Tahiti players celebrate a goal during the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
It's been a rarity since Australia bailed out of the Oceania Football Confederation for Asia for any team to break the mould of New Zealand in the regional competitions.
One occasion when it did happen, Tahiti lifted the Oceania Nations Cup to qualify for a global competition that featured the world's best sides.
That event was the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil which starred the hosts, the world champions Spain and the six continental winners.
It would be nice to say that Tahiti came away with some historic results, but alas the word historic can only be used in relation to the scale of defeats they suffered.
But at least they were there. Which is something that could not be said of Australia - the former heavyweights of the Oceania region - and New Zealand.
The Aussies needed to beat Japan in the final of the 2011 Asian Cup to qualify, but were beaten 1-0.
The Kiwis had a simpler route to Brazil, in theory at least. But the All Whites - who had been unbeaten in their three 2010 World Cup matches - endured a nightmare in the OFC Nations Cup held in Honiara, Solomons Islands, slipping to the quick-moving New Caledonians in the semi-final.
With four wins out of four games against Samoa, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, the Tahitians were in fine form and certainly would've given New Zealand a stern test had the All Whites managed to make the final.
As it was, a Steevy Hong Hue strike just on ten minutes separated the Tahitians and New Caledonia in the final. It would be the first time a team that wasn't from Oceania's two superpowers would appear at a senior men's finals.
And with it the Confederations Cup was given its romantic element, the Cup's equivalent of Zaire and Haiti in 1974 or Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kuwait in subsequent world cups. To FIFA this was what the Cup was partly about: spreading the game beyond its South American and European heartlands.
Tahiti's preparations for the Confederations Cup didn't quite go smoothly, however. In the Oceania World Cup qualifiers from September 2012 to March 2013, Tahiti slumped to a string of defeats to finish with just one win from six games in the round-robin series. Ominously, the New Zealanders were back on form, winning in both Pirae and Christchurch.
In between those games, there were defeats to Mayotte and French Guiana in the Coupe de l'Outre-Mer, a tournament designed specifically for France's overseas territories.
But coach Eddy Etaeta had a plan. His side would be playing in packed stadiums with raucous crowds. So, to acclimatise his team, Etaeta played CDs of crowd noises during training sessions and filled the changing room with pictures of Spain's stars to show them who they were facing.
The action starts
Tahiti's opening game in Brazil was against Nigeria, who were ranked more than 100 places above them. There was a cruel element to the favourites' opening goal, the ball rebounding off the referee towards Uwa Echiejile whose simple strike gave the Africans an early advantage.
But at 3-0 down, the Polynesians achieved their modest ambition of scoring. Jonathan Tehau headed home at the far post on 54 minutes, much to the neutrals in the Belo Horizonte crowd's delight. It was precisely what they deserved after playing passing and creative football.
Tehau and his teammates celebrated by pretending to paddle canoes in honour of va'a canoe racing. This was the image that captured the world's media's attention, rather than Nnamdi Oduamadi's hat-trick. It wasn't the trigger for an audacious comeback though as Nigeria added three more goals for a 6-1 victory.
Nigeria are one thing, Spain, the then reigning world and European champions, are another. In Rio de Janeiro three days later, the Spanish superstars ran riot wracking up ten goals for a tournament record victory. Fernando Torres got four of their goals. The pictures of the striker and co in the Tahiti dressing room didn't quite seem to have the effect it intended.
Somewhat predictably, Uruguay lashed the Tahitians in Recife in the final group game, falling two goals short of Spain's tally.
The line-ups of their opponents show a glaring bias in money and talent: Torres, David Villa, Sergio Ramos, and David Silva for the Spanish; Diego Perez, Abel Hernandez and Luis Suarez for the South Americans. Vincent Enyeama and John Obi Mikel led the Nigerian line-up.
The only professional in Tahiti's ranks was Marama Vahirua, a regular in the late 90s/early noughties with FC Nantes, and with Panathinaikos in Greece at the time. He was good enough to be called up for the French national U-21 side but returned to the Pacific prior to the Confederation's Cup to play in Brazil.
Tahiti's Teaonui Tehau looks to dispossess Spain midfielder Javier Martinez during the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil. Photo: AFP
Slow starters
Tahiti's footballing history is relatively recent. The territory ventured into the international arena in September 1952, playing out a 2-2 draw at home against New Zealand.
The archipelago first contested the qualification rounds of the World Cup for the 1994 campaign when Australia blocked their progress with a pair of wins.
About then the national and regional bodies invested a lot in the development of the sport, and that effort began to bear fruit when Tahiti qualified for the U-20 World Cup after shocking New Zealand. The tournament in Egypt in 2009 would result in heavy defeats to Spain, Venezuela and Nigeria without any breaches of any of those team's defences.
A second appearance in the FIFA U-20 finals followed a decade later in Poland with three more defeats, to Senegal, Poland and Colombia but at least they had tightened up the defence.
A significant sign of development was posted when national league champions AS Tefana reached the final of the 2012 OFC Champions League by virtue of a 3-0 defeat of New Zealand's Waitakere United in the group stage. That result is all the more remarkable given the Kiwi side pummelled the visitors 10-0 a few months earlier in Auckland. Tefana were defeated 3-1 over two legs by Auckland City in the final.
Since their Confederation's Cup appearance, Tahiti has slipped behind its rivals, and in the 2016 Oceania Nations Cup it failed to progress beyond a tough group stage, losing out to New Caledonia on goal difference on account of failing to put more goals past hapless Samoa than their Gallic rivals.
Some would argue that Tahiti's heavy defeats in 2013 show that such nations are not capable of competing at such a level and therefore does not show the game in a good light.
That belies a blinkered view and fails to address the universality of the game and the importance of exposing smaller teams to the rigours of top-class football.
Meanwhile, the Confederation Cup was disbanded by FIFA after the 2017 tournament, a victim of a bloated international calendar.
(L-R) Brazil's goalkeeper Jefferson, midfielder Paulinho, defender Dani Alves, forward Neymar, forward Oscar and forward Fred celebrate with the gold medals after winning the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 football tournament by defeating Spain 3-0 in the final, at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on June 30, 2013. Photo: JUAN BARRETO/AFP
