Defending champions Tahiti hammered Papua New Guinea 14-5 in their final round robin game at the OFC beach soccer Nations' Cup. Photo: IvanPhotography&Film
Tahiti and Solomon Islands will face off for a place at the 2025 Beach Soccer World Cup on Saturday.
The winner of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) beach soccer Men's Nations Cup title also automatically qualifies for next year's world tournament in Seychelles.
Defending champions Tahiti hammered Papua New Guinea 16-5 in their final round robin game, while the Solomons lost a penalty shoot-out to Fiji, but still qualified.
Tahiti took 17 seconds to score in Thursday's match through Heirauarii Salem, but struggled for a period and PNG levelled the scores in the fifth minute through Ellygia Benard.
The underdogs then took the lead, courtesy of a well-placed volley from Benard but it lasted barely 30 seconds as Tahiti's Tamatoa Tetauira fired home to level.
Heirauarii Salem ended up with seven goals.
Tahiti have dominated beach soccer in Oceania for more than a decade and became the first Pacific team to feature in the World Cup Finals in 2015.
In the later game, Solomon Islands and Fiji went to penalties after finished regulation time at 2-2.
Both goalkeepers - Abraham Bird for the Solomon Islands and Sanaila Waqanicakau of Fiji - made a string of strong saves in the opening period to deny their opponents.
The three-minute extra time failed to separate them, and underdogs Fiji prevailed 6-5 in the shootout.
The final kicks off at 3pm Saturday, Solomons time at the SIFF Beach Soccer Pitch in Honiara.
The third-place playoff beween PNG and Fiji kicks off at 1pm local time.
