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Road to World Cup 26 episode 4 - Oceania - OFC
3 Plays26 days ago
Join Ken Davies and Nick Britten for your definitive guide to all things World Cup 26
Each week we'll take the deepest of dives into everything leading up to kick off in June 2026.
If you want to be the water-cooler expert in all things World Cup - you've just found your favorite podcast.
World Cup 2026 will be a Festival of football - with 48 teams completing for the ultimate prize - 104 matches over 56 days - with all the excitement, romance and jeopardy that the World Cup always brings - but on a much bigger scale.
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Transcript
Introduction to Oceania and the World Cup
00:00:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
Welcome, welcome everybody to Road to World Cup 26, episode 4.
00:00:08
Nick Britten
Thank you.
00:00:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
I hope everyone got the email to say they had to wear this colour blue today. i know me and Nick did. ah So this is your deep dive, and I mean deep dive, into everything to do with the World Cup. And this week, it's a deep dive into the clear reefs and fishes.
00:00:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
of Oceania. So I'm joined, ah my name is Ken Davis, by the way, I'm joined as ever by Nick Britton, all-round football expert, aficionado and soccer guru to the stars.
00:00:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Welcome, Nick. How are you doing?
00:00:46
Nick Britten
um I'm glad that we got the memo that we have to wear a kind of oceanic blue today.
00:00:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I thought so.
00:00:50
Nick Britten
I've got to say, ah feel really calm. I feel really calm about this. ah I feel the water is sort of lapping at my toes, and it's all very nice. and It's just all very nice and and and and lovely on a Friday, isn't it? Sun shining.
00:01:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
It feels a bit like Oceania in the UK today.
00:01:03
Nick Britten
and that
00:01:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah
Oceania's Footballing Landscape
00:01:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, in this in the sense of
00:01:06
Nick Britten
It does. It does. But yeah, so what we're going to do today is is we're going to have a look at, so I'm going to bring Ken in just a moment to have a look at at what is Oceania in terms of footballing ah footballing relevance. and We'll have a look at the qualifying and how it's gone. And I say how it's gone because for the first time since we started the podcast three four weeks ago, we actually have a final qualification uh picture here pretty pretty much we're nearly there uh but uh qualification in its in its main form is over as far as oceana is concerned uh we'll have a look at the best teams the worst teams and then a lovely story to finish with about new caledonia it's a great tale to tell the history of new caledonia and one of the reasons i love this podcast so much ken is it's just not just about football
00:01:47
Nick Britten
We delve into the geopolitics, everything there is to do around these countries, with and there are just always some great stories to tell. But we're going to kick off, as always, with with what is it? What is it, Kenny? What is Oceana as a footballing federation?
00:02:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, let me take you through the whole thing. So last week, obviously, we talked you through the huge 54-team confederation of African countries, CAF, which was a big job to take us through 54 teams. This week...
00:02:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
We're off to this tranquil paradise of South Pacific, pay a visit to Oceania, the smallest confederation. We're just 13 member states and just 11 of them, which are full members of FIFA and therefore potentially qualify for the World Cup. So let me take you through who they are. Predominantly, we're talking about Ireland and nations, of course, where football might not be the most popular sport. Resources are clearly limited. They've got other priorities, but...
00:02:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
They love the football, no question about it. Now, in the past, Oceania, the Oceania Football Confederation, used to include Australia.
00:03:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
But in 2006, Australia left to join the Asian Football Confederation. We're going to be talking about that next week, by the way, leaving essentially New Zealand as the as they kind of dominant player in Oceania.
World Cup Qualification Process in Oceania
00:03:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Now, we may come back to revisit that. And I imagine Australia may be coming back to revisit that at the moment because they've moved from what is probably one of the least competitive countries confederations to arguably the most competitive ah confederation at the moment. So they may be regretting in this new 48 team format that decision all the way back in 2006.
00:03:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
But let me take you through the teams who do constitute Oceania and are playing in the FIFA World Cup or were playing in the FIFA World Cup qualifying process.
00:03:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's American Samoa. Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Tonga and Vanuatu. These names just they just conjure up amazing football names.
00:04:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Places. God, I wish we were covering this full time. So there are two other teams within Oceania of Kiribati and to Tuvalu. but They don't have FIFA accreditation, so they won't be making it to the World Cup. So it's 11 teams.
00:04:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Now, 11 teams, how does that work? How do you get from 11 to 1? Well, the process that they go through essentially has got three stages.
