Tahiti: AS Pirae hammers AS Dragon to confirm OFC Champions League group stage spot

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AS Pirae and AS Dragon played the second leg of the national-playoffs this Saturday (25th Feb) in the capital of French Polynesia, Papeete, to decide who would represent Tahiti in the group stage of the OFC Champions League.

Pirae had the advantage as they had won the first game 2-0 last week, and inside the field they gave no chance to Dragon who could do little in the match. The current top-placed side of the Ligue 1 were heavily beaten.

AS Pirae opened the scoring early in the 13th minute with Jacques Tetauira on a shot from outside the box after an excellent transitional play – AS Dragon did not have much time to react, three minutes later after a free-kick was taken at the wall, the ball was switched to captain Heimano Bourebare who hit the goal with a powerful long-range shot scoring the second for his team – 2-0 to Pirae with less than 20 minutes played.

Before the break AS Pirae eliminated any chances for the Dragons to seek a reaction; at the 40th minute after a beautiful cross from Yohann Tihoni, Jacques Tetauira scored another after a beautiful header.

AS Pirae’s show continued after the break, at the 50th minute Yohann Tihoni won the ball from two defenders and shot from outside the box past Anapa Debruyne to score the fourth goal.

Pirae scored again with Jacques Tetauira in the 66th minute who took advantage of a defensive breakdown to complete his hat-trick. Almost immediately afterwards the top scorer of Ligue 1 Tahitian Roonui Tiniarauarii scored the first goals for AS Dragon.

AS Pirae still scored twice more with Belgian Désiré Ngiamba and French-Taitian Benoit Mathon. Gervais Chan Kat scored again for AS Dragon to make the final score 7-3. You can watch the highlights of the match by clicking here.

AS Dragon now turn their energies to the Tahitian Ligue 1 while AS Pirae will split their attention with the two tournaments, the team of Tahitian legend Raimoana Bennett is one of the favorites to reach the final of the tournament after two incredible performances.