The Oceania Football Confederation will target Asia as its preferred route for a place at the 2006 World Cup.

The OFC executive met in Auckland and decided on a proposal to seed New Zealand and Australia, who will sit out a first preliminary play-off series between the other 10 Oceania member nations.

The ten would play in two groups of five with the winner and runner-up from each group joining Australia and New Zealand in a six-team competition.

The winner and runner-up from that contest would then play off on a home and away basis to determine the Oceania representative.

The Oceania representative, OFC hopes, would either join a group of Asian countries or play the fifth Asian nation for the coveted finals spot in Germany in December.

An OFC executive meeting in September will debate the proposal again, and the final decision will be taken to the FIFA executive meeting in Qatar in October.

FIFA had granted Oceania direct entry to the next World Cup but withdrew it, apparently under pressure from the powerful South American confederation after the Confederations Cup in June.

OFC president, Basil Scarsella of Australia, said at the time that perceived reasons for Oceania's shut-out were the parlous state of Soccer Australia and New Zealand's poor performances at the France competition.

"Those are excuses but not reasons," Scarsella said.

At the meeting, talk of a no-confidence motion against Scarsella of Australia was played down and a vote failed to eventuate.

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