8 Jan 2011

Oceania under-17 qualifiers begin in Auckland

9:39 am on 8 January 2011

The Oceania qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup kick-off this weekend at North Harbour Stadium with eight of the ten sides involved looking to make a winning start to their Mexico 2011 bids.

The experienced Vanuatu side are looking to get their campaign off to a good start against Papua New Guinea.

The action gets underway on Saturday with two Group A games, American Samoa versus Fiji and Vanuatu against Papua New Guinea, before attention turns to Group B on Sunday when New Caledonia meet Solomon Islands and Tonga take on Tahiti.

Defending champions New Zealand have a bye first up and will not begin the defence of their crown until facing Vanuatu on Monday while Cook Islands also have a bye before meeting New Caledonia on Tuesday.