After finishing the group stage unbeaten, Lautoka had a tough clash against their biggest rivals Ba in the semi-finals. It was surely the most expected match by the fans and this clash have met the expectations as it was a breathtaking one.
Solomon Islands’ forward Darold Kakasi opened the scoreboard for Ba in the 33rd minute to put a smile on the supporters of the Men in Black. However, their happiness did not last long as Samuela Gavo equalized four minutes later. Lautoka’s veteran Dave Radrigai was fouled inside the box and team captain Zibraaz Sahib scored from the penalty spot to put the Bluez ahead in the final minutes of the first half.
Lautoka’s starting eleven against Ba – Fiji FA Media
Ba tried to equalize in the second half but Lautoka’s defense was stronger. At the final whistle, the score was 2-1 in favour of Lautoka – “Playing against Ba is always tough as they have many quality. We were one goal down and we came back and scored two goals,” said Zibraaz Sahib to FBC Sports after the match. You can check the highlights of this match by clicking here.
The Bluez will face Labasa tomorrow in the final to decide which team will lift Inter-District Championship’s trophy this year. Lautoka has already won the IDC 18 times, the first in 1941 and the last in 2018.
After a bad start in the tournament, Labasa reached 2020 Inter-District Championship semi-finals. The Babasiga Lions arose from the ashes and the semi-final clash against current Vodafone Premier League leaders Rewa at ANZ Stadium was very exciting.
Rewa had many opportunities to open the scoreboard in the first half but they were not very luck on finishing. Forward Setareki Hughes was performing in a very good level at the right wing and Labasa had difficulties to deal with him.
Ratu Anare opened the scoreboard for Labasa in the 43rd minute after a free kick taken by a teammate. Anare’s shot bounced on a defender and Rewa’s goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau could not save it as the Babasiga Lions took the lead.
Anare (number 13) opened the scoreboard for Labasa
Rewa fought hard to equalize but they did not manage to find the net. At the final whistle, the score was 1-0 in favour of Labasa. You can check the highlights of this match by clicking here. The Babasiga Lions are the current Inter-District Championship champions and they will have the opportunity to defend their title in tomorrow’s clash against Lautoka.
The 2019-20 PVFA Premier League season reached its end as the final matchday was contested on this Saturday in Vanuatu. Although Ifira Black Bird clinched the league title with one round in advance, it was a very exciting day, especially in the fight against relegation.
Galaxy and Tafea have beaten their opponents to finish the league in second and third positions respectively. Tafea’s forward Allista Kalip scored the fastest goal of the season as he just needed two seconds to open the scoreboard for his side against Ifira Black Bird.
The most exciting match was surely the clash between Mauwia and Sia-Raga as it was a must-win clash for both sides in order to avoid relegation. Mauwia kept their good moment in the season to beat their opponents by 2-0 which means that Sia-Raga will play PVFA First Divsion – the second-tier of Port Vila football league system – next season.
Sia-Raga were relegated to 2020-21 PVFA First Division – Vanuatu Sport
Mauwia finished the season in sixth so they will not need to play a relegation play-off. On the other hand, Yatel have beaten Erakor Golden Star by 1-0 but it was not enough for the team coached by Kiki Hinge as they finished the season in the seventh position.
Yatel will have to face Seveners United in the relegation play-off while Erako Golden Star, Galaxy FC, Ifira Black Bird and Tafea will contest PVFA Top Four to fight for a spot in the National Super League. You can check 2019-20 PVFA Premier League standings, results and top scorers by clicking here.
The tenth matchweek of Telekom S-League – the major football league from the Solomon Islands – started with a huge surprise as Southern United have beaten current league champions Solomon Warriors at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara.
Southern’s goalkeeper Ishmael Suraau had an outstanding performance by making many saves. The biggest moment of the day happened in the 53rd minute. Youngster Alford Kanahanimae took a free kick and tem captain Joachim Waroi pushed the ball into the net to open the scoreboard. Despite all efforts, Warriors did not manage to equalize as the final score was an 1-0 victory for Southern.
Southern United (in green) have beaten Solomon Warriors by 1-0 – Telekom S-League Media
The second match of the day was contested between Marist FC and Central Coast. Despite being the favourites to win the game, Central had to work the extra mile to take three points home. The winning goal was scored in the 86th minute by Danny Tolinao who came from the bench a few minutes before.
Central Coast are know in the fourth position with fifteen points in nine matches while Solomon Warriors are in third eight points behind league leaders Henderson Eels that will face Real Kakamora on Wednesday. You can check the current Telekom S-League standings, results and top scorers by clicking here.