00:04:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
and I should say, the the one who wins it gets a guaranteed automatic FIFA berth, and the team that comes second gets a berth in the Inter-Confederation Playoff tournament, which we've talked about before. So how does this 11-team qualification process work? Three rounds.
00:05:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
The first round is the four lowest-ranked teams, and believe me, in Oceania, they're pretty low. they get to play off in a little knockout tournament of which one team progresses.
00:05:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
And those four teams were American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga.
00:05:14
Nick Britten
you know
00:05:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
Samoa won that. They ended up going into with the other seven teams to make up eight teams. And those eight teams are divided into two groups of four. And the top two of each of those groups went through a third stage.
00:05:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
And the third stage are those semifinals and then a final with an eventual winner.
00:05:42
Nick Britten
So, you know, I'm going to ask question.
00:05:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
So that's how it worked. That's how you get 11 down to one and a runner up who goes into the playoffs.
00:05:49
Nick Britten
I'm going to ask you a
00:05:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
Just a little bit of history. Only New Zealand and Australia have ever qualified for the World Cup. But there has been a lot going on in qualification.
00:05:59
Nick Britten
question.
00:06:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
So at that point, I'm going to hand back over to you, Nicky. can take me through exactly who's who's got through it and who's been struggling.
00:06:11
Nick Britten
thanks ken yeah well interesting to say that only new zealand and australia had previously ever qualified for the world cup because there's news on that news on that coming up uh yeah it was new zealand again so so nothing much has changed um but
00:06:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Wow.
00:06:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
don't know.
00:06:34
Nick Britten
The qualification was pretty interesting. um So New Zealand won Group B, played 3-1-3, goal difference of 18. It was an absolute breeze for them. that That group wasn't particularly interesting, it must be said, because New Zealand were always going to win it. They are by far the strongest team in this competition.
00:06:52
Nick Britten
and on In the Oceania competition, that is. Group A was much more interesting. And ah New Caledonia won it We're going to have a focus on New Caledonia a little bit later on. They finished top.
00:07:04
Nick Britten
having played 3-1-2, drawn one with seven points, and Papua New Guinea finished bottom with with one point. So it was a good qualifying campaign for those guys. and What that meant was, of course, that New Caledonia, Fiji, New Zealand and Tahiti went into the semifinals that were played six, seven days ago now, um and New Caledonia beat Tahiti
New Zealand's Path to the World Cup
00:07:29
Nick Britten
3-0.
00:07:30
Nick Britten
Well done to them. New Zealand beat Fiji 7-0, so well done to them. So that, of course, sets up a New Zealand and ah Tahiti final.
00:07:45
Nick Britten
Sorry, New Zealand and New Caledonia final.
00:07:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank you.
00:07:48
Nick Britten
ah That took place on Monday, on 24th of March, and it was a very close game for the first 45 minutes, actually. ah New Zealand pushed, but they huffed and puffed a little bit, and New Caledonia did well to get to halftime at 0-0.
00:08:02
Nick Britten
um The second half was a slightly different story. I'd imagine New Zealand had a word in their ear, the players at halftime. They came out scored three goals in the second half. and Michael Boxall on Barbarousses on and Elijah Just on 80 minutes. that that term That meant the game finished 3-0.
00:08:21
Nick Britten
New Zealand won, and therefore they qualified for the World Cup. And in doing so, um they they become the first team, outside those who have been given hosting rights and privileges, they become the first team to qualify for World Cup.
00:08:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank you.
00:08:37
Nick Britten
twenty twenty six So, well done to them. They've done a very, very good job. What that means, of course, is that New Caledonia, having lost the final, it's not all over for them because they now enter the the playoffs. And very best of luck for them. They'll play another team from another confederation.
00:08:56
Nick Britten
And, you know, well done to them. and New Zealand getting to the World Cup, by the way, is only the third time they've done so since 1982. So they played in Spain 82, South Africa 2010. So they've done well in that case. But so a bit of bad news for Nottingham Forest fans who might be tuning in.
00:09:13
Nick Britten
During that game, their star striker Chris Wood went off with injury. He's got a hip injury. It's going to rule him out in for the FA Cup quarterfinal, which takes place tomorrow against Brighton here in the UK.
00:09:26
Nick Britten
um and so you know hey these things happen these things happen don't they so qualifying is finished pretty much for Oceania one team left in it still with something to play that's New Caledonia who will play in a playoff but many congratulations to New Zealand
00:09:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, well played New Zealand and well played New Caledonia. And we'll talk about them a little bit later as well. But, you know, they've got a chance. that there There are six there are sixteen teams in those playoffs ah after two wildcard FIFA World Cup berths. So, you know, they've got a chance.
