Talo & Pole: friendship and competition

History tell us that football is all about competition, but certainly it is important to not forget the sportmanship. Football has developed from all over the past decades and now everyone wants to prove as the best in their position, in their game style and in the leagues they compete.

Competition is healthy: inside a football team if a player is always the starter and has no one that can replace him in the same quality it can turn into a problem – keeping the player as the unique option can turn him into accommodated individual. This is not the case of Hekari United competition for the spot between the sticks.

Recently the Papua New Guinean powerhouse announced the signing of the star goalkeeper Anthony Talo from Henderson Eels in Solomon Islands. It raised questions among the fans: who is the first option goalkeeper now, Talo or Pole?

Ishmael Pole, a well-known goalkeeper in Papua New Guinea, played his entire football career in Hekari United – he is a local idol and member of the Kapuls. The signing of a foreign player – that will make Hekari use a foreign slot for OFC Champions League – is usually to add quality to first team, making it seems so as the new import will be introduced in the starting eleven – and it was like that in the previous match of Hekari United in the PNG National Soccer League.

Who is going to be the first choice goalkeeper in the Champions League matches is something still unclear, but if there is something that is of public knowledge is the friendship between the two players: “It is all up to the coach to see who is the best. The way people may see is different, but for me he is a brother from another country. He came to my country, so I treat him like my own countryman“, says Ishmael Pole.

The friendship is there between the two teammates, but for sure they want to take the spot – and they know this is good for the team: “For me, I want challenges. Bringing a top goalkeeper from abroad, it makes me work hard for my spot“, adds Pole.

The same thinking comes from the Solomon Islands international, he said so when interviewed by local newspaper The National: “I have to work extra hard to earn a spot in the team. Competition is always healthy for a team. It makes you put in extra work and try to be consistent which is good for the team and as a player“, said Anthony Talo.

Hekari United is going to play at home the 2020 OFC Champions League Group A and the club won all their matches so far in the PNG National Soccer League. The journey for Talo and Pole to help their team to suceed still has a long way to go.