This weekend sees the culmination of the 2019–20 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League, a season that, thanks to the COVID-19 induced lockdown, has taken almost ten months to complete. It comes down to the Grand Final between five-time champions Lae City and newcomers Vitiaz United. Before that, the third-place playoff will take place between Hekari United and Gulf Komara.
Last week’s dramatic semi-finals saw Lae City squeeze past an impressive Gulf Komara, who refused to sit back and invite Lae City onto them but rather played some swift, fast-flowing attacking football and almost embarrassed the reigning champions, while Vitiaz United and Hekari United played out a tense 2-2 draw, with both sides going down to ten men, before a back-and-forth penalty shoot-out eventually saw Vitiaz triumph over the experienced Red Army.
Abdias Aguirre scored Lae’s opening goal in the semi-final against Gulf Komara. Photo: PNGFA
A quick note on the third-placed playoff before we begin: it will be interesting to see how Hekari line up, with several squad players having not seen so much game time this season. The likes of Frank Taboroyan, Freddy Kepo, Joseph Joe, and Vito Laloata will be itching to get some competitive match experience and to prove themselves ahead of next season, which may be happening sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, Gulf Komara will be full of confidence following their close call against Lae City last week, and may fancy their chances against a potentially rotated Hekari.
To the main event: predicting the winner of Lae City versus Vitiaz United is impossible to call. Vitiaz must be highly credited for an incredible debut season in the National Soccer League, but prior to the semi-final against Hekari, it looked like they might be running out of steam, having failed to score in their final three regular season matches. Their bounce-back against Hekari, which consisted of two long-range efforts from the excellent Yagi Yasasa, hasn’t quelled fears that Jonathan Allen – who was absent from the semi-final – and Mathew David have fallen out of form. Those two need to be on fire against a fine Lae City defence, who have looked extremely solid since the arrival of the Komolong brothers.
Mathew David (right) needs to find his shooting boots again in the Grand Final. Photo: PNGFA
Lae City have come out of the other side of their mid-season managerial turmoil and seem to be stronger as a result. They retained the services of the two Ecuadorians, Abdias Aguirre and Gustine Icaza, both of whom featured against Gulf Komara last weekend, and recruited admirably in the transfer windows. However, they too have problems in front of goal: Stahl Gubag has only scored two goals since his arrival from Tusbab Stallions – compared to nine in the same number of games for his previous club – and last week’s goals came from a penalty and a long-range effort from Emmanuel Simon. Lae haven’t been able to fully replace Raymond Gunemba, and while other members of the squad chipped in with important goals in the season run-in, that lack of cutting edge up front is a definite weakness.
Midfield battles will be key to this affair: Eliud Fugre has been hugely influential in the Vitiaz midfield all season, but will have his work cut out against Simon, Aguirre and Joshua Oscar, all of whom offer composure on the ball and attacking prowess going forward. Fugre will need plenty of help from teammates Junior Sigit, Max Efale, and Elliot Foni if he’s to dictate the midfield battle in the Grand Final.
Eliud Fugre (left) has been a key man in the Vitiaz United midfield all season. Photo: PNGFA
It has been an excellent season of football in Papua New Guinea, and credit to the tournament organisers who have been able to get things going again in difficult circumstances since the lockdown. The standard of football has certainly been high in the playoffs so far, and we hope to see an excellent, fair, and entertaining clash on Saturday afternoon. May the best team win!
The wait is over in Tahiti as 2020-21 Ligue 1 Vini finally kicked-off in the French territory. The first match of this season was contested between AS Central Sport and AS Tefana at Stade Pater and Tefana grabbed their first points in the league by beating their opponents by 1-0.
Tuteani David opened the scoreboard for AS Tefana in the 36th minute and it was enough for them to win their first official challenge of the season. On the other hand, AS Central Sport have to deal with this loss as they keep their preparation for the upcoming challenges.
Tefana (yellow) and Central Sport (black and red) played the 2020-21 Ligue 1 VINI season opener in Tahiti – FTF Media
Three other matches will be contested today in the French territory: AS Manu-Ura and AS Olympic Mahina will clash at Stade Paea while AS Vénus will receive AS Arue at Stade Mahina. The third and last match of this Friday is going to be contested between current league champions AS Pirae and AS Mataiea. You can check more information about 2020-21 Ligue 1 VINI season by clicking here.
Do or die! That is the perfect expression to summarize the situation of Mauwia, Sia-Raga and Yatel at PVFA Premier League – the top-tier league from Port Vila football system in Vanuatu. These three teams have their last chance to avoid relegation as the final matchday of the season is going to be contested on this Saturday.
The most exciting match is surely the clash between Sia-Raga and Mauwia – two teams that are still fighting against relegation. While Mauwia stepped up in the past weeks, Sia-Raga is living a terrible moment as they reached the bottom of the table last week.
