Oceania Finally Starts Its Road To The Qatar 2022 World Cup … In Doha In 2022

With the draw for the group phases of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup simply two weeks away, the Oceania Soccer Confederation lastly began its World Cup qualifying matches.

Oceania solely will get half a spot on the World Cup. The most effective of the eight nations competing within the OFC World Cup qualifying can have the prospect to contest a playoff match in opposition to the fourth-placed group from North America (most definitely Panama or Costa Rica) in June for a solitary World Cup spot.

However whereas the street to Qatar 2022 is tough, in a method, the groups from Oceania have already reached their vacation spot.

As a consequence of Covid-19, all of the OFC’s qualifying matches are being held within the Qatari capital Doha, although they’re being performed on the smaller Al-Arabi Stadium and Qatar SC Stadium reasonably than at any of the particular World Cup venues.

It might sound odd that they’d fly midway world wide for these video games, however the usage of a single venue might really assist these nations keep away from costly flights to a number of away video games. Tahiti participant Tutehau Tufariua has mentioned taking part in this in Qatar is “already a bit like our World Cup”.

Covid-19 can be the explanation why these matches are going down in March 2022. They had been supposed to begin in September 2020, however have been delayed a number of instances.

Whereas soccer in Europe has principally been again to regular for nearly a season, soccer within the Pacific continues to be at a standstill, with the area opting to ban journey as considered one of its foremost methods to fight the virus.

In addition to the World Cup qualifiers, the 2020 OFC Nations Cup was additionally cancelled, as had been the 2020 and 2021 editions of the OFC Champions League. The area didn’t ship a group to the 2020 Membership World Cup and needed to nominate AS Pirae for the 2021 match.

And the groups aren’t free from the virus, even in Qatar. Tahiti’s opening match in opposition to Vanuatu on March 18^th was referred to as off after a Covid-19 outbreak left Vanuatu unable to discipline a full group. Vanuatu might find yourself going dwelling with out having kicked a ball.

A day earlier within the opening match of Group A, the Solomon Islands beat the Cook dinner Islands 2-0 with two first-half objectives. That places them in a superb place to advance from their four-team group and attain the semi-finals of qualifying. In the event that they get that far, they are going to play one of many groups in Group B, which accommodates relative heavyweights New Zealand.

New Zealand reached the World Cup again in 2010, the primary yr since regional rivals Australia moved to the Asian Soccer Confederation. They beat Bahrain within the World Cup qualifying play-off, then went on to be the one undefeated group at South Africa 2010, drawing their three matches in opposition to Slovakia, Paraguay and Italy however nonetheless getting eradicated on the group stage. It was New Zealand’s second World Cup look as additionally they certified in 1982 when OFC and AFC qualification was mixed.

Within the earlier two World Cup qualification phases, New Zealand have as soon as once more been Oceania’s finest facet, however they misplaced within the inter-continental play-offs to Mexico in 2014 and Peru in 2018.

Aside from New Zealand, the perimeters which can be in all probability most definitely to succeed in the knockout stage are the Solomon Islands, who’re the second-highest ranked group within the OFC, 2012 OFC Nations Cup winners Tahiti, and New Caledonia, whose membership facet Hienghene Sport gained the 2019 OFC Champions League.

However there are greater than eight nations in Oceania. The truth is, soccer globetrotter Paul Watson, who as soon as managed Micronesian island Pohnpei’s soccer group, reckons that whereas there are eight groups collaborating in qualifying, there are at least that number who’ve been excluded.

Each Samoa and American Samoa withdrew because of Covid-19 journey restrictions, and Tonga continues to be recovering from a devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami. A number of different groups had been unable to participate because of administrative issues affecting the Oceania Soccer Confederation and the problem of organizing worldwide soccer between a number of tiny islands which can be a whole lot or 1000’s of miles aside.

Although the seven different sides will possible succumb to New Zealand and their European-based stars like Newcastle United’s Chris Wooden, taking part in this match in Qatar may get them a bit extra recognition than normal and maybe presents a solution to run OFC’s qualification phases sooner or later.