Soccer: Island nations genuine threat to All Whites

By TERRY MADDAFORD

PAPEETE - Next year's World Cup soccer qualifiers have taken on a whole new meaning for the All Whites.

Forget the cakewalks of recent years, when Oceania Football Confederation heavyweights New Zealand and Australia simply turned up, coasted through the preliminaries and squared off in the final.

The efforts by the emerging talents of Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and the more-established Tahitians at the 2000 Nations Cup have brought the transtasman rivals back to reality.

It is no fluke that the other nations have closed the once-yawning gap. Under Australian coaches George Cowie (Solomon Islands), Carlos Buzzetti (Vanuatu) and Leon Gardikiotis (Tahiti), the island nations have shown they have players capable of playing good football.

In pushing Australia all the way in the semifinals on Monday - and playing the last 85 minutes without conceding a goal after the Socceroos had converted a questionable penalty - Vanuatu showed they are a far better team than their Fifa world ranking of 180.

In a game Australian coach Frank Farina later described as "ugly," the Vanuatu players showed they are quickly emerging as a genuine soccer nation.

"I'm delighted, over the moon," the ebullient Buzzetti said. "We shut them down well. By the end of the game we had four 17-year-olds on the pitch. They have improved so much at this tournament.

"We are now planning an extensive build-up for next year's World Cup qualifiers."

And that should sound a note of warning for the All Whites.

New Zealand are drawn at home to play Tahiti, Vanuatu and the Solomons, while Australia are in an easier group with Fiji, Samoa and the Cook Islands.

All Whites captain Chris Jackson has been surprised by the standard.

"While the Tahitians might not be as strong as they were in 1998 when we won in Brisbane, the Solomons and Vanuatu have really shocked us," Jackson said.

"Internationally, we certainly can't afford to take anything for granted. As players it is up to us to adapt to the modern game and seeing what they have done here shows they are certainly improving."

Of tomorrow night's final - a repeat of the final against Australia two years ago - Jackson said he and his team-mates felt they could win.

"We just need to believe in ourselves. In the past we have often been in awe of the Australians, but we are not now."

Jackson said it might be easier to play a structured side such as Australia than going out against an island nation who can still be unpredictable.

"Bring them on," said Jackson. "We have it all - this final, the World Cup qualifiers and, hopefully, the World and Confederation Cups - to play for. That's awesome."