Ishmael Pole: we are excited and ready

The countdown is almost over and the OFC Champions League is ready to begin. After not playing 2019 OFC Champions League, Hekari United is back to the most important club competition in Oceania.

Hekari has a difficult mission in the Group A as they are grouped with current OFC Champions League winners Hienghène Sport from New Caledonia, Eastern Suburbs from New Zealand and Galaxy from Vanuatu. They will count on four foreign players that have the mission to help the team in the tournament: Erick Joe and Vinícius came from Brazil while Vito Laloata (Samoa) and Junior David (Solomon Islands) are also in the squad.

Hekari United’s goalkeeper Ishmael Pole talked about the importance of these players for the team – “They are a big boost for the team, specially the two Brazilians […] Erick Joe organizes the defense very well and Vinicius is very talented. We love his footworks“.

The Papua New Guinean club has the opportunity to play the group stage in their homeland and Pole is very excited about it – “Playing in front of our home crowd is special to me. It is a big challenge for us“. The supporters might be the necessary extra-strenght for Hekari to qualify for the knockout stage.

Currently leading the 2019-20 Papua New Guinean National Soccer League with seven wins in seven matches, the team managed by Jerry Allen is ready for the battle – “We are excited and ready […] Everyone understands Jerry Allen very well,” said Pole. The 27-year-old goalkeeper shows confidence but he points that they need to be cautious – “We are not overconfident. We are in a death pool and every game is our grand final match but we trust each other”.

Hekari will debut on Sunday against Eastern Suburbs.