00:10:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah They're probably going to be the lowest ranked team in it, I would imagine. Because I think they're about 156 or something. it's... Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:08
Nick Britten
150 second, yeah, 150 second in the world.
00:10:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah Great achievement. Great achievement. Okay. so ah that's So that's where we are. that's so that's I think certainly in terms of Oceania, that's the first confederation, if you like, that's delivered certainly their automatic qualifier.
00:10:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah I've been looking a little bit more at New Zealand because it's ah interesting. that You mentioned their track record in the World Cup. it's it's two I remember watching them twice. 1982, they lost three out of three.
00:10:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
2010, they drew three out of three. I mean, no one beat them. They didn't qualify, but no one beat them. And they were against Paraguay, Slovenia and Italy. ah Now, that wasn't a great Italy team.
00:10:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
It wasn't even a good Italy team. It was an Italy team that fin finished bottom of its group. But, you know, that's a decent
New Zealand's World Cup Prospects
00:11:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
performance. So we're going to see them again. So let me just take you a little little way through the analysis on New Zealand. What can we expect from New Zealand? Where do we think ah their World Cup will will progress to?
00:11:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
So they're ranked 89 in the world at the moment. so Let's be honest, they're punching above their weight because there's an argument to say we're talking about the best 48 teams in the world. It should be at the World Cup. So they've they've done well to get there.
00:11:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
And I think they've got the potential to surprise a few people. And we'll just go through some of the some of the players I think it might be worth just taking a little look at.
00:11:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
The head coach, you should say, ah Darren Beasley of England, played for Watford, And Wolves, Division 1 kind of player, fullback. ah kind I kind of remember him in his day. ah Decent player, knows the game.
00:11:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
He's got a lot of coaching experience, particularly in New Zealand.
00:11:56
Nick Britten
This is awesome.
00:11:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
come through the ranks of the New Zealand coaching structure.
00:12:00
Nick Britten
for
00:12:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
He's got a dual nationality, British, New Zealand. Seems to know the game. So they've got a decent head coach. Just talking about players, if you go through the team, Keeper-wise, they've got a guy who was at Bournemouth, but I think their main keeper is guy called Max Crocombe, who i we kind of know.
00:12:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Burton Albion keeper. I saw him. I saw him play a few weeks ago in very, very difficult conditions against Rexham. He's a very – he's a decent keeper.
00:12:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
You know, he's he's not going to let them down. So they've got ah they've got a decent keeper between the sticks, very capable. Defence – A lot of the players are playing in the Australian and New Zealand leagues, as you'd imagine, but there are quite a few players who are playing outside in Europe.
00:12:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
A couple of players to mention in defence, Liberato Kakache is at Empoli in Serie A, so he'll know his way around the football field. ah He's played quite a few games for them. Tyler Binden at Reading ah is has got championship experience.
00:13:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
At midfield, Marko Stamanej at Olympiakos. Again, decent player. Bit of a german journeyman player, but he's definitely capable.
00:13:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
And of course, in attack, injury permitting, ah there's a certain Chris Wood. And he's a phenomenon. He's a phenomenon of of the Premier League.
00:13:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
He's a phenomenon of New Zealand football. He scored 44 goals in 82 international appearances.
00:13:34
Nick Britten
just a great
00:13:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
So fantastic record there. ah He's had an absolutely stellar season with Nottingham Forest. ah who have been the surprise package of the Premier League.
00:13:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
I mean, they're sitting there thinking third as we talk today. And ah Chris Wood has been absolutely focal point of certainly the attack of that team. So, you know, often with teams who are lower ranks, the issue for them in the World Cup is how are they going to score goals?
00:14:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
But if you've got Chris Wood in your team, you've always got a chance to find in the net. and And therefore, I think that's ah yeah That's a really... yeah but mean They've got the potential to put the ball in the net and surprise a few teams.
00:14:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't think they'll be the worst team there. They may be the lowest-ranked team there, but they won't be the worst team. ah Just one of the couple of things to mention. They absolutely dominate the Nations Cup in Oceania, as you kind of expect.
00:14:31
Nick Britten
I'm
00:14:36
Nick Britten
sorry.
00:14:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah They won it in 2008 and and There wasn't one in Nick, they never Who won it in 2012?
00:14:51
Nick Britten
Australia.
00:14:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
we and it that already gone
00:14:54
Nick Britten
I want to ask 2006, yeah, New Zealand. and
00:14:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
no we just said that's the one they never would who won it in twenty twelve
00:15:02
Nick Britten
New Caledonia.
