Oceania is not the smallest confederation in the footballing world. The acceptance of American Samoa as a full member of the world body in 1998 brought to 203 the number of nations recognised by FIFA, a number boosted since that time by the addition of, amongst others, New Caledonia. That brought Oceania's member associations to twelve, meaning that the world governing body's smallest confederation, numerically, is now CONMEBOL, or South America. Despite boasting just ten member nations, the South Americans were represented by half of their members at the 2002 World Cup Finals. Four qualified automatically, while Uruguay ended Oceania's hopes of a solitary representative at the first Finals to take place in Asia when conquering Australia in a two-legged play-off. Prior to 2010, the one true occasion when Oceania was represented at the World Cup Finals - Australia were not members of the confederation when they qualified for West Germany '74, remember - was as a result of New Zealand's circuitous qualifying path en route to Spain '82. Some fifteen games were played by the All Whites all-up, seven of which were against the cream of Asian soccer, including that famous sudden-death play-off in 'neutral' Singapore against China. Since then, Australia have lost out in play-offs against Scotland, Argentina, Iraq and Uruguay, while prior to the 1990 Finals, Columbia put paid to the hopes of Israel, who contested the Oceania qualifying series in both 1985 and 1989 due to their expulsion from the Asian confederation, a result of the political tensions of the era. (Israel nowadays contest the European qualifying series). Thus the prime objective for the Oceania Football Confederation in the 21st century has been to secure direct qualification for the region's top qualifier to the ultimate sporting event. It seems a mite obscure that such a prize is afforded the leading Oceania nation at Under-17, Under-20 and Women's World Cup levels, as well as at the Confederations Cup and, from 2004, the Olympic Games, yet the World Cup Finals has yet to be graced by a direct qualifier from this part of the globe. Australia qualified for the 2006 Finals in Germany by defeating both the Solomon Islands and Uruguay in two-legged play-offs, but while technically they were there as representatives of the Oceania confederation, their decision to switch to the Asian confederation on January 1, 2006, means that they are now regarded as Asian representatives. That move came about following the debacle surrounding the issue of Oceania's direct qualification situation in 2002. It was widely thought that the youngest confederation's time had come in April that year, when direct qualification to the World Cup Finals of 2006 and beyond became a reality. But within eight months, the machinations of FIFA's political processes denied that opportunity, much to the understandable ire of the masses, and it triggered the confederation's most prominently performed nation to seriously consider their situation, which led to their departure three years later. From 2007, another change of format for Oceania's World Cup qualifying process saw the contenders involved in a series of home-and-away fixtures, much like the format in place in Europe, as opposed to the previous arrangement where the countries gathered in one location and played a round-robin format. New Zealand emerged triumphant from this series, and played off against, the fifth-placed Asian team, Bahrain, winning 1-0 on aggregate to reach the FIFA World Cup Finals for the first time in 28 years. r Four years on, and the Kiwi team again proved themselves to be Oceania's finest after the qualification process. They were no match for Mexico, however, the CONCACAF contenders prevailing 9-3 on aggregate. In the next World Cup cycle, the fifth-placed South American nation stood between Oceania's best and a place at Russia 2018. Once more, New Zealand emerged as OFC's representatives, and they produced a solid scoreless draw in the first leg in Wellington. But Peru proved too strong overall, their 2-0 aggregate triumph leaving Oceania on the outside looking in at yet another FIFA World Cup Finals.

Charlize Theron explaining the procedure during the draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals in her native South Africa.

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