KEY POINTS:
The date of the match was the first major hurdle.
December 6 worked for the LA Galaxy, at the conclusion of the US Major League Soccer season, but it was not an ideal date to put an
Oceania team together. It was not a Fifa window - a time
when club
football is not being played because of internationals - meaning the pool of potential players was limited to former players or others without a professional contract.
Oceania had hoped to bring out New Zealand's Ryan Nelsen and Tim
Cahill but it clashed with the English Premiership.
Even Wellington Phoenix players couldn't be involved because they
had an A-League match against Adelaide the previous night, while
Waitakere United were in Japan for the Club World Cup.
Oceania approached a number of players, including former French renegade Eric Cantona, former Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert as well as three-time World Player of the Year Ronaldo but were told it would cost as much as US$1 million ($1.8m) to attract the buck-toothed one.
Former Dutch international Edgar Davids agreed to play for around
US$30,000 ($55,000) - while former Manchester United and Chelsea
goalkeeper Mark Bosnich turned out for free because he was desperate to
reignite his stuttering playing career.
In the end, fans weren't excited by the Oceania side. With the exception of Davids and Bosnich, they didn't know who they were watching.
As far as the Oceania Football Confederation were concerned it was
a success. For them, it was all about bringing together a representative
side from the Pacific for the first time. They have a long-term goal of having a Pacific side play in the A-League or NZFC and saw this as a chance to prove that the concept could succeed.
They also point to the live television coverage broadcast by 13 stations in eight Pacific countries.
"This event reached a potential audience of of six million people
across 13 or 14 countries," says Oceania general secretary Tai
Nicholas. "It was also priceless for us to see Beckham giving a press conference with the Oceania logo behind him. We were on Eurosport,
ESPN and USA Today. In terms of our profile, you can't put a value on that.
Although Oceania aren't obliged to pick up any costs, Nicholas said
they would see what they could do to help.
The ARC had hoped to recoup the US$1.2 million in ticket sales, merchandise and sponsorship but fell significantly short.
Organisers assumed that because 16,000 had turned up to the final of
the Under-17 Women's World Cup and that 10,000 had attended the
2007 O-League final that Beckham would surpass these numbers.
But punters forked out only $10 for both the Women's World Cup
and O-League finals.
Charging a minimum of $85 for an adult's ticket to see Goldenballs
priced the game out of most people's reach.