The second of three rounds of OFC qualifiers for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027™ got under way with impressive wins from New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Elsewhere, American Samoa continued their dramatic rise, with a stunning 1-0 win over co-hosts Solomon Islands.
Oceania has one direct berth to Brazil 2027 and another potentially available via the FIFA Play-Off Tournament, with the top two finishers in the second round securing passage to April’s final phase of action.
Group A
New Zealand goals: Kelli Brown (1, 14, 38), Katie Kitching (65), Georgia Tipa Aiesi (81, OG), Manaia Elliott (83, 90), Deven Jackson (90+8)
Continental heavyweights New Zealand took less than a minute of their opening fixture to show just how much of a force they will be once again, as a delightful chipped finish from Kelli Brown handed them the lead with just 34 seconds gone.
Brown then completed a 38-minute hat-trick – her first goals for the senior team – as the Football Ferns raced into a three goal lead at the break before the impressive captain Katie Kitching made it four midway through the second period after a slick interchange of passes with Grace Jale.
Head coach Michael Mayne is ushering through an exciting generation of young Kiwi talent and the second half saw debuts for both 17-year-old Pia Vlok and 22-year-old Charlotte Lancaster but it was one of the stars of the nation’s U-20 side, Manaia Elliott, that applied the final exclamation mark. The 20-year-old wingback striking twice in seven minutes late on before Deven Jackson also joined the scoring party in stoppage time.
“It’s been a long time coming and I’m really proud to get some goals in the back of the net. I’m proud of the hustle from the team, we worked on things we’ve been trying to get right and we did that well.”
Kelli Brown, New Zealand forward
“We need to re-group and prepare for the next matches and now we have the tough game out of the way we are looking to win the next two matches and make it out of the group.”
Paul Ifill, Samoa coach
American Samoa goal: Alayna Fuamatu-Maafala (56)
Heading into the Brazil 2027 preliminaries, American Samoa had neither won a single qualifier in their history nor scored a single goal. Having ticked off both of those boxes in the first round, they kept that run going with an upset win over hosts Solomon Islands.
Having come close on multiple occasions in the opening stanza, they broke the deadlock shortly after the restart as Mia Toeaina teed up Alayna Fuamatu-Maafala to sweep home from adjacent to the penalty spot.
Player of the match Morgan Patea then clipped the bar on the hour as the team sitting at 137 on the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking picked up another eye-catching win to bolster their chances of making a fairytale appearance at the global showpiece.
“We pushed each other and I’m so glad we got the result, it was such a big sigh of relief [getting that goal] with everything that we worked for.”
Morgan Patea, American Samoa forward
“I’m proud of how close we kept the game and how hard we worked and it’s important now that we dust this off, recover and get ready for the next game.”
Daniel Barrett, Solomon Islands coach
Group B
Papua New Guinea Goals: Ramona Padio (5), Nenny Elipas (15, 90), Marie Kaipu (43), Phylis Pala (62)
Led by the superb Ramona Padio, a clinical Papua New Guinea side made an impressive early statement with a dominant win against Vanuatu. The Bilums were three to the good at the break as Padio scored the first and, in between a Nenny Elipas strike, teed up the third for Marie Kaipu.
Another fine ball from Padio released Phylis Pala to make it four early in the second stanza before Elipas completed her brace late on, lashing home from a tight angle to round out the eye-catching win.
“It was a good win today and puts our path in a good way to go through the tournament and see where we are. There’s still a lot to work on but the positive is that we could manage the game through team work and implement what we had worked on in training.”
Ericson Komeng, Papua New Guinea coach
“We made some mistakes but it doesn’t mean that we didn’t have chances to score, we just didn’t take our chances but we will be ready for the next match.”
Jean Robert Yelou, Vanuatu coach
Fiji goals: Trina Davis (11), Sofi Diyalowai (28, 45+3), Cema Nasau (36), Sonia Alfred (74)
Section hosts Fiji matched PNG’s dominant first-up win, as they brushed aside New Caledonia by the same 5-0 scoreline in Ba.
Trina Davis poked home the opener from close range early in the first half before a further three strikes had the Kulas in complete control prior to the break. Experienced midfielder Sofi Diyalowai dazzled for the hosts as she grabbed a brace, either side of teeing up Cema Nasau to send her side to the interval with a four-goal advantage.
With the rain starting to tumble down, substitute Sonia Alfred sent a thumping back-post header past Prescillia Maillot to complete a dominant Fijian win. A top of the table clash with PNG is next up on 2 March, while New Caledonia and Vanuatu will go in search of an opening win earlier on the same day.
“Every player contributed to the win. I know the result was good but we’re still trying to embed some of our processes on the field and having the cushion at half-time allowed us to bring some players off and rest them for the next game so that was helpful.”
Nicola Demaine, Fiji coach
“We knew we were going to face a physical team with a lot of speed. I’m a little disappointed with the score because it doesn’t reflect the second half at all. But I think we’ll bounce back. It’s a good lesson in humility for us too, to realise that we still have work to do, but I remain confident about the future.
Christelle Wahnawe, New Caledonia coach
Images courtesy of OFC Media/Phototek
