“The match against Tahiti is going to be tense as usual,” predicted Thierry Sardo as part of his opening gambit in an exclusive interview with FIFA.com. 
The New Caledonia coach and his charges have been preparing to lock horns with the Toa Aito on Sunday 5 June in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, in a match that will bring the curtain down on the first round of the OFC Nations Cup, which also doubles as the second round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. The eventual winner of the continental contest will represent Oceania at the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017.
“They’re a physical team that know how to move the ball around,” explained the 49-year-old tactician, who took charge of Les Cagous in February 2015. “Let’s not forget that they’re the title holders. We’re expecting high-quality opponents and a very close match.”
The commitment and determination exhibited by both teams so far does indeed augur well for the upcoming high-stakes encounter; New Caledonia sit on top of Group A, level on four points with Tahiti, but boast a significantly superior goal difference, courtesy of their resounding 7-0 victory over Samoa on Wednesday. 
Only the winners of this duel will put themselves out of reach of tournament hosts Papua New Guinea, currently third in the group, who will take on the Samoans a few hours beforehand. “I hope that we don’t live to regret the last-minute penalty that we missed in our opening match against Papua New Guinea – if we’d scored it, we might have already qualified for the semis by now,” he said. 
“Our prime objective was to qualify for the third round of the World Cup qualifiers, which we’ve managed to do. Now we want to get to the semi-finals of the Nations Cup. Our destiny is in our own hands,” continued Sardo, who was Alain Moizan’s assistant during the New Caledonians’ memorable 2012 campaign, when they lost to Tahiti in the final.
“That defeat deprived us of a place at the 2013 Confederations Cup, even though we’d managed to upset the form book by knocking out New Zealand in the semi-finals. And then, during the qualifying campaign for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, we also did really well, giving New Zealand another fright,” he added. 
Overturning the odds
Four years later, the Kiwis are still the team to beat. On Saturday, the Group B leaders will go looking for their third win in a row versus the Solomon Islands, which would see them face the second-placed side in Group A in the last four. 
Avoiding another clash with the continental heavyweights at that stage of the competition is an additional source of motivation for New Caledonia to beat Tahiti, even though Sardo would like his team to “overturn the odds, as we did in 2012”, no matter who they end up playing. Back in 2008, Les Cagous had already raised a few eyebrows by finishing as runners-up to New Zealand. 
“All of the teams in the Pacific have made great progress, thanks to the work put in by the OFC’s Technical Department, which is constantly supporting and training coaches,” explained Sardo. “New Zealand are still out in front due to the infrastructure and resources they possess, which other Pacific nations just don’t have.”
But the winds of change are blowing through the region, where different types of football are gaining ground, as Tahiti demonstrated by qualifying for the Confederations Cup in 2013 and reaching the final of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in 2015. “Tahiti implemented a beach soccer development programme from which they’ve really benefitted,” he said. “For small nations, this football diversification can help them to compete better, as long as there is some form of sporting and financial investment made.”
As for New Caledonia, on Sunday they will not only wrestle with familiar opponents in the shape of Tahiti, but also with their own ambitions. Simply overcoming the hurdle and negotiating a path to the Nations Cup final for the third successive time will not be enough to satisfy Sardo and his players. “We’re tough competitors – only a win will do,” he concluded forcefully.