The soccer miracle failed to materialize: As expected, the island nation of Vanuatu had to succumb to New Zealand in the final of the Oceania Championships
Vanuatu’s hopes of a surprise coup, having reached a final for the first time in the 90-year history of the Oceania Championship, were dashed early on: Howieson gave the clearly favored New Zealanders the lead in the second minute at Fresh Wata Field in Port Vila.
The 1-0 lead was to last for a long time as Vanuatu put up a strong fight against the All Whites. The favorites had a few good chances to extend their lead, but things only got really exciting again in the closing stages: Vanuatu’s Boulet was shown a red card at the start of the final quarter of an hour.
Two New Zealand jokers then struck against the decimated island nation in the final phase – first Randall made it 2-0 ten minutes after coming on as a substitute (83′), and his colleague Mata needed almost no time to get going, scoring the final goal two minutes after stepping onto the pitch (90.+1).New Zealand thus secured the title of Oceania champions for the sixth time after 1973, 1998, 2002, 2008 and 2016.
