A blunder by the Fiji defense saw New Zealand score a winning goal in the dying stages of the second half and beat Fiji in their opening match of the OFC Olympic qualifying tournament by 2-1.

The loss puts Fiji in danger and the Carlos Buzetti coached side will now have to win all their remaining games against Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Vanuatu and the Solomons, and hope New Zealand and the other teams lose one or two of their matches so that they have a chance of representing Oceania in the Beijing Olympics.

The game was heading for a 1-all draw but Fiji players failed to do man-to-man marking which saw New Zealand score their second goal through a corner. Both teams were locked at 1-all at the break with New Zealand scoring the first goal and Fiji equalizing through Malakai Tiwa.

This is how Radio Sargam commentator - Raymond Stoddart summed up the match.