Brian Kaltak tussles with an opposing player in Bhubaneswar Photo: India Football Federation
Vanuatu's footballers finished the Intercontinental Cup in India on a high by beating Mongolia 1-0 in in the city of Bhubaneswar.
The sole goal of the game came shortly after the second half kicked off when Godin Tenene's cross into the penalty box was sliced into his own net by a Mongolian defender.
It left Vanuatu third of four teams in the annual tournament with three points.
They had lost 3-1 to Lebanon before they succumbed to the host nation India 1-0.
Both those teams are ranked much higher in the FIFA rankings than Vanuatu, and contest this weekend's final.
Captain Brian Kaltak travelled to India days after successfully winning the A-League with the Central Coast Mariners.
After the game against India, Vanuatu coach Etienne Mermer said his team gave everything they had.
"As a team coming from Oceania we don't, we never play an Asian team in terms of national teams, but we set a strategy to see, to play, to study how we face this team.
If you understand our strategy, it's more about defending. We wait until the right moment we can go forward.
"We have to play to give our best and to play for our country also. The most important thing I can say is that we are here to change our FIFA ranking."
Solomons lose in Malaysia
The Solomon Islands football side has lost the first game of their Asian tour, defeated 4-1 by Malaysia in Kuala Terengganu.
The Solomon Islanders grabbed an early lead over the hosts with Bosnian-based striker Raphael Lea'i scoring in the 11th minute.
Two late first-half goals put the hosts ahead 2-1 at half-time.
Malaysia dominated the second-half, and scored in the 77th minute and again in the 90th minute for a decisive victory for the hosts.
The Solomon Islands squad now heads to Singapore to play their second international friendly on Sunday.
Before then, Papua New Guinea will play Singapore on Friday night local time.
The game has been delayed by a day due to the PNG squad experiencing travel issues.
Olympic qualifying draw made
The draw for the Olympic football qualifiers has paired New Zealand with Fiji, Papua New Guinea and American Samoa in Group A.
Group B features Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga.
The opening match between Fiji and American Samoa will take place on August 27 in Auckland.
Two teams from each group will progress to the semi-finals.
Neither New Caledonia nor Tahiti, who contest the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, are eligible to compete as they are French overseas territories.
Women's World Cup free-to-air in Pacific
FIFA has awarded free-to-air rights to next month's Women's World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand to 24 free-to-air broadcasters in the Pacific.
Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Federation States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and American Samoa will all have the tournament distributed through Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Ltd.
The deal will ensure that at least one match per day will be available for free in each of these territories.
The Women's World Cup kicks off on July 20.
