AS Pirae and AS Vénus took the field on Wednesday – 15th June – to decide who would be the representative of Tahiti in the final round of the OFC Champions League. Pirae is the current Ligue 1 champion and was the Oceania representative at the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup nominated by the Oceania Football Confederation. Vénus, meanwhile, is the current top-placed side of Tahiti’s Ligue 1 and counts on two national team leaders: coach Samuel Garcia and team captain Teaonui Tehau.
In the first half Pirae had an offensive approach and created more scoring opportunities. The first big chance of the match came when Matatia Paama’s shot was blocked by the Venus goalkeeper Teave Teamotuaitau after a good cross from Yohann Tihoni.
The first big chance of the second half came in the 58th minute when Benoit Mathon won the ball from a defender and beat goalkeeper Teamotuaitau – only the right-back Pothin Poma was able to clear the ball over the line to avoid Pirae’s starting goal.
As time went on the teams were afraid to expose themselves and few scoring chances were created until the end of the 90 minute. Already in the extra time, in the 6th minute, Tauhiti Keck threw the ball to Teaonui Tehau who was deliberately prevented from advancing by Jonathan Tehau, the Pirae defender saw his second yellow card and was sent off.
With an extra man on the field, Vénus almost scored in the first half of extra time with Tauhiti Keck once again finding Teaonui Tehau who headed the ball over the goalkeeper François Decoret‘s bar.
Within eight minutes left in the game, Teaonui Tehau took a corner kick, Pirae’s defense failed to clear the ball that was left for Roonui Tehau to score the goal that qualified Vénus for the next round.
Vénus now joins Auckland City (New Zealand), Hienghène (New Caledonia) and Nikao Sokattak (Cook Islands) – the three teams already qualified for the final round of the OFC Champions League – which will take place in New Zealand between August 6 and 19. The next OFC Champions League match will be between Lautoka and Rewa on 17th June.
Oceania Football Center 