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Friday, June 1, 2012

2012 OFC NATIONS CUP FIXTURE-LIST

The vast majority of the footballing world's attention is firmly fixed on the upcoming Euro 2012 tournament, but in one small (and largely ignored) corner of the globe, that is an irrelevance, for the time being, at least. In Oceania, the 2012 OFC Nations Cup will be held in the Solomon Islands from 1/6/12/10/6/12, and the tournament also doubles as the second round of OFC qualification for the 2014 World Cup, featuring the continent's top seven national sides plus the winner of the first round of matches, Samoa.

The OFC Nations Cup was due to take place in Fiji, but - allegedly , according to the Fiji.live website - due to an ongoing dispute between OFC general secretary Tai Nicholas and the Fijian authorities, the Fijian football authorities lost the right to host the tournament. The OFC, meanwhile, gave a more succinct reasoning for their decision: "The OFC Nations Cup was originally scheduled to be held in Fiji but the 2012 OFC Events Calendar went under review at the end of last year during which a number of factors were considered for all tournaments, including participation, logistics, finance and other matters."

The 2012 OFC Nations Cup tournament then opened up to bidding from OFC member nations, and two of them - New Caledonia, hosts of last year's Pacific Games, and the Solomon Islands - submitted bids. The right to host the tournament was awarded to the Solomon Islands at the end of March, and all matches will take place at the Lawson Tama stadium in the capital, Honiara. The stadium has a capacity of some 25000 people and is one of the largest in Oceania.

Group B is perhaps the most fascinating of the two and featuring three of Oceania's heavyweights - Fiji, red-hot favourites New Zealand, and the hosts Solomon Islands - and Papua New Guinea, who might just prove to be a handful. New Caledonia are expected to dominate proceedings in Group A, but Vanuatu and a resurgent Tahiti side might have something to say about that. Samoa, meanwhile, are expected to be the group's whipping-boys, but as their near-neighbours American Samoa showed during the first round of qualification, football is full of surprises.  


Please see below the fixture-list for the 2012 OFC Nations Cup. All kick-off times are local.


GROUP A

New Caledonia, Samoa, Tahiti, New Caledonia

1/6/12 12:00 Samoa : Tahiti
1/6/12 15:00 Vanuatu : New Caledonia
3/6/12 12:00 Vanuatu : Samoa
3/6/12 15:00 Tahiti : New Caledonia
5/6/12 12:00 New Caledonia : Samoa
5/6/12 Tahiti : Vanuatu

GROUP B

Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands

2/6/12 12:00 Fiji : New Zealand
2/6/12 15:00 Solomon Islands : Papua New Guinea
4/6/12 12:00 Papua New Guinea : New Zealand
4/6/12 15:00 Fiji : Solomon Islands
6/6/12 12:00 Papua New Guinea : Fiji
6/6/12 15:00 New Zealand : Solomon Islands

SEMI-FINALS

8/6/12 11:00 Winner Gp A : Runner-up Gp B (SF1)
8/6/12 15:00 Winner Gp B : Runner-up Gp A (SF2)

THIRD-PLACE FINAL

10/6/12 11:00 Loser SF1 : Loser SF2

FINAL

10/6/12 15:00 Winner SF1 : Winner SF2

VENUE (for all matches): Lawson Tama Stadium, HONIARA
CAPACITY: 25000
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many thanks, as always, to the OFC for the ability to publish the fixture-list. To find out much, much more on football in Oceania, kindly visit www.oceaniafootball.com and be enthralled!

The Fiji.live website, meanwhile, can be found under www.fijilive.com
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FOOTBALL BLOGGING AWARDS 2012: In an act of unapologetic, not to mention unashamed, self-promotion, Pat's Football Blog has nominated itself in the Male category of this year's Football Blogging awards, which will take place in Manchester in July.

To vote via Facebook, kindly go to the Football Blogging Awards page. To vote via Twitter, tweet to @TheFBAs, with your username and #Male (category). There are several categories, and it's up to you who you vote for, of course, but a vote for Pat's Football Blog will always be very welcome. After all, it isn't your everyday blog..
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HELP BILLY WALK APPEAL: The Help Billy Appeal, ongoing since last year, aims to raise enough money to enable a young 3-year-old boy, Billy Douglas, who comes from a village just outside Belfast and who suffers from spastic diaplegia, to undergo an urgent and potentially life-changing operation. Should you wish to know more, Billy's plight has been highlighted in a recent entry here on Pat's Football Blog: http://patmcguinness.blogspot.com/2012/04/theres-appeal-in-box-help-billy-walk.html

Or, of course, for those who might want to bypass the article and go straight to goal, the appeal's website address is:www.helpbillywalkappeal.co.uk

Sponsors are currently being sought for post-operation physiotherapy for Billy - now there's an opportunity for all you business types out there to spread the word about your company's wares! Enterprise or no, if you can donate, please do so. If not, kindly post either link on your Facebook page (if you have one) and share, or tweet. Many thanks. An update will be posted here shortly.




2 comments:

  1. Solomon Islands Bonito team has a very positive strength to over come All white if it is for another round of 90 mins.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Solomon Football Team will scare everyone of them. That's what I think. What about you?

    ReplyDelete