What will PNG Football Association do after international hummiliation?

The Papua New Guinea football fans watched incredulous the terrible defeat the Kapuls had suffered against Malaysia in the latest international friendly. The 10-0 result does not reflect the difference between both sides: Solomon Islands faced the same team days before and played a much better performance, falling by 4-1. Years back, in the golden era led by Danish head coach Flemming Serritslev, Papua New Guinea faced Malaysia twice: one away 2-1 defeat and a 2-0 home win. What had happened since then?

Despite winning the MSG Prime Minister Cup last year, many critics have arisen against the PNG Football Association management of the sport in the country. The last outing the national team had was last year, having the chance only now of exposing its football in friendly matches against Singapore and Malaysia.

The first match against Singapore, a 2-2 draw, may seem as a good result, but the performance of the Kapuls were not there. Differently from what happened to Solomon Islands who also draw against the same opposition – playing a much better footbal – , Papua New Guinea can be taken as the luckier side with goalkeeper Ronald Warisan saving the day for the national team.

Against Malaysia the fitness level, mental preparation and tactical organisation of the Papua New Guinean side was exposed: Ronald Warisan managed to make several stops until the deadlock was broken in the late stages of the first half. The second half told the story of the game as Malaysia only needed 36 minutes to score a total of nine goals. The 10-0 was the worst ever defeat suffered by the Kapuls.

The only thing the PNG Football Association did after the match was to inform the fans the final result. Since then, no words, no statements, nothing coming from the team staff, techinical direction or John Kapi-Natto himself, the PNGFA president.

The team selection was awful, not to mention. Some defenders of the current tenure at the PNGFA helm may say it: believe in the process! The question is: which process? The same players as always were there, part of the of golden generation from the OFC Nations Cup back in 2016 on its late 30s with a mix of unknown players and some recent standouts of Hekari United. Renovating the national team does not seem to be done in the proper way. There is no process going on.

Kolu Kepo, a well-known attacking midifielder through the South Pacific football community, was deployed as a central back by the head coach Harrison Kamake. Something that should not have even be thinkable was done. Some local fans can say Kolu is sometimes used as defender in local matches, but, to be honest, it is a total different situation. There were option for the central back position in the bench in both matches, as Joshua Talau or Ila Ani. Kepo, himself, was caught in positioning errors during both matches in many situations.

Structural changes need to be done rapidly, but the local federation does not seem to be worried. The same mistakes continue there. Just to mention blunders done in the recent months: the National Premier League, as the new national league will be called, was postponed three times already – coincidentally first when Hekari United, team historicaly managed by the current PNGFA president, was playing in the OFC Champions League and also more recently when a number of Hekari players were called up for national team duties. Back in January Papua New Guinea did not take part in the U17 OFC Championship. The reason is simple: the local federation missed the deadline to issue the team list to Oceania Football Confederation.

The terrible result against Malaysia was the last straw: some days ago Lae City FC, current champions of Papua New Guinea, decided to pull out of the upcoming National Premier League. Ian Chow, chairman of Lae City FC, told local newspapers that the main reason for leaving the national competition is the favouritism Hekari United has by the local football governing body. The same allegations were mentioned by national team players, local team owners and journalists interviewed by Oceania Football Center prior the writing of this article.

The 10-0 result in the international friendly seems to be little in comparison of the current situation of football in Papua New Guinea as mentioned above. The most populous member of the Oceania Football Confederation needs to do something in order to get out of this mess. The advice given is: if you are unable to make the necessary changes, step down, the hopes of a passionated-football country are on your back – deal wisely!