Swaying coconut trees, white sand beaches and endless blue seas in Tahiti sounds like the perfect February destination.
But for the four nations taking part in next month’s OFC U-17 Championship Preliminary tickets to Tahiti represents the welcome result of some hard graft.
American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga will all compete for the sole berth remaining at the OFC U-17 Championship and the rivalry is expected to be fierce.
The preliminary is being held in Samoa at the J.S. Blatter Football Complex from 2-8 July 2016 and each of the four participating teams are keen to join Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu at next year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup qualifier.
The official match schedule reveals what lies ahead for the four teams and the respective coaches will no doubt be plotting their approach for each match day.
The previous edition of the OFC U-17 Championship Preliminary was won by Cook Islands in what proved a very close race, and this edition is expected to be just as tight.
Additional Information:
The OFC U-17 Championship will be the 17th edition of the competition in Oceania with the first tournament held in Auckland, New Zealand in 1983.
The bi-annual competition has only ever been won by two nations with former OFC Member Association Australia holding a record ten titles. New Zealand are the five-time defending champions and hold six titles.
The OFC U-17 Championship will be held in Tahiti from 8-20 February 2017.
Photo: File American Samoa U 17