But they weren’t the only ones celebrating on the eighth day of action.
Cook Islands were also in jubilant mood after picking up their first points with a 6-2 triumph over Tonga, while the beaten side were happy to finally get on the scoresheet.
But the day belonged to Tahiti and they deserve to hog the headlines after keeping their composure in a keenly-contested French Polynesian derby. Patrice Flaccadori’s men wasted little time in grabbing the initiative, skipper Rainua Aroita trying his luck with an ambitious long-range free kick that somehow slipped through the grasp of goalkeeper Jordan Usike in the ninth minute.
Not to be outdone by his counterpart, New Caledonia captain Stephane Tein-Padom had his side back on level terms within a minute, forcing his way past a couple of challenges before squeezing the ball inside the near post.
The parity did not last long though as Gianna Manca got on the end of a move to neatly finish past Usike in the 19th minute. The scorers weren’t called into action again until five minutes into the second half when Usike failed to deal with a Tevairoa Tehuritaua cross and Tihoni Yohann tucked the loose ball away.
New Caledonia fought hard to find a way back but Tahiti never looked like surrendering their advantage and closed the game out for a memorable victory. Scenes of joy greeted the final whistle as the Tahiti players celebrated achieving their first objective but they will know there is plenty of work to be done to achieve the second.
“Our goal was to make the final and that’s what we’ve done,” Flaccadori says. “Now we have three days of rest and the next step is to win the final.”
The coach thinks New Zealand – who need a point against Papua New Guinea tomorrow to join Tahiti in the final – are likely to be the opponent in that winner-takes-all clash and sees no reason why his team can’t beat the defending champions, or whoever else they may meet.
“It’s one match and anything is possible when that’s the case,” he says.
The afternoon’s other match did not have any bearing on the top placings but there was still plenty at stake as Cook Islands and Tonga went in search of their first points of the tournament.
Tonga had already suffered two heavy defeats and coach Chris Williams must have feared the worst when his side went into the sheds five goals down. Tyrell Barringer-Tahiri helped get the scoring underway when he pressured the Tongan defence into an own goal from a Mii Putai corner in the 11th minute and further goals to Twin Tiro, who struck twice, Tamaiva Smith and captain Ant Samuela from the penalty spot put the result beyond doubt by the half-time whistle.
It would have been easy for the Tongan players to drop their heads and succumb to another hefty loss but they instead rallied and scored two goals to Cook Islands’ one in the second spell. Mikaele Pahulu had the honour of notching Tonga’s first strike of the tournament when his speculative long-range effort evaded the clutches of substitute goalkeeper Eric Katoa in the 61st minute and captain Kinitoni Falatau added another with three minutes remaining.
The match’s second penalty was tucked away by Cook Islands’ Temana Pennycook to wrap up the scoring in stoppage time.
Despite Tonga posting their third defeat in a row, coach Williams was in an upbeat mood after the match.
“It doesn’t feel like a loss,” he says. “It was a fairly poor first half and I gave them the objective of going out there and winning the second one. We put a few 13 and 14 year olds on and they ended up winning that half 2-1 so I’m really happy.”
Cook Islands counterpart Tuka Tisam was just as delighted with his young charges.
“It’s great to finally get three points on the board,” he says. “I think we were suffering from a lot of nerves in the first couple of games but the players’ confidence has gradually built up. We’ll be looking to compete in our next match against Solomon Islands and give them a good game like we did against Tahiti.”
Both Group A matches tomorrow kick off at 1pm when American Samoa will meet Vanuatu on North Harbour Stadium’s Domain 4 and New Zealand takes on Papua New Guinea at the stadium’s oval ground.
Cook Islands – Tonga Match Summary Download PDF
Tahiti – New Caledonia Match Summary Download PDF
Competition Summary Download PDF