Another team that is fighting against relegation is Yatel that will face Erakor Golden Star. However, the team coached by Kiki Hinge has the possibility of staying at PVFA Premier League even if they lose to Erakor. For this it is necessary that Sia-Raga loses to Mauwia.
Sia-Raga is currently in the last position at 2019-20 PVFA Premier League – Vanuatu Sports News
It is important to remember that the bottom-placed team is directly relegated to PVFA First Division while the seventh-placed side will play a relegation play-off against the second-placed team at 2019-20 PVFA First Division.
After clinching the league title last weekend, Ifira Black Bird will face Tafea in a game that will not make any difference in the final standings. The fourth and last match of the day will be contested between Galaxy FC and Tupuji Imere.
The top four teams of 2019-20 PVFA Premier League will advance to PVFA Top Four that will be contested later this month. You can check the current standings, results and top scorers of the league by clicking here.
The eighteenth and final matchweek of 2020 Ultra Football Central League is going to be breathtaking in New Zealand as Miramar Rangers and Western Suburbs – the two best teams of the season – will clash to decide which team will lift the trophy this year.
Both teams are tied on top of the table with 43 points each. However, Miramar Rangers have the advantage of having a better goal difference, which means that a draw will be enough for them to clinch the league title while Western Suburbs need to win this match if they want to lift Central League’s trophy for the second straight year.
Miramar Rangers and Western Suburbs will clash at David Farrington Park
Miramar Rangers’ head coach Patrick Fleming relies on a powerful attack led by Samuel Mason-Smith who scored 19 goals in the season while Suburbs must count on Ryan Feutz as their biggest threat to Rangers’ defense.
Miramar Rangers’ head coach Patrick Fleming has a powerful attack led by Samuel Mason-Smith, who scored 19 goals this season, while Suburbs must rely on Ryan Feutz as their biggest threat to Rangers’ defense. This amazing match is scheduled to kick-off tomorrow at David Farrington Park. You can check the current Central League standings and results by clicking here.
The fight for the last spot in the semi-finals of 2020 Senior Division’s Inter-District Championship was very intense as Dreketi and Rakiraki starred a breathtaking match at Uprising Resort Ground in Navua to decide which team would advance to the semi-finals and which team would leave the competition.
Rakiraki had a huge advantage for this match as a draw would be enough for them to book a spot in the semi-finals. However the team coached by Savneel Singh did not want to push their luck as team captain Aseili Cobuta opened the scoreboard in the 42nd minute while Ronald Dutt extended their lead in the second half.
While Rakiraki fans were celebrating the 2-0 victory, Dreketi did not give in. Mohammed Issac scored Dreketi’s first goal in the 64th minute while Shanil Kumar found the net sixteen minutes later to equalize and spice up the game.
Dreketi did not give in against Rakiraki – Fiji FA Media
The 2-2 draw would not be enough for Dreketi so they did not stop fighting and what seemed impossible, happened – Netani Suluka scored in the 88th minute to put Dreketi ahead. At the final whistle, the score was 3-2 in favour of Dreketi that advanced to the semi-finals to face Nadroga at ANZ Stadium on Saturday. You can check more information about 2020 Senior Division’s Inter-District Championship by clicking here.
A phoenix is a mythological bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Associated with fire and the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. Some legends say it dies in a show of flames and combustion, others that it simply dies and decomposes before being born again.
Labasa’s campaign at 2020 Inter-District Championship (IDC) can be compared to this legend. After a disastrous loss to Navua in the opening day, the Babasiga Lions smashed Nadi by 4-0 to keep fighting for a spot in the semi-finals of the tournament.
With three points in two matches, Labasa reached the final day of Inter-District Championship’s group stage with a tough mission: beat current Vodafone Premier League champions Ba to advance to the semi-finals.
What seemed unlikely soon became a concrete reality. With early goals scored by Ilisoni Lolaivalu and Taniela Waqa, Labasa took the necessary advantage to stay alive in the tournament as the goal scored by Ba’s forward Samuela Drudru was not enough to prevent Labasa from winning. At the final whistle, the score was 2-1 in favour of Babasiga Lions.
Labasa has beaten Ba by 2-1 – Fiji FA Media
The team coached by Ronil Lal finished the group stage in the first position with six points in three matches and now the Babasiga Lions must focus on the clash against Rewa in the semi-finals of the tournament.
Like a phoenix, Lions arose from the ashes and people should not underestimate them. It would not be a surprise if we see Labasa lifting the Inter-District Championship’s trophy for the second straight year – which would be the perfect end to the team’s incredible recovery in the tournament. You can check more information about 2020 IDC by clicking here.
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