OFC Futsal Nations Cup: a flogging day

OFC Futsal Nations Cup begun yesterday in New Caledonia. Four matches were played in the opening day of the tournament. Come with Oceania Football Center and check what happened in this first day of competition.

SOLOMON ISLANDS 13-2 TONGA

Favourite Solomon Islands did their job and beat Tonga unfailingly. Elliot Ragomo and Jeffery Bule scored four goals each to lead Kurukuru to this large win. Despite the loss Tonga made history. Soakai Vea scored the Tongan Senior Futsal Team first ever goal in an official match. Legendary Unaloto Feao scored the other Tonga’s goal – We scored two goals and I’m really happy with that” – stated Tonga’s head coach Manu Tu’alau. Solomon Islands leads the group and they are now focused in correcting some mistakes for next challenges – “I’m happy with the player’s approach to the game but of course the first game is always a getting over that excitement and that anxiety as well […] Tonga is a very physical team and it was a good test for us to see our strenght and condition program is working” – said Kurukuru’s head coach Vinicius Leite. Solomon Islands faces Tahiti in the next game while Tonga will play against Fiji.

NEW ZEALAND 9-0 AMERICAN SAMOA

American Samoa was not as “lucky” as Tonga to score some goals in their official debut in Senior Futsal but at least they managed to suffer “just” nine goals of a strong New Zealander side. Great Dylan Manickum scored a hat-trick to push himself to the Golden Boot award race. Head Coach/Player Marvin Eakins netted once and said: “We are just happy to get the win and the performance against a pretty spirited American Samoan team that did well, they could have got a couple of goals and I think they would have deserve that”. American Samoa had a very young starting five except the experient goalkeeper Nicky Salapu. Despite the loss head coach Tunoa Lui is happy “We came into this tournament knowing that New Zealand is the best team in our pool and I take my hats off to the boys, they gave a good fight, it’s just some mistakes we really need to work on, because it could have been different in terms of the result of the game”. New Zealand will face Vanuatu in the next game while American Samoa is going to play against New Caledonia.

FIJI 1-11 TAHITI

Fiji was not a threat for Tahiti. The francophones played an incredible match and did not give a chance to Fiji show why they came to this tournament. Legendary Teaonui Tehau scored four goals showing that he can be a great scorer in Futsal too. Fiji goal was scored by captain Setareki Hughes. “Even though it was the first match we had to get in to the game really quickly because we know that this result was important” said Tahiti’s head coach Jean-Baptiste Barsinas. Tahiti faces Solomon Islands in a very important game while Fiji will play against Tonga looking for a win to recover in the competition.

VANUATU 1-11 NEW CALEDONIA

Vanuatu started the match showing that they could be a threat for New Caledonia but it did not materialize. New Caledonia had an easy life against the Ni-Van Futsal Team and they now have one and a half foot in the semifinals. Christ Pei scored three goals for the francophone side. New Caledonia head coach Juliano Schmeling said it was an important result but he advises “We need to concentrate for tomorrow and we need to fix some details from today’s game”. New Caledonia faces American Samoa in the next game while Vanuatu will play against New Zealand.