Many mistakes for Solomon Islands in a heavy defeat for Paraguay

Solomon Islands made history qualifying for the U17 World Cup held in Brazil this year – we all know this would be a hard challenge for the young men from the Pacific Islands to face teams with much more experience in the world stage. Their first match in the tournament against Italy gave a clear picture of the different level they were facing – in comparison what they used to in Oceania.

Today their opponent was one of the most traditional South American teams – Paraguay – that came with a very interesting team for this tournament. La Albirroja draw their first match against Mexico in a 0-0 result and they know they really needed a win with the biggest margin possible against the young Bonitos.

The match could not start worse for the islanders: Junior Noguera found the nets after a defensive mistake – the same ones that happened against Italy – after a fantastic pass. The foward just lobbed Davidson Malam and put his team upfront in the 3th minute of play.

The Islanders managed to control their emotion and kept the possesion of the ball. Some plays by Raphael Lea’i could cause some danger to Paraguayan defense before conceding. Paraguay also had some chances to score but they went all wasted.

Just before the final whistle in the first half, Matias Segovia received the ball in the area and finished it just between the legs of Malam to score their second goal of the match. Segovia received the pass in a play constructed by the Paraguayan side after another defensive mistake of the islanders giving way the ball in their defensive field.

The first half finished with a respectable 2-0 scoreline in favour of the South American team. Despite of some mistakes, the Pacific Islanders could manage well the ball and kept the head above the water – if they could score one goal they would come back to the contest.

The history was pretty different: the nightamare for the OFC representatives started in the 65th minute of play when Diego Torres finished an easy counter-attack for the Paraguayans. Another huge defensive mistake by Solomon Islands, going in numbers upfront for a corner and allowing the South Americans to have loads of space to finish the play with only two defenders of Solomon Islands trying to stop them.

Even the well performer Davidson Malam would give away a goal for the opposite side when he failled to catch the ball and gifted it to Fernando Presentado that easily found the nets. It was 4-0 in the 68th minute of the game.

Another defensive mistake allowed the Paraguayans to score a 5th goal. Fabio Barrios received the ball unmarked inside the area after a cross and just with a touch put the ball in the nets in the 78th minute.

The islanders hold the the margin for 10 minutes, the same 5-0 defeat they had against Italy was happening against Paraguay until they suffered more two goals in two minutes: the Olimpia striker Diego Duarte scored another with an easy finish, allowed due an unstructured defensive system of the islanders that gave a lot of spaces. Diego Torres managed to score another before the end of the game with a ball lost in defense by Solomon Islands players making the final scoreline to end 7-0 – a huge defeat for the OFC U16 Nations Cup runners-up.

Despite being a debutant in the tournament, the Solomon Islands team should have done better in this particular match: very weak tactical instructions allowed the opposite team to have many gaps in their defense. It shows exactly where the Oceania team needs to work the most: defense. The defenders allowed many men unmarked and the scoreline could be even bigger if Davidson Malam did not make some stops. A terrible second half allowed Paraguay side to score five times in only 25 minutes.

Solomon Islands is the team that suffered most goals in the competition so far: twelve. They are also still to score their first goal in this stage. They will have their last shot in the tournament next Sunday 8pm BRT at Kléber Andrade stadium against Mexico – 10am on Monday (Solomon Islands time).