New Zealand will face Vanuatu in the quarter-finals of the OFC U-17 Championship on Sunday.
The match will kick off at 8pm (NZT) and be live-streamed by OFC.
The game resulted from a draw made by OFC after the completion of the tournament’s pool games.
The draw means that if New Zealand beats Vanuatu, they will play the winners of the Fiji v Cook Islands quarter-final in the semi-final.
The two finalists at the tournament gain automatic qualification to November’s FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru.
The top four performing teams in the groups went into one pot for the draw, while the next four best performing teams went into a second pot.
A condition was that no team could be drawn in the quarter-finals against a team from the same group, ensuring New Zealand could not meet New Caledonia.
The draw was carried out by OFC Competitions Manager Michael Song.
Quarter-final fixtures
Games to be played on Saturday January 21, 2023
QF 1: New Caledonia v Samoa
HFC Bank Stadium, Suva (5pm, NZT)
QF 2: Tahiti v Tonga
HFC Bank Stadium, Suva (8pm, NZT)
Games to be played on Sunday January 22, 2023
QF 3: Fiji v Cook Islands
HFC Bank Stadium, Suva (5pm, NZT)
QF 4: New Zealand v Vanuatu
HFC Bank Stadium, Suva (8pm, NZT)
READ MORE: Here’s all our coverage of the OFC U-17 Championship >>>>
Meanwhile, the final pool game at the tournament was won 3-0 by host nation Fiji against Tonga.
The result made sure that American Samoa were eliminated from the tournament, as they had a worse goal difference than Tonga.
Heavy rain delayed the start of the match by half an hour.
Result
OFC U-17 Championship
Game played on Wednesday January 18, 2023
Group A
Fiji 3 (Jacob Seninawanana 8′, Ibraheem Afazal 50′. William Khan 90′)
Tonga 0
Final group standings
Group A
Group B
Group C
Schedule
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