00:15:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
Tahiti.
00:15:05
Nick Britten
I don't know.
00:15:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Tahiti.
00:15:07
Nick Britten
Of course it was. Yeah, yeah.
00:15:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Obviously.
00:15:09
Nick Britten
Yeah, of course it was.
00:15:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
So Tahiti won it, but but essentially, apart from New Zealand who finished third in that competition, absolute aberration so let to let Tahiti win. It's pretty much dominated by Tahiti.
00:15:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
So in the new 48 team structure, they're going to have a decent, I think they're going decent run. My prediction for its worth is they'll get through to the round of 32.
00:15:32
Nick Britten
Really? Okay, that's interesting.
00:15:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think so.
00:15:34
Nick Britten
That's interesting.
00:15:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
i They won't be one of the automatic qualifiers for the first and second place. But, of course, there are eight best third-place teams. And I think they'll be difficult to beat. I think they'll get an odd... I think they'll draw... They'll probably win one, draw one, lose one.
00:15:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Potential to surprise. Expect to see them somewhere in the round of 32. thirty two So, if that's New Zealand, the champions of Oceania...
00:16:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
What about some of the less successful Oceania teams? Nick, over to you.
00:16:11
Nick Britten
Yeah, um well, there're there are plenty of them, ah put it like that. I mean, interesting on Chris Wood, he's 33 now. ah Next season, he'll be 34 by the time the tournament kicks off.
00:16:24
Nick Britten
It's amazing for an 89th-ranked team to have a striker of that quality and that calibre, isn't it? he's got 18 goals in the Premier League already this season, so he's fourth-top scorer in the Premier League.
00:16:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Amazing.
00:16:34
Nick Britten
Now, will he be able to replicate that next year? We don't know. Will he be able to stay fit? It'll be another year older. But... If he's fit and he's in the team, they've got a chance.
00:16:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
They really do.
00:16:45
Nick Britten
He's got a chance. But I'll tell you who doesn't have a chance.
00:16:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay.
00:16:48
Nick Britten
And that is that that is Samoa. Samoa don't have a chance. Neither America and Samoa, because they are the two worst teams in in the Oceania group. So Samoa are 192nd in the world.
00:17:01
Nick Britten
Their qualifying campaign didn't quite go to plan. ah They played three and lost three. They conceded with goal difference of minus 14. Do you know what? Do you know what? It wasn't it wasn't all bad.
00:17:15
Nick Britten
It wasn't all bad and because they only lost their first game 3-0 to Tahiti, which is sort of respectable, isn't it? They lost their next game 4-0 to Vanuatu. um So that's minus 7. And you think, OK, well, that's not the World's World word well thing.
00:17:30
Nick Britten
But then they lost their last game 7-0 to New Zealand. And that kind of just killed the goal difference completely.
00:17:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right.
00:17:36
Nick Britten
ah that put them That put them in sort of, you Southampton levels of bad goal difference over three games. and So, Samoa, well, say again?
00:17:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
This is Samoa rather than American Samoa.
00:17:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
This is Samoa rather than American Samoa.
00:17:50
Nick Britten
Yeah, this is Samoa. They used to be called Western Samoa. People might remember as that, but they're now it's called Samoa.
00:17:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hell yeah.
00:17:55
Nick Britten
ah So they're they're pretty bad. We're going to move on to American Samoa now, who...
00:17:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'd love to watch a game between those two. that's That rivals the US Virgin Islands against the UK Virgin Islands, doesn't it? ah Samoa against American Samoa.
00:18:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'd pay a lot of money to watch that game.
00:18:12
Nick Britten
He would be the only one, but I'm sure it would be quite good. We talked about the we talked about the the Virgin Islands derby a couple of weeks ago in the Conquer Gaff podcast.
00:18:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Come on.
00:18:22
Nick Britten
and Yeah, American Samoa 187th in the world versus Samoa 192nd in the world. It's not going to be one for the purists, I sense. But you never know.
American Samoa's Notable Matches
00:18:32
Nick Britten
you never know. you never know. Anyway, it's always worth revisiting the brilliant story of 2001 when American Samoa...
00:18:38
Nick Britten
when american samoa played Australia for the qualifiers, World Cup qualifiers. Of course, Australia ah previously did play in OCR, and as you said, Ken, pulled out in 2006 to join a Asia, and that's ah that's that's not looking great for them at the moment, but we're going to more on that next week.
00:18:57
Nick Britten
um Now, It wasn't a game that American Samoa had expected to win, I think.
00:19:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
No.
