David Mulligan scored a late goal to give New Zealand a 2-1 win over Vanuatu in their Oceania World Cup qualifying match at Port Vila yesterday.
Vanuatu, supported by a jubilant crowd which filled the capital's tiny Municipal Stadium to capacity three hours before kickoff, led 1-0 at halftime from a goal by Jean Nako.
The Kiwis equalized through striker Shane Smeltz and then added Mulligan's late goal, defying the oppressive heat and allowing the Kiwis to keep their unbeaten record in the Oceania tournament which leads toward the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The New Zealanders beat Fiji 2-0 in their opening match in Lautoka.
Fiji drew 3-3 at home to New Caledonia yesterday, squandering a 2-0 halftime lead.
Valerio Nawatu put Fiji ahead after two minutes and Osea Vakatalesau's goal in the 30th minute gave them a commanding lead at the break. The second half seesawed as New Caledonia drew level at 2-2 with goals in the 60th minute from Ramon Janali and in the 69th minute from Kaudre Robert.
Fiji pulled ahead 3-2 when Vakatealesau scored his second goal, but a late strike by Hmae Michel earned the visitors a valuable draw.
New Caledonia were without captain Pierre Wajoka, who was suspended after receiving two yellow cards against Samoa.
Yesterday's clash was the third between the teams in 10 weeks and followed New Caledonia's 1-0 win over Fiji in the final of this year's South Pacific Games.
Fiji had five first-choice players unavailable. Midfielder Salesh Kumar, Josaia Bukalidi and Malakai Tiwa were injured while Samuela Vula and Simione Tamanisau had personal reasons.
New Caledonia coach Chambaran Didier said he was happy with his side's performance, which boded well for their next match with Fiji at Noumea on Wednesday.
New Zealand host Vanuatu in Wellington on the same day.
AFRICAN ZONE
In the World Cup African zone, Djibouti eliminated Somalia 1-0 in a one-leg home victory on Friday, and Madagascar yesterday eliminated home side Comoros 4-0 ( 10-2 on aggregate).
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier