By Samindra Kunti
February 23 – New Caledonia and New Zealand have qualified for the Under-17 Football World Cup in India after defeating Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea in two nail-biting semi-final clashes at the U17 OFC Championship.
It was a historic moment for New Caledonia as they claimed their first ever spot at a FIFA tournament. New Caledonia edged the Solomon Islands 3-2.
“It’s beautiful because it goes well beyond what I could have imagined,” said New Caledonia coach Michael Clarque. “I was a bit worried that the stress would affect them because it is not easy knowing that you’re playing a World Cup qualification match, but we played with strong spirit and it gave us confidence. Now we have seven months to work and we’ll see how we’ll perform in the World Cup We’ve made our mark on the history of New Caledonian football today.”
New Zealand will feature in their sixth successive U17 World Cup. They defeated Papua New Guinea 2-1 in the other semi-final with a late strike from substitute Oliver Whyte.
“It was a really difficult encounter which we knew it was going to be. We had chances that we probably should have put away a lot earlier,” said New Zealand coach Danny Hay. “Their keeper pulled out some incredible saves so you’ve got to [give it to] Papua New Guinea, they really fought well and showed a lot of pride and a lot of spirit in fighting for their country.
New Caledonia and New Zealand will meet in the U17 OFC Championship final on Saturday night. Oceania’s representatives will travel to India for the final tournament in October. The hosts India have already qualified together with Iran, Iraq, Japan and Korea DPR.
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