Cook Islands 2011 Home
A very dull Lotto template. A white band across the top of the chest, some white accenting across the ends of the sleeves and Lotto’s nice habit of felt logos everywhere that wouldn’t seem too out of place. Feels slightly desperate, but not in a terrible way. The rest of the shirt is this lovely olive green, with even the FA logo embroidered as an outline onto that to maintain the colour. Yes, it is cheap to make, but I think they got the colour scheme spot on. Other than that, not much there really.
The design was worn at the 2011 Pacific Games, where the Cook Islands were drawn in a group with Fiji, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea and Kiribati. They opened with a 4-0 defeat to Papua New Guinea and followed that up with a 7-0 loss to Tahiti. Not exactly filled with confidence, 2 late goals against Kiribati gave them a 3-0 victory, the confidence from which they used to score against Fiji in their final game. They lost 4-1 still, but finished above the bottom which was about all that they’d have expected from that group.
This tends to sum up the Cook Islands, low expectations are generally fulfilled. As one of FIFA’s smallest members (without their diaspora they have a population of around 15k) they compete in OFC’s initial qualifying round against Polynesian brethren in Tonga and both Samoas. Their first competitive draw against FIFA opposition came against American Samoa in 2011 with wins over Samoa and Tonga in 2015 being their first against FIFA opposition too. Sadly they missed out on the single qualification spot to the main tournament on goal difference there. Otherwise they’ve completed an unusual trifecta by beating Tuvalu, Kiribati and Wallis & Futuna at the Pacific Games, interestingly being the only qualifying team to have not lost to Tuvalu. They’re debut tournament in 1971 is best left unmentioned though.
One might expect the women’s side to hold similar joy but the Cook Islands are much more of a force there. While their initial appearance at the Nations Cup, in 2003, was miserable, their gap of 7 years before trying again definitely helped. They grabbed 3rd place at the 2010 tournament (8 teams) before stumbling once more, getting a single draw across the next 2 tournaments (though got another 3rd due to one being only 4 teams). In the Pacific Games they grabbed 3rd in 2015 and 4th in 2019, showcasing that they weren’t just there to make up the numbers. In 2019 they were prioritised over the men’s team, who weren’t even sent. The men’s youth teams have played sporadically, twice escaping preliminary rounds and mostly being competitive with the same nations in any case. They’ve had wins and draws scattered throughout the years though, so had less of a wait than the senior side. Even more sporadic on the women’s side, they’ve been reasonable in youth matches, even being semi-finalists at an U16 level in 2017 and 2nd place (from 4) at an U20 level in 2010.
They’ve only briefly appeared in futsal, in 1999 they took part in the OFC Championship. While they lost all 6 games, their worst loss was only 5-0 to Australia and they were particularly close to New Zealand (3-2 loss) and Samoa (5-3 loss). They’ve never returned. Beach soccer provides a very similar story. At the first Championship in 2006 they turned up, lost all 3 games (albeit heavily this time) and then never returned. Hopefully they’ll take part again at some point in the future.
While the Cook Islands will look to better their fellow qualifying round nations, nothing else is expected of the team for 2022 qualification. They’re currently unranked, having not played since 2015, so game time is crucial and any results are a bonus.
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