Port Vila Premier League is arriving to its fifth gameweek and there will be some important matches this weekend, including a huge clash of titans between Tafea and Galaxy. Scroll down and read Oceania Football Center’s preview for this round!
MAUWIA vs ERAKOR GOLDEN STAR
Erakor Golden Star comes to this game with high expectations after drawing against title contenders Galaxy and Tafea while Mauwia must bitter another loss to remain on the bottom of the table with zero points. That is a good opportunity for Erakor to boost their goal debit to fight for the league’s title. Despite the favouritism, Erakor’s coach Kalo Noel Benjamin is aware of the importance of respecting the opponent: “Our current team is young. Our aim is helping them into real games and progress. The lads improved a lot in the past few games. We always treat every game as a final. Mauwia is a football team and we are prepared as always” he stated.
IFIRA BLACK BIRD vs TUPUJI IMERE
After conquering their first win of the season Tupuji Imere may finally find the right path to fight for the first positions and now they have a tough challenge against unbeaten Ifira Black Bird on Saturday. Ifira has the possibility to take the lead of the championship after this weekend if they win so they also need to cheer for a Tafea loss or draw against Galaxy and winning the league is a goal for them “We want to qualify the for Oceania Champions League […] Tupuji is not an easy opponent. We know they want to win and we are prepared to face them” said Ifira BB player Jonathan Spokeyjack.
SIA-RAGA vs YATEL
Sia-Raga contradicted the predictions after beating Galaxy by 1-0 last weekend showing that they can be a very competitive team and fight for something this season – “Confidence, strength, pride and joy are the feelings that grew out inside each and everyone of us after beating Galaxy. This win gave us power, raised our morale!” said Sia-Raga player George Wassington . They now have an important match against Yatel that is also trying to prove themselves as a competitive side in this championship. Sia-Raga staff is happy because they won Galaxy but they also know the championship goes on and they need to be focused on every game “The win against Galaxy FC last weekend was not an accident and it was big step forward for us in this league. The boys trained really hard defensively to face them. We carried out the training necessary to play a well organised and experienced Galaxy side. We are not only wanting to win games, but we train hard and change the table tally in a big way. We respect Galaxy FC as they are preparing towards the 2020 Oceania Champions League matches that are coming up so we wanted to give a good challenge to them. The preparation for this weekend’s game was good as Sia-Raga FC will be looking forward to face Yatel FC. We will play the game for 90 minutes, we don’t underestimate any team as they are also fighting strong for points. Despite having majority of students in the team which are sitting their exams through out last week and this week, we believe in all our boys to carry out duty as trained for.” said Vaagahu Harper, Sia-Raga assistant coach. Will Sia-Raga keep the good moment and beat Yatel? Can Yatel finally win their first match in the league?
TAFEA vs GALAXY
The weekend ends with an enormous clash between Tafea and Galaxy. Tafea is the current leader with ten points in four matches while Galaxy did not win their last two matches (drew against Erakor and lost to Sia-Raga). Galaxy really needs to recover the table and they know the importance of having a good result against Tafea – “We are working hard to improve and correct our mistakes […] We did not manage to score against Sia-Raga” – said brazilian player Gabriel. Kensi Tangis, current leader topscorer with eight goals in four matches got injured last weekend and he may not play. This match is also important for Ifira Black Bird because they have the possibility of taking the league’s lead. Tafea’s manager Robert Calvo also knows the importance of this match for them and pointed: “Every team plays to win. But the priority will be not losing this game to keep the little margin to Galaxy we have on the table. As we know, Galaxy is the favourite to win the league but the matches between Tafea, Erakor, Ifira, Tupuji and Galaxy will determine Premier League’s outcome because all these team are at a similar level this season”.
Oceania Football Center wishes good luck to all teams!
Oceania Football Center 