As per FIFA and Oceanic Football Confederation instruction, the stage two of the OFC Women’s Olympic Football tournament between New Zealand and Papua New Guinea has been changed from a home and away play-off to a single fixture to be played on March 8 in Papua New Guinea.
The change was requested and agreed by mutual consent between the two associations and approved by FIFA together with OFC.
The winner of the match will progress to the Olympic Football Tournament in Beijing in August.
Coach Francis Moiyap who led PNG to two gold medal wins at the South Pacific Games in Fiji (2003) and Apia, Samoa (2007) is confident that his girls can deliver goods if they go by instructions.
The bulk of the squad were part of PNG women’s training squad who have been training under him for the past four years.
Moiyap told The National that this is the only chance for PNG to hit the world ranking, and if we advance to Beijing in August, there will be a lot of changes on the ranking.
He said the format for selecting Oceania’s women’s representative at the Olympic Games Women’s Football Tournament, has changed each year since Oceania first gained entry in 2000.
In 2000, Australia, as host nation of the 2000 Olympic Games, qualified. In 2004, a tournament was held in Fiji, featuring the host nation, Australia and Papua New Guinea.
2008 marks the first Olympic Qualifiers since Australia switched confederations from OFC to Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Jan 1, 2006. The winner of the tournament will be awarded direct entry to Beijing 2008.
New Zealand will head into the fixtures as hot favourites but will face a Papua New Guinea team who achieved its highest ever placing at an OFC/FIFA World Cup qualifying event last year when it finished runners-up to New Zealand.
Papua New Guinea qualified for an Olympic Games showdown with the Football Ferns after winning the gold medal at the XIII South Pacific Games women’s football tournament in Samoa last year.
Papua New Guinea defeated Tonga 3-1 after extra-time to secure the South Pacific Games gold medal and clinch the Olympic Games qualifying berth against New Zealand. New Zealand were seeded to the playoff stage and did not compete at the XIII South Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa, last year.