00:19:05
Nick Britten
okay They'd lost thirteen niil to Fiji, 8-0 to Samoa in brackets in the Samoan derby, and then ah and a relatively good result, they lost 5-0 to Tonga.
00:19:17
Nick Britten
And they went into their last qualifying game to play Australia, who were in good form, having just beaten Tonga 22-0. So it was...
00:19:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's a big swing when they just lost 5-0 to Tonga.
00:19:25
Nick Britten
that so
00:19:29
Nick Britten
Yeah, yeah. So you could kind of you could kind of so you got kind of think what might have come, but we had no idea what actually happened because Australia went on to win that game Let me just say that again.
00:19:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
Is that a record? is that is the Is that a world record?
00:19:50
Nick Britten
Australia went on to win that game It must be record. it must be a record It must be, right. I mean, so it's obviously records in terms of their worst defeat and Australia's biggest win.
00:20:02
Nick Britten
It must be the biggest World Cup win ever. It must be.
00:20:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
think it's the biggest international. it's not the It's not the biggest actual football score ever, but...
00:20:10
Nick Britten
but it's not the biggest football win, no. it's not the biggest football win. um But it must be the biggest. It must be the biggest.
00:20:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
i think i think it I think it might be. So, I mean, were they ever in it?
00:20:18
Nick Britten
Yeah.
00:20:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
where was Was there ever a point in that game where American Samoa thought, you know, we're we're we're still in this?
00:20:21
Nick Britten
yes
00:20:25
Nick Britten
Yes, yeah, yeah, just before kickoff.
00:20:30
Nick Britten
Just before kickoff, but they were a goal down fairly. The first four or five minutes went well, to be fair. It was 0-0. but But it was just an absolute, it was a rout. But there's there's there's ah there's a story behind this.
00:20:42
Nick Britten
Because, I mean, obviously, you're dealing like... So, a mirror at the time, right? At the time, Australia's population is 19 million. American Samoa's population, 58,000. fifty eight thousand I mean, that's less than turn up at Newcastle every week.
00:20:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:20:53
Nick Britten
So, you can... it's It's not really that fair a playing field. But worse than that, three weeks before the qualifiers started, right? Just three weeks. FIFA ruled that only players with an American passport were eligible to play in the qualifiers.
00:21:09
Nick Britten
Now... Now, American Samoa had a squad of 20 players, 19 of which didn't have an American passport, right? yeah i only got The only person out that entire squad who had an American passport was, unfortunately for him, the goalkeeper.
00:21:24
Nick Britten
and negative ah car You make this up.
00:21:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
You can't make it up, can you?
00:21:30
Nick Britten
the close but Sorry, I've got a cough. I'm just laughing so much. It's such a good story. So, Nicky Sapo was the goalie, right? He was the only one he's the only one who was eligible to play.
00:21:41
Nick Britten
So they had to spend three weeks, literally three weeks, running around trying to put a team together and a squad together. I mean, the Australia game, they had three 15-year-old lads out high school who had might never played football before.
00:21:52
Nick Britten
but and it was it was it was that yeah
00:21:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's an amazing story.
00:21:54
Nick Britten
They were literally hanging around schools, looking in the playground for break time to see who could actually just kick a ball up in the air. right, you'll do Come and we play Australia for us.
00:22:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
Have you got a passport?
00:22:03
Nick Britten
Yeah. Yeah, have you got have you got exactly that? I mean, absolutely, absolutely, Krakus. um So they only trained for a week before properly before the the Games, and ah unfortunately for Nicky Salopo, he went on to concede 13, then 8, then 5, then 31, which led him, rather inevitably, but rather sadly, to quit.
00:22:26
Nick Britten
He quit international football on the back of that. um He did say, there was a great interview with him where he where he talked about this, and he talked about crying at half-time in front of his teammates in the dressing room because it was so bad.
00:22:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh, that's a classic story.
00:22:40
Nick Britten
Do
00:22:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
and And the halftime score was...
00:22:45
Nick Britten
you know what? ill believe I wrote that down, but I can't see where it is.
00:22:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
I know what it was. it was and this And this makes it even funnier.
00:22:49
Nick Britten
Where was it? What
00:22:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
It was 15-0 at halftime.
00:22:53
Nick Britten
was it?
00:22:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
So you can imagine the coach at halftime saying, lads, just don't... Don't concede 15 in the second half. Win the second half. If not, don't win it. Don't concede 15. So they conceded 16 second half.
00:23:06
Nick Britten
yeah because They didn't concede 15, they conceded 16.
