Spain fielded one of the best sides with Manchester United forward player and former Chelsea's striker Torres and others. And with most of the Spanish players played in top leagues in Spain, Italy and UK, Tahiti knew it had to do more than just appearing. It took a few minutes for Spain to net the first goal, but frustrated by Tahiti for most of the first half. It took almost 30 minutes to get a few more. The Spanish defense was way too strong for the Tahitian forwards who couldn't break from start to finish.
For Tahiti, like many of their counterparts in Oceania, when the first ball found the net for the first time, they let their guard down. They quickly gave up their enthusiasm and urgency. The forwards were kind of running around the fields, and their passing were all but complete. Kicking as if they already gave up. This is typical Oceania mentality and its not good when you are in an international competition, playing against the world's best teams.
Ocean is far far behind
Since the re-zoning of the Pacific Islands, Island nations are given the opportunity to venture out to international Soccer world. Australia and New Zealand participated in the World Cup for the first time in South Africa, 2010, while Oceania teams participated in FIFA international championships. Both Australia and NZ dropped out in the elimination round but they performed quite well, including New Zealand All Whites draw against the Champion side, Italy. While the world of international Soccer brings promises to the uprising Pacific Islanders, particularly the Oceania league, teams are far from the competitive standard expected from Soccer countries.
A couple of years ago, the Oceania champions, Hekari Soccer Club of Papua New Guinea, represented Oceania in the Soccer club championship in Dubai. They too were crashed badly by Middle Eastern teams with Brazilian imports. A couple of Solomon Islands played during that time.
Commercialization of Soccer
Commercialization of Soccer is a game the Pacific Islands can't compete. Soccer players in Europe, US and Asia are well trained, well coached and well paid by multi-million dollar soccer clubs financiers. They are paid millions of dollars even more than PhD holders, business owners and even politicians. Besides that, every high paid player also received extra revenues from private sponsors, many of them huge corporations such as Nikes and Adidas. These are the professionals of international Soccer. Oceania? Well, most of the players don't get the kinds of package deals players in Europe received, and most of them play without pay in local Soccer clubs.
Unless Oceania soccer players remain in the Pacific Islands and not exposed to soccer in the international arena, standard of Soccer in Oceania will remain stagnant. Oceania coaches should launch an aggressive campaign to produce the best players, and sell them to international clubs.
FIFA is not helping
Unlike Soccer, Rugby is doing a lot of work in promoting Pacific Islands Rugby and with the help of the "International Rugby Board" (IRB). What the Pacific Islands don't have in money and business deals, they make up for it with physical strength, speed, and will. So far, these three Pacific Island nations Rugby teams defeated some of the best funded Rugby teams including former Rugby World Cup champions - Australia and France, and recently defeating Wales and Scotland. They also have various Rugby players in Europe, Ireland, and UK. These players have contributed tremendously the the rise and improvement of Rugby in Oceania.
In Oceania Soccer, players and teams don't have anything to bargain for other than individual players and their skills, and under-funded regional Soccer clubs. Besides, FIFA is just a name but isn't doing much to help the financially strapped rising Island nations.
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