The tournament kicks off on September 29 at North Harbour Stadium’s oval ground and will culminate in a final on October 8 to see who will win through to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011.
Defending champions New Zealand have been drawn in Group A and will meet Vanuatu, Cook Islands and Tahiti while Group B consists of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Tonga.
The teams will be arriving in the coming days and have all named their strongest possible line-ups in a bid to take the title and book their tickets to Germany.
The host nation goes in as overwhelming favourites and for good reason. The Football Ferns squad is packed full of talent and coach John Herdman can call on the services of his star overseas professionals – captain Hayley Moorwood (Chelsea, ENG), OFC Women’s Player of the Year Ali Riley (FC Gold Pride, USA), playmaker Kirsty Yallop (Kristianstads DFF, SWE) and defensive lynchpin Rebecca Smith (Vfl Wolfsburg, GER).
The presence of Riley is a real treat. The 22-year-old underlined her world-class ability by being named Rookie of the Year in the USA Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) League this month and will be keen to carry her form over to the international stage.
Of the contenders for New Zealand’s throne, Papua New Guinea look best equipped to mount a serious challenge. Coach Francis Moyap’s team picked up the South Pacific Games title in 2007 and are considered the benchmark for women’s football in the island nations.
Lydia Banabas struck eight goals in just six matches at the Games and is back to terrorise opposing defences again, as are seven other veterans of that campaign. Their team have a proud history in this tournament – they finished runners-up as hosts of the last event in 2007 and came third four times in a row (from 1991 to 2003). They held the Kiwis to a 2-0 win the last time the sides met for an Olympic Games qualifier two years ago.
New Zealand and Papua New Guinea will be aiming to top their groups but the other semi-final berths are wide open. Fiji, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands and Tonga will all fancy their chances of progressing and have plenty of talent and experience in their ranks.
Players to watch out for are promising youngsters Liz Harmon and Regina Mustonen, both Cook Islands, enigmatic Solomon striker Annie Bwakolo, and Tongan goalkeeper Mele Likiliki, a nominee for the 2008 OFC Women’s Player of the Year award.
Tahiti and Vanuatu are the dark horses and do not have a wealth of experience to draw on but will be hoping to spring a few surprises.
OFC General Secretary Tai Nicholas is delighted that so many of the Pacific’s best players will be coming together.
“Having the New Zealand stars back for this event is a real coup and it will be great for the public to see them in action,” Nicholas says.
“But there are a lot of good players in all the teams and the games will be very entertaining to watch. Women’s football in the Oceania region has made massive strides in recent years and this tournament will showcase how much progress has been made.”