00:23:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:23:10
Nick Britten
To be fair, they had set expectations before the game. They had sex with set expectations. And Saipu said in his interview, he said, our expectations was not to get beaten by 22-0, the same as Tonga. If we could keep it down to 22 or less, we've done we've done all right.
00:23:26
Nick Britten
but like But they couldn't know i couldn't even do that. and And he also said, after the game, that he felt that the Australian approach to the match was, quote, unsporting.
00:23:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
I
00:23:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
think that's...
00:23:36
Nick Britten
There's two bits to that. Firstly, Australians approaching sport in an unsporting manner. Who would have believed that? Yeah, that's never happened before. but And secondly, he said, well, when they got to 20, they should have just passed the ball around till the end of the game.
00:23:52
Nick Britten
i mean, that's just not going to happen, is it?
00:23:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
i think that's
00:23:54
Nick Britten
Let's face it.
00:23:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's not going to happen, but I can kind of see where it's coming from. Yeah, just just to reiterate, now Australia had come into that game after just coming off a 22-0 victory over Tonga.
00:23:58
Nick Britten
picked the puck.
00:24:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
They beat Samoa 11-0. ah For some reason, the Fiji game, they only won 2-0. Didn't concede a goal in the whole of qualification and scored about 70.
00:24:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
So it was it was pretty amazing. And Archie Thompson, bless him, ah Australian player,
00:24:18
Nick Britten
well
00:24:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah scored 13 goals in that game.
00:24:26
Nick Britten
Yeah. um I mean, was funny I've got the list of goal scorers here. I mean, a good old Archie Thompson. That was his bestre finest moment in football. It wasn't Nicky Salapo's finest moment in football.
00:24:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
Seven goals in the first half.
00:24:35
Nick Britten
but Yeah.
00:24:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
Seven goals in the first half. Imagine that. And then six in the second half. He probably came off kind of 60 minutes. Anyway, amazing story.
00:24:44
Nick Britten
Yeah, there is...
00:24:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
31-0.
00:24:45
Nick Britten
I should say, Kenny, I should say, there is a great...
00:24:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Poor old American Samoa.
00:24:47
Nick Britten
end there There is a great end to this story. There is a great end to this story. um Because Nicky Slapper, as I said, he quit after after that game. um And after that, American Samoa went on a run of 38 consecutive defeats.
00:25:04
Nick Britten
Now, bear in mind, three years before the Australia game, they only joined FIFA three years before that. They lost all those qualifiers and then went on to lose 38 consecutive games after that. So they played, what, 42 matches and lost every single one of them.
00:25:20
Nick Britten
Salapo was recalled 2011 for the 2014 qualifiers. in two thousand and eleven for the two thousand and fourteen qualifiers and And during those, they beat Tonga 2-1 in the first qualifying game to record their first ever FIFA recognised match.
00:25:37
Nick Britten
And of course, it was Saipu's first game since the Australia defeat. And he said afterwards, much like the Australia defeat, he cried.
00:25:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah
00:25:46
Nick Britten
but this time for all the right reasons. And we always like on the World Cup podcast to bring you stories that are great, but also stories of redemption. And that is a great story of redemption.
00:25:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's great. I love the circularity of that. um I'm going to go with the first thing to after recording this podcast, go find the YouTube of of of the victory, America's the most victory. ah Brilliant. um Right. I bet couple of things I better let you know about because the Global Sports Podcast Network, which Road to World Cup 26 is very much a part of, is partnered with Bionique, the world's most personalized supplements, because your body's unique. And without knowing what deficiencies you have,
00:26:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Taking off the shelf supplements probably means you're not getting the things you need and too much of the things you don't need. So Bionique provides 100% tailor-made supplements designed to deliver precisely what your body needs. Click the link in the show notes.
00:26:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
Use the code GSPN2025 for your 33% discount. Right. Before we wrap things up... ah I know you've been looking at another one of the teams. fact, the team that's that's come up as runners-up. We've looked at the all-whites, by the way, of New Zealand, and not to be confused, the all-blacks, the rugby team.
00:27:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah What about New Caledonia? what is ah What's the
New Caledonia's Unique Background
00:27:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
story there? Because, hey, wouldn't it be wonderful if they made it to the World Cup?
00:27:11
Nick Britten
It would. It would be wonderful because there's a great story behind New Caledonia. And as I said before here on the World Cup podcast, we're not just looking at football. We're looking at the history that sits behind it all.
00:27:24
Nick Britten
And there is a great history of New Caledonia considering how very, very small it is. OK, so this is one ah good listeners to go and grab a cup of tea or settle out settle down and have a listen to all of this.
