Oceania Football Center

Ali Mekawir’s Langney Wanderers knocked-out of English FA Cup

After making history last week, Ali Mekawir and Ian Kula from Solomon Islands came to the pitch with Langney Wanderers on this Saturday to play in the Preliminary Round of English FA Cup – one of the biggest football cups in the world.

Langney Wanderers received Harrow Borough FC at Priory Lane. The final score was an 1-1 draw in the regular time and Harrow advanced to the further round after beating their opponents in the shootout by 3-2.

Mekawir’s team is out of 2020-21 English FA Cup

Despite being knocked-out of the cup, Wanderers’ fans have reasons to be proud of the team while Solomon Islanders are proud of Mekwair and Kula. They are now focused on Southern Combination Football League Premier Division – their regional league that is part of English 9th tier.

Steven Taylor leaves Wellington Phoenix

Following the departure of English striker Gary Hooper, one more Englishman decided to leave Wellington Phoenix – this time the now former team captain Steven Taylor. “Today we have mutually agreed to part ways with our beloved captain, Steven Taylor. Farewell Steven and thank you for some amazing memories – we wish you the very best“, said Phoenix in social media.

The former Newcastle United defender joined Phoenix in 2018; the 34-year-old played a total of 49 matches for the New Zealand-side scoring a total of three goals. Taylor helped the Nix to return to the A-League finals in the 2018/19 season after a long period away from finals football. After a number of departures at the end of that season, Taylor was named the team captain and under his guidance Phoenix made their best ever regular season campaign in the previous season.

Rumours report Taylor is linked to Indian Super Ligue side Odisha – Hooper also departed to play in India. It seems Phoenix will be facing a similar issue they had at the end of the 2018/19 season as many players left the squad and new head coach Ufuk Talay was forced to rebuild the team that had in that time only seven players in the team. As two pillars of the Phoenix’s good campaign left the club surely Talay and Phoenix management will be looking in the market for new imports for the 2020/21 season.

New Zealand: NRFL season is cancelled

Sad news for New Zealand and Oceania football fans as the Northern Region Football leagues are now officialy cancelled “following the confirmation from the Prime Minister earlier today that Auckland will remain at Covid-19 Alert Level 2.5 until further review on Monday 21 September“.

“Should the current Covid-19 Alert Level be further revised in the future and gathering sizes altered to allow matches to progress, clubs will be able to schedule friendlies should they wish to do so“, said NRF in press release.

NRF completed their statement as follows:

“– Northland competitions currently in operation remain as scheduled and are not impacted by the above

– All Auckland-based winter football and futsal competitions and the LOTTO NRFL are cancelled effective immediately

o As per Friday’s communication, with no further play able to be delivered, competition champions will not be declared

o The NRF Futsal Premier League set to begin in October remains as scheduled currently pending revision of Alert Level status

– We will confirm early next week the impact of today’s announcement on fees paid to NRF for the 2020 season

– Please contact the respective Competitions Managers with any specific queries for given competitions

While we are all disappointed at the situation we are faced with, public safety remains the key principle driving our decision-making process around the season.“

Galaxy FC’s star Roberson in a fantastic moment in Vanuatu

Galaxy FC made history in 2020 as in their first ever participation at OFC Champions League they made it through the group stage; the Ni-Vanuatu powerhouse was in a very hard pool alongside New Zealand’s Eastern Suburbs, New Caledonian Hienghène Sport and the hosts from Papua New Guinea Hekari United. The star midfielder Roberson Felipe was a key factor for the success of the team then coached by Solomon Islands’ football legend Batram Suri.

Roberson guided Galaxy to win the last two football tournaments played in Port Vila: the Port Vila Independence Cup and the PVFA Mini Knock-Out tournament. Now Galaxy turns their attention to PVFA Premier League, competition where they are placed third just one-point away the leaders Ifira Black Bird. As the 2020 OFC Champions League was cancelled in result of the COVID-19 pandemics, Roberson and his teammates will be looking to lift one more trophy, this time of the most important regional league of Vanuatu.

The number 10 scored a hattrick last Saturday in their first match for the league since the COVID-19 break in a 4-0 win over Erakor Golden Star. Roberson is being highly praised by local media and fans in Vanuatu – named as probrably the best player ever to play in the country. Fans say they expect the local players learn from the Brazilian in order to develop the local football.

You can see the current standings, last results and current top scorers of the PVFA Premier League by visiting our session of the competition.

Emile Ounei goal gives win to Avenir Lavitois in France

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The weekend was good for Avenir Lavitois and as well for New Caledonian international Emile Ounei; the team from Lavit started their campaign at the Regional 3 – the 9th tier of football in France – with a win over Meauzacaise JS by 1-0. The only goal of the match was scored by the New Caledonian that in his country played for AS Magenta.

