Samoa	4-0
12th of May
Vanuatu	-	American Samoa	9: 1
Fiji	-	Papua New Guinea	4: 2
May 15
Fiji	-	American Samoa	11: 0
Samoa	-	Vanuatu	0: 3
17th of May
Papua New Guinea	-	American Samoa	10-0
Samoa	-	Fiji	0: 4
May 19th
Vanuatu	-	Fiji	3-0
Samoa	-	Papua New Guinea	1: 4

Vanuatu and Fiji qualified top of Group 2 for the 2004 Oceania Championship.

Main competition

Group stage

The group stage was also the second round of qualifying the Oceania zone for the 2006 World Cup.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Australia	5	4th	1	0	021: 300	+18	13
2.	Solomon Islands	5	3	1	1	009: 600	+3	10
3.	New Zealand	5	3	1	1	017: 500	+12	10
4th	Fiji	4th	1	1	2	003:100	−7	04th
5.	Tahiti	4th	1	1	2	002:240	−22	04th
6th	Vanuatu	4th	1	0	3	005: 900	−4	03

May 29 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
Australia	-	New Zealand	1: 0 (1: 0)
Tahiti	-	Fiji	0-0
May 29 (Marden Sports Complex)
Solomon Islands	-	Vanuatu	1: 0 (0: 0)
May 31 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
Australia	-	Tahiti	9: 0 (3: 0)
Vanuatu	-	Fiji	0: 1 (0: 0)
May 31 (Marden Sports Complex)
New Zealand	-	Solomon Islands	3: 0 (1: 0)
June 2 (Marden Sports Complex)
Australia	-	Fiji	6: 1 (2: 1)
June 2 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
New Zealand	-	Vanuatu	2: 4 (0: 1)
Solomon Islands	-	Tahiti	4: 0 (3: 0)
June 4th (Hindmarsh Stadium)
Australia	-	Vanuatu	3: 0 (1: 0)
Solomon Islands	-	Fiji	2: 1 (1: 1)
June 4th (Marden Sports Complex)
New Zealand	-	Tahiti	10: 0 (5: 0)
June 6 (Marden Sports Complex)
Vanuatu	-	Tahiti	1: 2 (1: 1)
June 6th (Hindmarsh Stadium)
Australia	-	Solomon Islands	2: 2 (0: 1)
New Zealand	-	Fiji	2: 0 (1: 0)

Finals

First leg

Solomon Islands		Australia
	Saturday, October 9, 2004 in Honiara ( Lawson Tama ) Result: 1: 5 (0: 4) Spectators: 21,000 Referee: Peter O'Leary ( New Zealand )
	Felix Rey - George Suri , Leslie Leo , Nelson Saie , Mahlon Houkarawa , Batram Suri , Jack Samani , Alick Maemae , George Lui , Paul Junior Kakai , Henry Fa'arodo Trainer: Alan Gillett	Mark Schwarzer - Tony Vidmar , Tony Popovic , Lucas Neill (71st Jon McKain ), Kevin Muscat , Simon Colosimo , Josip Skoko , Vince Grella (60th Luke Wilkshire ), Brett Emerton (60th Mile Sterjovski ), Ahmad Elrich , Ante Milicic Trainer: Frank Farina
	1: 4 Batram Suri (60.)	0: 1 Josip Skoko (5th) 0: 2 Ante Milicic (18th) 0: 3 Josip Skoko (28th) 0: 4 Brett Emerton (43rd) 1: 5 Ahmad Elrich (79th)
	George Lui	Tony Popovic, Vince Grella

Return leg

Australia		Solomon Islands
	Tuesday 12 October 2004 in Sydney ( Aussie Stadium ) Result: 6: 0 (2: 0) Spectators: 19,208 Referee: Leone Rakaroi ( Fiji )
	Mark Schwarzer - Tony Vidmar , Tony Popovic , Kevin Muscat (46th Jon McKain ), Lucas Neill , Luke Wilkshire , Josip Skoko (46th Ahmad Elrich ), Harry Kewell (46th Archie Thompson ), Brett Emerton , Simon Colosimo , Ante Milicic Trainer: Frank Farina	Felix Rey - Gideon Omokirio , George Suri , Nelson Saie , Mahlon Houkarawa (88th Leslie Leo ), Batram Suri (46th Billy Kidston ), Alick Maemae (75th Jack Samani ), George Lui , Henry Fa'arodo , Commins Menapi , Joel Konfilia Trainer: Alan Gillett
	1-0 Ante Milicic (5th) 2-0 Harry Kewell (8th) 3-0 Tony Vidmar (60th) 4-0 Archie Thompson (79th) 5-0 Ahmad Elrich (82nd) 6-0 Brett Emerton (86.)

Both teams competed against each other again in September 2005 in the third round of qualifying the Oceania zone for the 2006 World Cup. There, too, Australia clearly won 7-0 and 2-1 overall and qualified for the intercontinental play-offs against Uruguay, which they just won and qualified for the 2006 World Cup.

Best goal scorers

rank	player	Gates
1	Tim Cahill	6th
	Vaughan Coveny	6th
3	Brett Emerton	4th
	Brent Fisher	4th
	Commins Menapi	4th
6th	Josip Skoko	3
	Mile Sterjovski	3
	Ahmad Elrich	3
	Batram Suri	3
10	Ante Milicic	2
	John Aloisi	2
	Adrian Madaschi	2
	Veresa Toma	2
	Duncan Oughton	2
	Ryan Nelsen	2

Another 20 players each with one goal and one own goal.

Web links

• Details on the 2004 competition at rsssf.com