User:Hack/Australia 16–0 Cook Islands

On 28 September 1998, Australia played the Cook Islands in an association football match in Brisbane, Australia. The match was a group stage match of the 1998 OFC Nations Cup. Australia defeated the Cook Islands 16–0, which was one goal shy of Iran's record 17–0 defeat of the Maldives in 1997. The result bettered Australia's 13–0 defeat of the Solomon Islands the previous year.

Background
The Cook Islands entered the tournament having finished second in the 1998 Polynesia Cup. Australia, along with New Zealand, qualified automatically for the group stages as one of the top two teams in the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The Cook Islands entered the tournament without Jonathan Kairua, their first choice goalkeeper, who remained at home to fish for pearls.

Australia began their tournament with a 3–0 defeat of Fiji. The 28 September match was the first group stage match for Cook Islands.

Records
The match was Australia's largest victory, beating the 1997 defeat of the Solomon Islands.

A crowd of 400 attended the match at the 40,000-capacity Lang Park, which was reported as the lowest match for an Australia home game.

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Aftermath
The win sealed Australia's qualification for the semi-finals. A 4–1 win over Tahiti saw them progress to the final where they lost 1–0 to New Zealand.

The score remained a record for Australia until 2000 when they defeated Cook Islands 17–0 in the 2000 OFC Nations Cup.