00:27:41
Nick Britten
New Caledonia is a group of 750, it's group of islands rather, 750 miles east of Australia, dumped in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
00:27:51
Nick Britten
but It's a territory that's so it's an overseas territory of France, actually, and always has been. Although in 1998, it was was granted sui generi, or statue particuliere, or to you and I, Ken, special status, whereby...
00:28:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Mm-hmm.
00:28:07
Nick Britten
where um A New Caledonian citizenship was established to run alongside the existing French citizenship, and we're going to come back to that ah in just a moment. and But if you don't know if you don't know much about New Caledonia, um it's a territory that covers 7,000 square miles. So that's about the size of U.S. state like Connecticut or dehiwa Delaware or, if you know your U.K., Ireland Butte in the Scottish Highlands.
00:28:33
Nick Britten
It's got a population of 286,000.
00:28:36
Nick Britten
thousand Now, New Caledonia was originally part of the magnificently named continent Zealandia. I mean, that's a great name for a continent, Zealandia.
00:28:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
Zeelandia.
00:28:48
Nick Britten
That's where New Zealand got its name, obviously. ah So, Zealandia, which is an almost entirely submerged mass of continental crust in Oceania.
00:28:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Makes sense?
00:28:58
Nick Britten
It's all under the water now. and
00:29:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
Wow.
00:29:02
Nick Britten
But millions and millions of years ago, so you're going back to sort of 83 to 79 million odd years ago, um it, along with about five continents that now make up the world, were all one landmass.
00:29:13
Nick Britten
And they formed part of a...
00:29:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Pangea. Pangea.
00:29:15
Nick Britten
go
00:29:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
Pangea. Oh,
00:29:18
Nick Britten
Yeah. And they formed part of exactly that, part of a supercontinent known known as Gondwana.
00:29:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
come on.
00:29:24
Nick Britten
And that covered 39 million... million square miles, which is almost a fifth of the world's entire Earth surface. So that all broke up over those sort of millions of years.
00:29:35
Nick Britten
ah but the But the continents that we know and love today, South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Zealandia, Arabia, and the indian the whole of the Indian subcontinent were all port formed part of this ah Gondwana supercontinent until it all started breaking up.
00:29:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right.
00:29:53
Nick Britten
um I also discovered another... I could go on about this all day. I won't, because I could go down several rabbit holes.
00:29:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
You already have. You already have, Nick. You carry on.
00:30:01
Nick Britten
wall But whilst researching all of this, um some of the flora and the fauna and the birds, which which which were based in that kind of area that is now known as New Caledonia, have remained indigenous and exclusive to that.
00:30:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
Wow.
00:30:16
Nick Britten
So I think going going to going to this place, it struck me as must be like, sort of I don't know, going to Middle Earth or something, where King Konglin
00:30:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
Stepping back in time to the prehistoric times.
00:30:27
Nick Britten
but Well, very much so. You know, very much so. um um one the only other And the but the other interesting fact I found generally about this was that we are still living, whilst I was researching this, and I don't know if anybody knows this out there, but we are still living in the same geographical era that started 66 million years ago. So we talk a lot about global warming and all that, climate crisis at the moment.
00:30:49
Nick Britten
But bear in mind, we are living in the same geographical era, ah which is the Cienzo era, uh that started when the dinosaurs were wiped out 66 million years ago yeah and i bet you didn't know that anyway quickly back on caledonia
00:31:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah Every day's a school day now.
00:31:04
Nick Britten
it was it was discovered It was discovered by James Cook, who was one of the first big European explorers to discover New Caledonia, this little landmass which by now was just sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in 1774.
00:31:17
Nick Britten
And he gave it its name. He gave it the name New Caledonia because it reminded him of Scotland, of the north end of Scotland, because of the geographical shape and everything.
00:31:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
00:31:26
Nick Britten
um In the 1800s, slave trade was rife, cannibalism was rife, ah so it is quite a lot like Scotland. And it was colonised in 18... Sorry, Scots, just wipe that bit from the record. It was colonised by that bit, by France, in 1853. actually, since in in latter years,
00:31:45
Nick Britten
and certainly since nineteen seventy six there's been a lot of disorder. it's been quite an unstable part of the world, which you you would not expect. And that's because the the indigenous Kanak tribes, ah who make up about 41% of the, don't laugh at this, 41% of the population, yeah um have always railed against the French authorities.
00:32:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
and no I'm fascinated.
