The attractive island location of Tahiti provides the stunning backdrop for the OFC U-17 Championship – Tahiti 2007 with hosts Tahiti and Oceania giants New Zealand favoured to challenge strongly for the title.

New Zealand coach and former international striker Colin Tuaa will be confident his youngsters will be ready for the challenge following a relatively successful tour to South America that included a 4-0 defeat against Argentina, a morale-boosting 2-0 win over Peru and an encouraging performance against Chile.

A victorious three match friendly international series against Tahiti in Auckland in December 2006 underlined New Zealand’s favourite’s tags for the OFC U-17 Championship – Tahiti 2007. Tahiti gave New Zealand a stern challenge in the first of those international matches leading 2-0 at halftime before succumbing 3-2 thanks to goals from Youngheart Manawatu midfielder Corey Chettleburgh and a double to pacy striker Moses Petelo.

Tuaa has a wealth of striking resources at his disposal in the shape of Team Wellington striker Costa Barbarouses. Barbarouses missed the first match because of club commitments but his inclusion in the second and third matches contributed to New Zealand’s decisive victories by score lines of 4-0 and 9-0.

Tahitian coach Eddie Etaeta was crestfallen by the dramatic loss of form at the end of the three match friendly series but remains optimistic that home advantage will see his side recover the form and competitiveness from the first half of the first match.

“We were not strong mentally in the second and third games against New Zealand but this was the first time for us in a training camp environment away from Tahiti, so I expect a big improvement when we begin the tournament,” Etaeta said.

The biggest loss to the tournament will be the absence of the Solomon Islands U-17 team forced to withdraw due to budget constraints. Solomon Island Football Federation General Secretary Eddie Ngava was extremely disappointed by the decision to withdraw the team with top quality youngsters such as Tony Otini, Lenson Bisili and Victor Fenehia no longer able to showcase their talents.

Fiji national team coach Juan Carlos Buzzetti will be hoping this set of U-17 players make as big an impression on the tournament the same way the U-20 national team did at the recent OFC U-20 Championship – New Zealand 2007. Buzzetti will not be with the team in Tahiti due to national team commitments and is replaced by Farouk Janeman. Janeman named a strong squad but will be without star defender Sireli Guivalu who withdrew due to injury. Janeman’s team is expected to possess pace and strength throughout the squad and expectations of a strong performance remain high.

Much will be expected of New Caledonia’s young charges with many regarding the current U-17 team as one of the best to come out of the French Territory. They defeated their U-20 national team 3-0 in a friendly match late last year. The U-20 side went on to perform creditably at OFC U-20 Championship – New Zealand 2007 illustrating the potential of the age group beneath them to challenge for the OFC title and qualification for FIFA U-17 World Cup – Korea 2007.

MATCH DAY 1

Tuesday 20th March

New Zealand v New Caledonia – 1830

Tahiti v Fiji – 2100

MATCH DAY 2

Thursday 22nd March

Fiji v New Caledonia – 1830

Tahiti v New Zealand – 2100

MATCH DAY 3

Saturday 24 March

Fiji v New Zealand – 1600

Tahiti v New Caledonia – 1830