[Source: OFC Oceania Football]

The Fiji Under-23 side has qualified for the semi-finals of the OFC Men’s Olympic Qualifier in New Zealand.

This is after the side defeated Papua New Guinea 2-0 in their final pool match.

Fiji had a brilliant start after captain Etonia Dogalau opened the account in just 4th minute when he calmly headed onto the right hand corner of the net to give his side a 1-nil lead.

Fiji led 1-0 at the breather.

The Rob Sherman coached side gained more confidence in the second half as Aporosa Yada increased their lead heading home from a Nabil Begg cross in the 64th minute.

Sherman says his players did well.

“The boys did well to be fair. We had a plan to press a little bit higher in this game and that paid dividend. Unknown quantity in terms of PNG because we haven’t seen them so, we were entering a game which we wanted to dictate and I think the boys did that well.”

Fiji just needed a draw to advance but they went one up to win the match to qualify for the semi-finals.

Fiji go through as runners-up from their pool while New Zealand go through as pool winners.