LAUTOKA, Fiji — Striker Roy Krishna scored two second-half goals as Fiji beat New Zealand 2-0 Wednesday in an Oceania qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup that had no bearing on the Kiwis' progression to the next round.

The loss was New Zealand's first in six matches in the final round of the Oceania qualifying. New Zealand will now play the fifth-place team from the Asian confederation in the next stage of qualifying, the winner of which will play in the World Cup in South Africa.

Two early rounds of qualifying left New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to contest the single qualifying vacancy from the Oceania confederation which New Zealand clinched when it won five home and away matches ahead of Wednesday's match.

The final group match, played in front of a raucous capacity crowd at Churchill Park, Lautoka, was originally due to take place in Auckland on Oct. 13, 2007 but was postponed when the New Zealand government refused entry to a Fiji player.

New Zealand has applied political sanctions against Fiji since a December, 2006 coup and routinely refuses entry to representatives of the Fiji military or their families. The Fiji goalkeeper selected for the 2007 was a relative of a Fiji army officer.

The match was initially shifted to a neutral venue — to Apia in Samoa — but was able to go ahead Wednesday on Fijian soil.

Though no longer able to qualify, Fiji thrilled home fans with a comprehensive win over a New Zealand team which was reduced to 10 players after the 59th-minute dismissal of goalkeeper Glen Moss. Moss was sent from the field after disputing a decision of Vanuatu referee Lencie Fred.

Krishna seized on the opportunity and scored Fiji's opening goal only four minutes after Moss's dismissal. He took a neat pass from Pita Bolaitoga, turned the last defender and slipped the ball past Jacob Spoonley, who had replaced Moss in the New Zealand goal.

Krishna, who plays in New Zealand for Waitakere City, sealed the match with his second goal in the 89th minute.