Shockwaves were reverberating around the eleven member nations of the Oceania Football Confederation on June 8, after New Caledonia pulled off one of the biggest upsets in OFC Nations Cup history. Les Cagous humbled New Zealand’s All Whites 2-0 at the Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara to earn the reigning South Pacific Games champions the chance to add the OFC Nations Cup to their trophy cabinet when taking on Tahiti in Sunday’s final. It was a deserved victory for the New Caledonians, too, with the pace of Georges Gope-Fenepej and Iamel Kabeu, allied to the movement of Bertrand Kai, causing the out-of-sorts All Whites problems from the outset. Indeed, the OFC Nations Cup holders could well have found themselves trailing just 75 seconds into the semi-final. Joel Wakanumune’s free-kick was allowed to bounce outside the penalty area, and Kai’s flicked header found Gope-Fenepej dashing in between defenders. Jake Gleeson smothered his close-range effort, but stood not a prayer in the ninth minute as New Caledonia came closer still to opening the scoring. Kai and Gope-Fenepej teamed up again, with the latter taking on the defence on the edge of the penalty area before back-heeling the ball into the stride of Jacques Haeko, looming up in support. He hit an absolute firecracker of a shot which left Gleeson clutching at thin air as the ball careered past him, only to cannon to safety off the left-hand upright - a real let-off for the All Whites, who were struggling to get into the contest. Their passing, particularly in the final third of a Lawson Tama Stadium playing surface which was clearly showing the effects of fourteen games in eight days, lacked crispness and accuracy, while it wasn’t until the 21st minute that they delivered a quality cross - all too often, these were hit with hope instead of precision. Michael McGlinchey was the player who got the mix right, Costa Barbarouses the recipient. But the young striker could only direct his header straight at Rocky Nyikeine, who, in all honesty, had little to do in New Caledonia’s goal for the majority of the match. Instead, the bulk of the action which threatened to alter the scoreboard took place at the other end of the park. Chris Killen was stripped off possession by Marius Bako in the 24th minute, and he picked out Kai with a pass which the striker controlled before volleying narrowly over the bar. Two minutes later, Gleeson survived a mistake as he directed a clearance straight to Bako, who couldn’t believe his good fortune, so much so that he fluffed his lines and invited the All Whites’ ‘keeper to have another go by firing the ball straight back at him! The All Whites finally began to produce some football of an acceptable standard just after the half-hour mark, and earned themselves a 33rd minute corner for doing so. McGlinchey whipped the ball into the danger zone, and sparked off an almighty goalmouth scramble in which Tommy Smith saw a shot blocked, and Barbarouses was well and truly in the thick of things. New Caledonia survived this scare, but found themselves thanking their lucky stars three minutes later that they weren’t a goal down. McGlinchey latched onto a loose ball in midfield, and linked with Killen and the overlapping Tony Lochhead, who crossed early and accurately in finding Shane Smeltz drifting off the last defender into space. The prolific marksman launched himself into a flying header which flashed narrowly past the left-hand post of Nyikeine, the last occasion his goal would be threatened in the opening forty-five minutes. Not so that defended by Gleeson and friends. Five minutes before the break, Gope-Fenepej got up a head of steam on the left before picking out Bako beyond the far post. The midfielder’s touch let him down, allowing Gleeson to save at his feet. Four minutes later, Judikael Ixoee’s long throw-in was allowed to bounce in the penalty area. This invited Haeko to beat Gleeson in the air, but much to the All Whites’ relief, Killen was on hand to clear off the line. The All Whites clearly received a rev-up from Ricki Herbert during the half-time break, because they came out looking far more like Oceania’s reigning champions early in the second spell.

Leo Bertos whipped in a 47th minute corner which picked out Chris Wood, whose header flashed inches over the bar from six yards. And the same players combined again twelve minutes later, Bertos’ delivery this time a free-kick which Wood met with a header which forced Nyikeine to save by diving to his right. Throughout the course of their group games, the All Whites had scored an early goal before riding out the storm as the heat and humidity began to impact upon their conditioning in the later stages of the match. On this occasion, that early goal eluded them, and when New Caledonia hit the front on the hour mark, the alarm bells were ringing long and loud 3400 kilometres away in New Zealand. Kabeu and Olivier Dokunengo combined to dispossess the in-full-flight figure of Bertos on half-way, although there was more than a hint of a foul in their challenge, one which Tahitian referee Norbert Hauta allowed to go unchecked. Dokunengo wasted no time in capitalising on Les Cagous’ good fortune, whipping in an early cross which Haeko touched into the path of Kai, darting in between defenders. The dreadlocked striker took one touch to control the sphere before deftly despatching it beyond Gleeson’s despairing dive. There was only one way the All Whites could respond to this setback, and over the course of the next twenty-five minutes, they set out after an equaliser with a vengeance. Just six minutes after going behind, McGlinchey was denied by the crossbar as a long throw-in from substitute Jeremy Brockie was allowed to bounce unchecked in Fiji’s penalty area. Four minutes later, Lochhead and substitute Marco Rojas teamed up in the left before the latter slipped a pass into the stride of Barbarouses, who wriggled his way through towards the heart of goal, only for Emile Bearune to intervene. Unfortunately for the Solomons, his clearance careered into Barbarouses, and off him towards the target, where Nyikeine’s reflex save tipped the ball over the bar and denied the equalising goal. Fifteen minutes from time, Brockie sought out Smeltz with a cross, but Nyikeine beat him to it, while five minutes later the New Caledonian custodian punched out a McGlinchey corner and sparked a Bako-led counter-attack which only got as far as half-way, which was where Killen and Lochhead combined to curtail his progress. The All Whites continued to press for an equaliser, but chances were at a premium. Barbarouses and McGlinchey teamed up on the right to prise open Les Cagous’ defence in the 89th minute, but the latter’s cross was just too far in front of both Rory Fallon and Rojas to force the game into extra time. Instead, in the second minute of stoppage time, New Zealand’s fate was sealed. Kabeu led a counter-attack with a withering run from inside his own half, during which he gave Smith the runaround before drawing Ivan Vicelich towards him. As the All Whites’ most capped player approached, Kabeu calmly slipped a pass into space for Gope-Fenepej to take in his stride, and he coolly fired home past the exposed figure of Gleeson before celebrating gleefully. And why not, when you’re 2-0 up against the holders in second half stoppage time? Indeed, New Caledonia could very easily have had a third goal before the final whistle sounded, with another Kabeu-led counter-attack once again benefiting Gope-Fenepej, who failed to do justice to his team-mate’s raid with a matching finish. But the pair had combined to end New Zealand’s reign as champions of Oceania, a mantle New Caledonia will look to earn in forty-eight hours’ time, when they face Tahiti in the OFC Nations Cup Final, a match which takes place after the All Whites’ final game, the third place play-off against the Solomon Islands. N. Caledonia: Nyikeine (booked, 82); Ixoee, Wakanumune, Bearune, Wacalie; Kabeu, Dokunengo, bako, Gope-Fenepej; Kai (Kaudre, 88), Haeko (Kayara, 75) All Whites: Gleeson; Sigmund (booked, 62), Vicelich, Smith; Bertos (booked, 45) (Brockie, 63), McGlinchey, Killen, Lochhead (Fallon, 86); Barbarouses, Smeltz, Wood (Rojas, 63) Referee: Norbert Hauta (Tahiti)