OFC finds finalists for Women’s WCQ – American Samoa shock
The 2027 Women’s World Cup Qualifiers round three participants have been found.
The second round of qualifying has just finished in Fiji and the Solomon Islands and the four semi-finalists for the third round in New Zealand in April, now know their opponents on the final stretch of the road to Brazil.
In Group A in the Solomon Islands, New Zealand will be joined by American Samoa, who have impressed everyone with their fairytale run through the first two rounds of qualifiers.
American Samoa beat rivals Samoa and Solomon Islands 1-0, while New Zealand saw off the other two nations with a pair of 8-0 wins to set up a final day decider for top of the group.
That match was won by New Zealand, 3-0, with a penalty goal from Kelli Brown, a header from Claudia Bunge and a Indiah-Paige Riley-shot.
In Group B there were some trouble with weather conditions affecting the group stage matches, but in the end it was the pre-favourites Papua New Guinea and Fiji who fought it out for top spot.
The pair opened their campaigns with 5-0 wins over Vanuatu and New Caledonia respectively, while PNG beat New Caledonia 4-0 and Fiji sneaked past Vanuatu with a 1-0 win.
In the final match, PNG talisman Meagen Gunemba proved the deciding factor as her 86th minute goal was the only one of the match.
That means that New Zealand will play Fiji and PNG will play American Samoa in the two semi-finals.
The winner of the third round advance to the 2027 World Cup, while the second placed team will play the Intercontinental playoff.
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Would be great to see Oceania teams up against Asian in something similar to the AFC Cup. Rankings on paper don’t match an actual game.