OFC – Ba, Fiji: Australia has beaten Fiji 7:0 today at Govind Park, Ba to qualify as the Oceania Football Confederation representative to the 2004 FIFA Olympic women’s football tournament in Athens, Greece in August.
The Matildas finished as the only undefeated team in the three-team tournament having also accounted for Papua New Guinea in an easy 10-0 win in their first match last Thursday.
The Australians got a tougher test today by the less experienced Fijians but were never troubled as they racked up five goals in the first half to effectively put the match beyond doubt.
In the second half, Lana Harch completed her hat-trick four minutes after the break after scoring the first two goals of the match inside five minutes of the first half. But riding the vocal support from the locals, the brave Fijians managed to hold the Matildas to six goals until the final few seconds of regulation time before substitute Kathryn Gill got a late goal in the 90th minute to finish the scoring.
April Mann also scored a double for Australia in the first half with Gillian Foster also registering on the score-sheet.
Conditions for today’s game were much more pleasant for the teams with the Govind Park surface slightly greasy after some rain in the morning which had ceased by the early afternoon before the 3:00pm kick-off. A modest crowd of 600+ turned up to the match to witness the action.
The final standings see Australia comfortable on top with six points from two wins with Papua New Guinea in second place (3) courtesy of their 2-0 win over the hosts last Tuesday. Fiji finishes at the bottom without a win but their performances were a marked improvement from their last outing at the South Pacific Games.
OFC women’s football action for 2004 does not end there. The 2004 OFC Under 19 Women’s tournament will kick-off in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea from 17-25 April with Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu all confirmed to take part. More details on this tournament will be announced shortly.
Visit the official website linked on the homepage to view match statistics and all other information on this tournament