Just over a year had elapsed since Italy defeated France on penalties in Berlin's Olympic stadium to capture the 2006 World Cup when Tahiti and New Caledonia lined up.
The 22 players took to the pitch over 1000 days before the start of the event they were hoping to reach and 15000km from Johannesburg's Soccer City, which will host the 2010 final in July.
"The eyes of not only Oceania but the world are on us," said Oceania Football Confederation president Reynald Temarii.
The honour of scoring the first goal in World Cup 2010 qualification fell to New Caledonia's captain Pierre Wajoka, who struck from the penalty spot in the ninth minute to earn his side a 1-0 victory in their first-ever qualifier.
New Caledonia's dreams of 2010 were finally ended in a 3-1 defeat by New Zealand in Noumea in September 2008. The Kiwis qualified for 2010 last week by beating Bahrain 1-0 in a two-leg play-off.
New Caledonia's brush with qualification was not without its achievements, though, as it saw them briefly rise into the top 100 of Fifa's world rankings for the first time in their history.
"We didn't get here by chance," said team coach Didier Chambaron. "The players progressed in these recent months."
The country also capitalised on the interest generated by their on-pitch endeavours by building a world-class training facility, thanks to an Oceania Football Confederation initiative.
The exploits of nations such as New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu may well be forgotten when the great and good of the game descend on South Africa in June, but their impact will not go unnoticed by the record books.
Fiji forward Osea Vakatalesau, in particular, has good reason to remember the qualifiers fondly.
He got off the mark with six goals in a 16-0 trouncing of Tuvalu and finished as the top scorer across the six continental zones with 12 goals from nine matches.
And though Kaka, Fernando Torres, Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney will head to South Africa with dreams of scoring the winning goal in the final, nothing can take the tournament's first strike away from Pierre Wajoka.
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