Soccer: All Whites' winding road to World Cup mapped out

By TERRY MADDAFORD

The All Whites face a slightly more difficult task than the Socceroos in getting over the first hurdle in their 2002 World Cup bid.

In the Fifa-hosted draw in Tokyo yesterday, New Zealand were the top-seeds in group two and will play Tahiti, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands. Australia, the top seeds in the other Oceania group, meet Tonga, Fiji, American Samoa and Samoa.

While the two group winners are scheduled to play home and away to find the Oceania champions, round-robin group matches will be played in two tournaments.

The Oceania winners will play the fifth-placed South American team for a place in the Japan-South Korea-hosted finals. The fifth South American team, allowing that Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile could fill the top four spots, might be Peru, Paraguay or Colombia.

The venues and dates for the Oceania tournaments will be decided at an Oceania Football Confederation executive meeting in Auckland on January 15.

New Zealand Soccer chief executive Bob Patterson said that while he would be keen to see the tournament played here, that was unlikely.

"It might be better to suggest the games be played in a neutral country like Australia," he said. "We have to ensure games of this importance are played on decent grounds."

All World Cup preliminary matches have to be played by November 2001. Fifa has insisted on a "two-week window for international matches" in June 2001.

The All Whites are just one of a number of New Zealand teams heading into Oceania tournaments in 2000 or 2001.

The Oceania Nations Cup is scheduled for June 2000 in Tahiti. New Zealand and Australia have been seeded into the tournament where they will meet the top two teams from April's Melanesian Cup in Fiji and the Polynesian Cup, which will be played in Tahiti immediately before the Nations Cup. The Nations Cup winner gains direct entry to the 2001 Confederations Cup.

With the 2001 under-17 world championships scheduled for April in Trinidad and Tobago, the Oceania under-17 tournament will have to be played late next year.

There will also be an under-20 tournament and an under-15 tournament for players eligible for the 2003 under-17 championships played next year.

Oceania also intends to host a senior women's and an under-18 women's tournament in 2000.

Dates and venues will be decided at the January 15 meeting.