00:32:07
Nick Britten
so So what happened was, in 1989, In 1989, the French agreed to sign a kind of devolution type of deal to give New Caledonia ah more powers, with a view to, in the end, handing it over completely and giving it full independence.
00:32:24
Nick Britten
um In order to do that, they need to pass a referendum. And there have been three referendums since 1989, the latter one in 2021. But they've always said, no, the the people of New Caledonia...
00:32:35
Nick Britten
have actually said no, even though 41% of the population is a Kanak tribe who are really, really pro-independence.
00:32:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
we
00:32:43
Nick Britten
So it's a very strange, it's a really strange sort of political situation there.
00:32:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
wow
00:32:50
Nick Britten
um And, and, and, There's been quite a lot of peaks and troughs of violence and civil war. and Gun ownership, by the way, is absolutely huge in New Caledonia. Huge.
00:33:01
Nick Britten
French authorities reckon there's 100,000 firearms. Bear in mind there's only 286,000 people live there. 100,000 firearms.
00:33:08
Nick Britten
um And there was a report by the anthropologist Nathian Sola, who says that weapon weapons in the territory have been stockpiled in preparation of post-referendum strife.
00:33:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Blimey.
00:33:22
Nick Britten
So there's a story that's still to come, I think, on the history and the politics of of of New Caledonia. So that is new that's New Caledonia for you. It's an enormous supercontinent. It was born from dinosaurs, angiosperm, flora and fauna, slavery, cannibalism, civil war, riots, guns everywhere, and some of the most beautiful and exotic flora and fauna anywhere in the world.
00:33:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, that is five minutes on New... I could feel like a i could pass an exam on New Caledonia now, but it does sound like it's a power decay waiting to erupt.
00:33:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
So let's just hope they have a ah decent World Cup and that kind of brings everything together and and everyone can live in peaceful harmony in the yeah New Caledonia.
00:34:03
Nick Britten
Yeah. this yeah If they do, by the way, if they do they'll become the if they do qualify, they'll become the lowest-ranked national side to qualify for a World Cup. um other than North Korea, who were 150 the world when they reached 2010 South Africa. So they've got a mountain to climb, ah literally and metaphorically, to to get to America, Canada and Mexico next year. They did have and have had a World Cup winner, though, in their playing ranks. Who was it, Ken?
00:34:31
Nick Britten
Here's a little footballing quiz. You wouldn't ever believe this, but a new Caledonian football player has won the World Cup. Do know who it is
00:34:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Are we talking about the World Cup of Football? Or did he win the World Cup of Darts?
00:34:41
Nick Britten
Yes, the Cup
00:34:44
Nick Britten
no they don't play darts on new caledonia
00:34:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
No, they they've got guns. They don't need darts.
00:34:48
Nick Britten
and yeah
00:34:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
they yeah I would say if it's a footballer, I'd say ah it is a World Cup winner.
00:34:57
Nick Britten
world cup winner bear in mind they are a french territory
00:35:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
Then I would say it's going to be... ah
00:35:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
It was a French Wilcox winner, Emmanuel Petit.
00:35:14
Nick Britten
Okay, Ken says Emmanuel Petit. Listeners at home, what are you thinking? What do you say? Yeah, some good guesses there. The answer was, some you might be right, Christian Carambeau, who won the World Cup with France in
00:35:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Carambeau, yeah.
Preview of Asia's Football Scene
00:35:28
Nick Britten
1998.
00:35:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Very good.
00:35:28
Nick Britten
He was from New Caledonia.
00:35:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, very good. Good for Christian and good for New Caledonia. And that's it. That but kind of brings us to a conclusion. Fascinating. As always, these things are fascinating. Deep dive into that confederation.
00:35:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
Next time, We're getting into Asia, and that is complicated. It's going to take a lot of explanation. There's a million stories because, obviously, it's the biggest continent in the world, and it reaches from Iran to Japan, and we've got everything in them in the middle, and Australia.
00:36:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
So we've got all that to look forward to. Thank you, Nick. That was ah that was a tour de force on you, Caledonia, I think.
00:36:10
Nick Britten
Thank you very much. I've still got two pages of of notes I've not got around to yet, by the way
00:36:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, you can do them when they qualify.
00:36:17
Nick Britten
This is it. Yeah, I can save it when they qualify. like Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:36:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Brilliant. Well, thanks for listening, everybody.
00:36:21
Nick Britten
Good luck to them. Good luck to them.
00:36:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hope your team wins 7-0 this weekend, as always. And if not, I hope you don't lose 31-0. So have a fantastic egg week, and we'll talk to you next week about Asia.