Football
ESPN staff 8y

New Zealand in Confederations Cup after win over Papua New Guinea

New Zealand will play at the Confederations Cup in Russia next year after beating Papua New Guinea on penalties in the final of the OFC Nations Cup.

The game, played in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, finished goalless after 120 minutes but New Zealand won 4-2 on spot kicks. 

Rory Fallon scored the first penalty of the shootout but Koriak Upaiga missed PNG's opening kick. Michael McGlinchey and Moses Dyer then netted for New Zealand, with Tommy Semmy and Michael Foster replying for PNG.

PNG were given a glimmer of hope when Jeremy Brockie put his penalty wide -- but New Zealand goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic then made an outstanding stop from Raymond Gunemba by pushing his shot onto the post to put it back in his team's favour.

Marco Rojas then confidently sent Ronald Warisan the wrong way to win it for New Zealand -- the fifth time they have been crowned champions of the Oceania region.  

It will be the fourth time New Zealand, ranked 147th in the world, have qualified for the Confederations Cup, having also featured in 1999, 2003 and 2009 -- though they have yet to win a game at the tournament and only have one point and two goals from nine matches. 

It brought to an end an amazing story for Papua New Guinea, one of the lowest ranked sides in the world at 193. They had never before advanced beyond the group stage of the OFC Nations Cup in three previous appearances and had not won a game at the finals since 1980.

Tahiti won the OFC Nations Cup four years ago but were soundly beaten in the Confederations Cup in Brazil, losing 6-1 to Nigeria, 10-0 to Spain and 8-0 to Uruguay -- a combined negative goal difference of 23 from just three matches.

But New Zealand, who were unbeaten at the 2010 World Cup when drawing all three group games but failing to qualify for the round of 16, will be expected to put up a better showing.

The 2017 Confederations Cup, seen as a test event for the World Cup finals 12 months later, will feature the champions of the six continental championships, hosts Russia and world champions Germany. 

Australia have already qualified as AFC Asian Cup winners, as have Chile from the Copa America and Mexico via the CONCACAF Cup.

The winners of Euro 2016 and the 2017 African Nations Cup will complete the eight-nation lineup.

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