The French Polynesian nation was the center of attention in the Tahiti vs Nigeria Confederations Cup 2013 match which ended 6-1. Tahiti, playing with only 1 professional player, was obviously the weaker team on the field, but they were also the team everyone was excited to watch.
The game was a blow-out in favor of Nigeria, as they scored on an own goal, Elderson had 2 goals, and Nnamdi Oduamadi had a hat trick. As expected, the African Nartions Cup champs were the much superior team on the pitch, but the the score did not reflect the real play on the field. Nigeria began the game making unintelligent individual play-making runs down the middle of the field. When at times the Nigerian forwards looked selfish, they missed time after time on one-on-one plays against Tahiti’s goalie. Nonetheless, the Polynesian defense was too weak to deflect all of the Nigerian attack, and that lead to 6 goals.
The most important moment of the game came early in the 2nd half when Tahiti made history. The amateur team came into the Confederations Cup as the 138th ranked FIFA nation. Tahiti also knows that they have zero possibility of of earning a single point; therefore, they biggest objective was to score a goal in the cup. After a corner kick, Jonathan Tehau scored on a great header above the goalkeeper and two defenders scoring one of the most memorable goals thus far in the competition.
