New Zealand just too good
NEW Zealand completed a rare soccer double over the weekend when they won the men’s and women’s Oceania qualifying tournaments for the Beijing Olympics.
New Zealand wrapped up the women’s qualifying event when they beat Papua New Guinea 2-0 on Saturday at the Lloyd Robson Oval in Port Moresby and then added the men’s event by thrashing the Solomon Islands 8-0 yesterday in Lautoka, Fiji.
The results ensured both teams finished at the top of their final pools and qualified for the Beijing Games in August, pending approval by the New Zealand Olympic Committee.
New Zealand’s men only needed a draw from yesterday’s final qualifier against the Solomon Islands in Fiji after beating Fiji and Vanuatu in their earlier games.
“We were always going to win this match, it was just a case of how many,” coach Stu Jacobs told the New Zealand Press Association.
“But you still have to maintain your professionalism and the lads certainly did that today.”
The win in Lautoka gave New Zealand a clean sweep of the round-robin qualifying tournament with earlier wins over the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.
New Zealand finished the tournament with 19 goals for and three against, well ahead of the second-placed Solomon Islands, which it beat 2-0 on Friday.
New Zealand’s participation in the 16-team Olympic men’s soccer tournament still has to be ratified by the New Zealand Olympic Committee.
A representative of Soccer New Zealand will meet with the New Zealand Olympic selectors in the near future to put the case for the men’s and women’s teams’ selection for Beijing.
New Zealand’s selection criteria usually require teams or individuals to be able to finish in the top half of their field in an Olympic event before they are considered for inclusion in the team.
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