00:03New Zealand are now the dominant football nation in the OFC,
00:07but it has a modest population
00:09and sees its finest athletes gravitate towards rugby,
00:13so its status is not assured indefinitely.
00:19On World Cup debut in 1982,
00:21the All-Whites lost all three of their matches.
00:24Then in 2010, they drew all three of their matches.
00:28Only Honduras and Egypt have played more games at the finals
00:32without registering a victory.
00:38The major challenge for the leading side in the OFC
00:41has been their route to the World Cup,
00:44requiring an inter-confederation playoff.
00:50New Zealand have been denied by Costa Rica,
00:53Peru and Mexico in recent years.
00:58With Australia's quadrennial travails against Uruguay and Argentina
01:02contributing to their decision to relocate to the AFC.
01:09With the expansion of the finals to 48 teams from 2026,
01:15the OFC received one direct entry for the first time in its history.
01:22In the near term, that means New Zealand will become fixtures on the game's greatest stage.
01:28They cruise to the 2026 World Cup after winning five matches in a row,
01:34scoring 29 goals and conceding only one.
01:39New Zealand's captain and star player is Chris Wood,
01:43who has made a name for himself as a consistent goalscorer in the English Premier League.
01:51Other all-whites to make their names in Europe's top competitions include Liberato Kakache in Serie A,
01:58Matthew Garbet in the Eredivisie and Sarpreet Singh in the Bundesliga.
02:08New Caledonia, with a smattering of players in the lower divisions of the French pyramid,
02:14are beginning to compete with the all-whites.
02:18Spurred on by their local rivalry with fellow French overseas collectivity, Tahiti.
02:26Fiji have excelled on the global stage in rugby sevens
02:29and grown in stature on the football field,
02:32thanks to the exploits of star striker Roy Krishna,
02:36a two-time Indian Super League top scorer.
02:41While the Solomon Islands, Anuatu and Papua New Guinea are all competitive at the OFC Nations Cup.
02:52Below that, there is little positive to share about the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga or American Samoa.
03:02These sides with tiny populations have never been organised to prosper on the football field.
03:10American Samoa even hold the record for the heaviest defeat in international football history,
03:16when they were hammered 31-0 by Australia in 2001.
03:23A documentary of the match, and later a feature film, both titled Next Goal Wins, commemorate the lopsided clash.
03:32It is a fitting piece of history for the Oceania Football Confederation,
03:37and its collection of underdog island paradises,
03:41a long way from becoming established football nations.
03:45It must be to embrace that, and to reorganize theаниopoe.
03:45Justин and hostile Gal 기자 special,
03:45upshoreолет right to beOnce.
03:46By now's the regiment?
03:47and enjoy being Commissioner governments and our title for the
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