Samoa into next WCQ phase
Samoa had to fight hard to get into the next round of World Cup qualifiers.
The four bottom-ranked OFC teams have spent the last week playing the first round of the OFC World Cup qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
In the first match, Tonga beat Cook Islands 3-1, while Samoa took care of American Samoa with two second half goals.
That meant that Cook Islands and American Samoa’s journey to the next World Cup ended after one game. Instead they played a friendly, where Amercian Samoa won 2-1.
In the first round final it was more even than perhaps many would have thought it would be.
Tonga took the lead in the first half, but Samoa pulled it back eight minutes before full time. That meant extra time, and there Samoa and a Jefferson Fa’amatau header in stoppage time of the first half of extra-time settled a back-and-forth affair.
Watch the highlights here:
The next stage of World Cup qualifiers will take place in October and November, with Samoa slotting into Group B with New Zealand, Tahiti and Vanuatu.
Group A consists of Fiji, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea.
Top two will advance from each group, then play a semi-final and final to determine the team that will advance directly to the 2026 World Cup. The runner-up team will play in an intercontinental playoff.
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Congratulations to Samoa.