Auckland City and Waitakere United underlined their favouritism to top their respective Oceania League football groups with comprehensive wins in the opening round.
Separated into different groups for the first time in the O-League's history, the two New Zealand sides sounded a warning to their rivals, Auckland beating Koloale 4-1 in Honiara and Waitakere thrashing 10-man Tahitians Tefana 10-1 in West Auckland.
Waitakere's massive home success over the Tahitians at Fred Taylor Park is the highest-ever winning margin in the O-League and came after goalkeeper Xavier Samin was shown a red card for bringing down Fijian international Roy Krishna in the box in the seventh minute.
Last season's runners-up Amicale were denied victory by a dramatic late strike in a 1-1 draw with Papua New Guinea's Hekari United in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Ba beat New Caledonia representatives Mont-Dore 2-1 in the last match of the opening O-League round in Fiji.
The winner of the O-League goes on to represent Oceania at the FIFA Club World Cup.
