The fans’ choice on an open-voting poll powered by Oceania Football Center for ‘MVP’ award of the 2019/20 PNG National Soccer League is…
Lae City’s midfielder Jacob Sabua was chosen by the fans as the best player of the 2019/20 season of PNG National Soccer League. Sabua was very higly voted having more than 60% of the boting in his favour – other two of his teammates came as the second and third best voted for the award: Stahl Gubag and Emmanuel Simon respectively.
The fans’ choice on an open-voting poll powered by Oceania Football Center for ‘Best Goalkeeper’ award of the 2019/20 PNG National Soccer League is…
The best voted player by the fans was Hekari United’s goalkeeper Ishmael Pole. Pole was followed by Lae City’s Ronald Warisan and Vitiaz United’s Russel Chris.
The fans’ choice on an open-voting poll powered by Oceania Football Center for ‘Best Young Player’ award of the 2019/20 PNG National Soccer League is…
The best voted player in the poll that was closed last Sunday was Lae City’s attacker Stahl Gubag. The second most voted player was Tusbab Stallions’ Ricky Wadunah, followed by Hekari United’s defender Carlos Onne.
Papua New Guinea National Soccer League’s regular season has just finished but local fans are already thinking about the semi-finals that are going to be contested next month. While Lae City, Hekari United and Vitiaz United did not have many difficulties to qualify, fourth placed side Gulf Komara had to fight a lot to book a spot in the upcoming stage.
With the help of some important players like Godfrey Haro, Ilagi Geno, Jordan Kaven and Kenneth, Komara managed to win their last two regular season matches and now they are going to have a bigger challenge against Lae City in the semi-finals. While the whole team is focused on their next clash, there is a player that still has a lot to celebrate: Roland Bala.
Bala had some game time in the final matches of the season as he started to appear at Gulf Komara’s starting eleven – and it means much more than just playing for him. The 30-year-old left back is finally recovered from a terrible injury that forced him to stop playing football two and a half years ago.
After representing Papua New Guinea in 2016 OFC Nations Cup, he had the opportunity to play abroad as he joined Coomera Colts FC from Australia. One year later he moved to New Zealand to play for Miramar Rangers.
Bala was living the best moment of his career in 2017-18 when he became a regular starter in Southern United in New Zealand Premiership – the major football league from New Zealand. However, everything changed suddenly due to a knee injury in January 2018.
He lived tough moments in the past years as he has been struggling to get back from injury. Finally recovered, Bala must feel grateful for having the opportunity to play competitive football again and now he needs to step up to help Gulf Komara in PNG National Soccer League semi-finals.
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AS Magenta and Hienghène Sport are two of the most important football teams from New Caledonia. Both teams made history last year when they clashed in OFC Champions League final and Hienghène Sport have beaten their opponents by 1-0 to clinch the continental title for the first time ever.
Now these teams will be face to face again – but this time in the New Caledonia Cup’s semi-finals – and local fans must expect a huge battle between both sides on October 17. The second clash of the semi-finals will be contested between AS Mont-Dore and SC Ne Drehu.
It is important to remember that New Caledonia is a French territory and the cup champions qualify to 2020-21 Coupe de France – the national cup from France. You can check more information about the current New Caledonia Cup by clicking here.
One of the most important football teams from Samoa, Kiwi FC is having a disappointing season in the current Premier Men’s League season as the team coached by Martin Tamasese is currently in the seventh position.
Despite counting on good players like Jarrell Sale and Samuelu Malo, Kiwi FC has been struggling to win matches as they have only won two of their six matches this season. It is known that the team has been looking for material’s donations during the off season and this might have hindered their preparation for the league, but football fans were surely expecting more from the team.
While Kiwi FC faces difficulties to win matches, Lupe o le Soaga is having another marvelous season and the team coached by Paul Ualesi is the biggest contender to clinch the title in 2020 as they won all their six matches so far in the season. You can check the current Premier Men’s League standings and results by clicking here.
The Ultra Football Central League is one of the most important winter football leagues from New Zealand and local fans have an extra reason to keep up with the current season as two teams are spicing up the title race: Miramar Rangers and Western Suburbs.
Despite the 1-1 draw against Lower Hutt City last weekend, current league champions Western Suburbs are living another marvelous season and it would not be a surprise if they clinch Central League’s title for the third time in four years. On the other hand, Miramar Rangers’ head coach Patrick Fleming relies on a powerful attack led by Samuel Mason-Smith, Andrew Bevin and João Moreira.
Both teams are tied on top of the table with 40 points in sixteen matches which means that there are only two remaining matchweeks until the end of the season. The bad news for Rangers is that starting goalkeeper Keegan Smith will not be available for their upcoming clash against Wellington Olympic at David Farrington Park as he saw the red card against Stop Out SC last weekend. On the other hand Western Suburbs have – in theory – an easier game against Petone FC at Petone Memorial Park.
Oceania Football Center wish good luck to both teams in this breathtaking race. You can check the current Ultra Football Central League standings, results and top scorers by clicking here.
The current Telekom S-League season is already a historical one as there are eleven teams in the league including three new franchises: Central Coast, Honiara City and Southern United. While Southern is having a poor season, the other two teams are impressing local fans.
