For the first time in New Caledonian football history we can see in this weekend a local team winning all competitions they played in a season: Hienghène Sport already added the honours of OFC Champions League and Coupe de Calédonie and this Sunday they will be seeking the Mobil Super Ligue title – they are just one draw away to make their dream season complete.
AS Magenta and Hienghène Sport are clearly in another level: both sides contest for the title. The remaining eight teams are very close in the table: the distance for the 3rd placed side AS Wetr to the last placed team in the table is only of 9 points – and for the 8th place is only two points of difference – with just three rounds remaining. It is also important to remember that Mobil Super Ligue does not use the commom points rule: 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 1 point for a defeat are the rules used in the league.
The common round is composed entirely by matches played at Saturday, but due a cycling competition in the New Caledonia capital city, three important matches were postponed and will be played at the Sunday – including the decisive match for Hienghéne Sport.
Horizon Patho – Ne Drehu
Horizon Patho and Ne Drehu distance is just of one point; both teams will have a decisive encounter in this round for their fate in the league: who wins turn into a contender for the 3rd place spot, who loses can be challenge by Trio Kedeigne and ES Wacaele in the relegation playoff and direct relegation spots respectively – 9th and 10th places.
Stade de La Roche will see a hard battle and Horizon Patho will look a lot on his young defender Jean-Baptiste Caroine to deal with Ne Drehu attack. The 19-year old midfielder Pierre Wawia also will be key for the home side looking for a win.
Ne Drehu, the Jean-Marc Case coached side, will count with the young winger and former U17 New Caledonian international Lionnel Thanaena and the experienced goalkeeper Michel Hne.
Trio Kedeigne – ES Wacaele
Stade Hnasse in Lifou will be the venue for maybe the second most important match of the round: Trio Kedeigne, the current 9th placed team, and ES Wacaele that stands at the bottom of the standings. A win for Trio would be a disaster for Wacaele: they would see them fly away and give them slight chances to escape from a direct relegation to Ligue 2, while a win for Wacaele would obligate Trio Kedeigne to fight much more harder to avoid a relegation – since they would drop to the last position.
Trio can count with the experience of their number 10 and captain Leon Tain and with their important forward Jordan Wetria, that scored already seven times in the league this season. Wacaele will put their hopes in Nemia Nemia, their best offensive player and in the goalkeeper Bernard Cawidrone.
AS Mont-Dore – Tiga Sport
Cédric Decoire and AS Mont-Dore certainly will not be happy with their performance in the Mobil Super Ligue this season. The red and white team almost got a OFC Champions League spot last season falling short for Hienghène Sport in the stadings, but this season they could not challenge the two most important teams of New Caledonia currently. The first match of the Sunday will see Decoire and the striker Raphaël Oiremoin facing Tiga Sport. The New Caledonian international will guide Mont-Dore in the midfield looking for Oiremoin in the attack.
Tiga Sport will hope that Lues Waya keeps his prolific goalscoring form – already scored eight goals in the league – to help them in this clash against AS Mont-Dore at Stade Numa Daly. Emmanuel Hmaen is another player Mont-Dore need to take care, the forward already scored five times for his side.
AS Lössi – AS Wetr
After falling in the final match of Coupe de Calédonie for Hienghène Sport, Lössi looks back to Mobil Super Ligue final matches to improve their dissapoint performance in the league for 2019 season. Fonzy Ranchain is the key offensive player for the team, already scoring five times in the competition. The New Caledonian international Pierre Kauma will be the most important defender for Lössi while they expect to collect all points from the clash to advance in the table.
AS Wetr is surprising in the season and stands currently at the 3rd place. Eugene Sakilia is the key man for the white and blue club scoring already six times in the competition. The striker has shown good pace and skills in the competition. Lössi will also need to be careful with Wetr number 10, Christopher Wacalie that scored already three times in the competition.
AS Magenta – Hienghène Sport
The most important of the weekend in New Caledonia will be the last to be played. Stade Numa Daly will see the fourth encounter of Hienghène Sport against Magenta – and the previous three were won by the Hienghène-based club.
A draw or a win for Hienghène will mean one more trophy to their season since Magenta will not be able to reach them with two matches remaining in the league. Magenta, if they still want the title, need a win to reduce the seven point margin to four – Hienghène Sport still did not lose in the league, their encounter in the first round of Mobil Super Ligue at Stade de Hienghène ended up in 3-1 win by the locals.
Magenta will not have an easy task: Jean-Philippe Saiko departed to play in New Zealand and their topscorer in the season, Richard Sele, will not play the match due an injury. The home side will look for Kevin Nemia and Nathanael Hmaen in order to score the necessary goals for the team, while defensively Jean Brice Wadriako and Gaeton Gope-Iwate will be key to stop the powerful attack of Hienghène Sport: Antoine Roine, Antony Käi, Brice Dahite and the top goalscorer of the Mobil Super Ligue until now with 13 goals scored, Bertrand Käi.
Two matches will be telecasted by Caledonia TV and you can follow all movements of AS Lössi vs. AS Wetr and the decisive match of AS Magenta vs. Hienghène live at their YouTube Channel.
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