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New Zealand’s Ben Wine celebrates scoring a goal.
photo: Shane Wenzlick/Photosport
The All Whites qualified for the Oceania Football Confederation Nations Cup finals after comfortably defeating Tahiti 5-0 in the semi-final in Port Vila on Thursday.
New Zealand head coach Darren Bazeley made just one change to the squad that beat Vanuatu 4-0, with Ben Waine returning to the starting line-up in place of Max Mata.
Tahiti also made one mandatory substitution, with Kevin Babe replacing the injured Eddie Caspard, who had expected to play in front of players with Vanuatu ties. Another player with Vanuatu ties, Matatia Pama, also had to sit out the match after being sent off against Papua New Guinea.
Tahiti last beat New Zealand in 1995, but Samual Garcia’s side regained confidence after a narrow 1-0 defeat in Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying.
New Zealand struggled to beat a strong Tahiti side in the semi-final of that World Cup qualifier, but they were able to quickly claim victory in Port Vila on Thursday.
Their early efforts were rewarded just eight minutes into the game when Liberato Cacace’s free kick was deflected off the post and Finn Surman fired home the rebound for his first goal in just his fourth international appearance.
Kakase hadn’t scored since the 2022 game against Tahiti and must have wondered if he could score again when his shot was again blocked by the post a few minutes later.
Tahiti spent nearly 20 minutes threatening the New Zealand goal when Tyler Bindon cleared a dangerous corner kick on the goal line and soon after Tauhiti Keck tried to catch goalkeeper Max Crocombe but his long-range shot went wide.
Tauhiti Keck of Tahiti and Tyler Bindon of New Zealand.
photo: Shane Wenzlick/Photosport
New Zealand continued to create chances and were finally rewarded just before half-time when Kostas Barbarouses assisted Ben Waine for his third goal of the tournament.
The assister turned goal scorer in stoppage time came after a tortuous run by Cacace, who passed the ball to Barbarouses, who gave goalkeeper Teave Teamotuatitau no chance and all but ensured New Zealand’s passage to Sunday’s final.
A few words of encouragement from Garcia at half-time spurred the Tahitians into action in the second half, and captain Teaonui Tehau almost got his side back into the game, but his shot went over the crossbar.
Any hopes of a comeback for Tahiti were dashed when Man of the Match Kakas once again burst into the box and delivered a pinpoint cross for Wayne to score his second brace of the tournament.
A few minutes later, Babaruses also scored twice, and substitute Alex Grieve’s first-time shot was blocked on the goal line, and Babaruses followed. In 18 seasons, he made 59 appearances and scored 7 goals.
New Zealand should have extended their lead but poor defending and poor goal scoring prevented Tahiti from being humiliated.
Bezelli and his team will now wait to discover their opponents for the final, with Fiji set to take on Vanuatu in the day’s second semi-final.
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