Currently in the fourth position with twelve points in seven matches, Central Coast FC is a well organised team, specially on defense. While head coach Jacob Moli must be congratulated for his good job, there is a young player that must be highlighted as well: Javin Wae.
Wae is one of the most promising footballers from the Solomon Islands and he is proving himself this season. He is a versatile player who can play as a defender or as a midfielder with the same quality – something rare in football.
Part of Central Coast’s success in the current season must be attributed to him once he is one of the most important players in the team. His presence makes a difference on the pitch and it would not be a surprise if we saw him in the National Team in the next call.
Wae represented his country in the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Brazil last year. He is one of the players linked to Basi Futbol – a football agency that promotes young footballers from Solomon Islands abroad. His good performances combined with Basi’s help can take him to a foreign club soon.
An exciting weekend of action saw underdogs Gulf Komara claim the final playoff spot in the Papua New Guinea National Soccer League this Saturday, while Lae City did enough against Vitiaz United to hold onto their expected Minor Premiership, despite as Raymond Gunemba hat-trick earning Hekari United a 3-0 win over Tusbab Stallions.
Three teams were in contention for the final playoff spot, with FC Bougainville kicking off proceedings in Port Moresby against Morobe Wawens at 11am, knowing they would need to win and hope that neither Gulf Komara nor Tusbab Stallions won in their respective 1pm kick-offs. And the playoff hopefuls made a swift start to their match on nine minutes, with Basil Jofari swinging a cross in from the right wing. Following a fortuitous ricochet, Daniel Vetali was on hand to lash the ball into the roof of the net from close range.
Bougainville made it two just before the 20-minute mark after Elton Banem curled in a corner from the left side which evaded everyone and found its way directly into the back of the ne. This gave them a two-goal lead going into half-time.
Wawens hit back immediately after the restart after an innocuous-looking handball in the box was given as a penalty. Moses Kamakeng’s initial effort from the spot was saved, but he was able to pounce on the rebound and fire past Adrian Redenut in the Bougainville goal. The game became rather tense for much of the second half, with Bougainville trying to hold their lead and Wawens probing for an opening, and the two sided remained locked at 2-1 until the final ten minutes. A long ball forward in the direction of Bernard Purari led to Wawens’ goalkeeper Yalisan Michael rushing out, and Purari was brought down inside the box. After a lengthy break to deal with Purari’s injury, Daniel Vetali restored Bougainville’s two-goal lead with a well-taken penalty. Eaka Philemon put the icing in the cake with a late fourth.
So with Bougainville winning, both Tusbab Stallions and Gulf Komara knew that they would have to win to secure their place in the playoffs. Stallions were taking on Hekari United in Lae, while Gulf Komara were fortunate to have a game at ‘home’ against Star Mountain. And the two games went in completely opposite directions: an early goal from Golden Boot-chasing Raymond Gunemba put Hekari in front against Tusbab Stallions shortly before a wonderful individual effort from Pala Paul put Gulf Komara in front against Star Mountain after 25 minutes. By half-time Tusbab were another goal behind, while Komara retained their slim one-goal lead.
Things started to look very rosy for Gulf Komara as the second half wore on. Gunemba completed his hat-trick of goals against Stallions to all but end their playoff dreams, while Komara started to find their scoring boots. Rupa Emil crossed for Jordan Kaven to head in just after the hour mark, before a spree of goals in the final five minutes added the cherry on top: Numa Kila scored Komara’s third on 84 minutes, before Kaven was released by Kenneth Arah for his second goal, before completing his own hat-trick in injury time.
So Komara leapfrog defeated Tusbab Stallions to reach the playoffs, and will play Minor Premiers Lae City in the playoff semi-finals. Lae and third-placed Vitiaz United fought out a 0-0 draw in their final game of the season in Port Moresby, while Morobe United avoided the wooden spoon after a 3-2 victory against FC Kutubu in the final game in Lae. Lae’s draw meant that they earned the final point they needed to officially claim the Minor Premiership – although even a narrow defeat would have been enough for them thanks to their highly superior goal difference.
Next week’s playoffs will therefore see reigning five-time champions Lae City take on Gulf Komara in the first semi-final, while eight-time champions Hekari United will take on newcomers Vitiaz United in the second semi-final. Lae defeated Gulf Komara home and away in the regular season by an aggregate scoreline of 6-0, while Vitiaz and Hekari drew in both of their fixtures in the regular season, so their semi-final could well be a hugely interesting affair.
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New Caledonia Cup is surely one of the most important tournaments in the French Territory. While dozens of teams dream about winning the Cup, only four teams still have the chance to lift this important trophy in 2020.
AS Magenta faced RC Poindimié at Stade Yoshida and they did not give a chance to their opponents with a massive win by 7-0 while title holders Hienghène Sport have beaten AS Qanono by 2-0 at Stade Edouard Pentecost in Nouméa.
Despite having a bad moment in the league, AS Mont-Dore have beaten Olympique Nouméa by 2-1 while SC Ne Drehu booked a spot in the semi-finals after beating AS Kunié. The cup champions qualify for 2020-21 Coupe de France – the national football cup from France. You can check more information about the current New Caledonia Cup by clicking here.
Oceania Football Center