Avenir Lavitois before the match – *Avenir Lavitois Media*

With the three points collected from this game, Avenir Lavitois is sitting 7th after the first matchweek of football for Regional 3. The team is coached by former New Caledonia national team head coach Thierry Sardo that recently departed for his homecountry.

Fiji: Shazil Ali returns to football after six months

Lautoka is not having a very good season so far; the team coached by Ravinesh Kumar has a lot to improve if they want to battle for something bigger in the season. Only more four matches to be played in the national league, but another two major tournaments are still to be played in Fiji: Inter-District Championship and the Fiji FACT.

In the last weekend, Lautoka visited Suva and once again was unable to win – but the 1-1 draw for the Blues was not a so bad result as Suva is battling at the top of the table at the moment. One good sign for the Sugar City Boys is that the experienced Shazil Ali returned from injury in this match. The midfielder had a very good start of season scoring four goals in the national league, but since then he was unable to defend Lautoka’s colours.

Before being introduced in the second half against Suva, the midfielder last played a football match in March. The COVID-19 pandemics stopped football in Fiji, but Ali was unable to be part of Lautoka’s campaign since the resumption of Vodafone Premier League and also did not take part of the last major tournament Battle of Giants.

Ali had returned to training in the last week after suffering a very harsh injury – a broken leg – last June. Ali was not expected to play with just one week of training, but coach Kumar decided to field the player in the final part of the game against Suva; situation that proves the importance of the midfielder for team. Certainly, with Shazil Ali the Blues are now a stronger team and their fans expect better results in the upcoming matches.

New Caledonia’s midfielder Mickaël Partodikromo training with Indonesian club

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Football is slowly resuming in Southeast Asia after COVID-19 pandemics and local clubs are now looking for new players to strengthen their squads for the upcoming challenges. One of these teams is Madura United from Indonesia that might be signing with Mickaël Partodikromo soon.

Partodikromo is a 24-year-old midfielder from New Caledonia who last played in England. He represented his nation at youth level and now he has the opportunity to train with a team from Indonesia: country where his father was born.

Partodikromo spending some years playing in Europe

The manager of Madura United, Rahmad Darmawan, said that Mickaël was only limited to training with the team. However, the midfielder from New Caledonia might stay with the team depending on his performance in the training sessions.

Madura United are currently in the eighth position in Liga 1 – the first tier of Indonesian football – with four points in three matches. You can check the current league standings by clicking here.

Fiji: Nadroga one step closer from Vodafone Premier League

Nadroga are living a wonderful season in Vodafone Senior League – the second tier of Fijian football – as they are still unbeaten in the season with five wins and one draw in six matches. The team led by powerful players like Osea Vakatalesau and Paulo Buke is focused on being promoted to Premier League.

The 2-1 win over Tavua this Sunday was very important for Nadroga as they virtually clinched a spot in Senior League’s final. Currently leading the Viti Levu Zone with sixteen points, only a disaster could take them away from this final.

Nadroga still have to play two more matches until the end of the regular season against Rakiraki and Tailevu Naitasiri. You can check the current Vodafone Senior League standings and results by clicking here.

Telekom S-League: Raphael Le’ai brace gives win for Eels against Warriors as Real Kakamora beats Marist

The Sunday of football in Solomon Islands was thrilling for the local fans – the Lawson Tama Stadium was full of supporters for the most important match so far of the Telekom S-League season and a very interesting clash between Real Kakamora and Marist – but certainly, the fans were eager to see the clash of titants between Henderson Eels and the current national champions Solomon Warriors.

Adrian Mara continued his amazing goalscoring for Real Kakamora as the striker scored the winner for his side in the second half against Marist. But Kakamora had to fight as Bobby Lesley opened the scoreline for Marist in the first half, but still before the half time break Paul Hiri equalised for Kakamora. With this important win Kakamora jumped to the sixth place leaving Marist just behind at the seventh.

In the most important match of the day the bright of the 17-year-old diamond Raphael Le’ai had shone even brigther as the striker scored both goals in the very important win of his Henderson Eels against Solomon Warriors.

Le’ai opened the account in the first minutes of the match to give an early lead for Eels, but still in the first half Warriors managed to equalise through a well-taken penalty kick by the experienced Judd Molea – unfortunately for Eels and the midfielder Arnold Maeluma that tried to clear a ball inside the penalty box with a bicycle kick but the ball ended up touching his arm to gift Warriors a clear penalty opportunity.

But in the second half Eels managed to find a winner; this time Warriors gifted a penalty for their opponents after a clear foul inside the box. Raphael Le’ai stepped up and made no mistake with a strong kick giving no chances for Warriors’ stopper Abraham Bird.

Eels managed to control the game until the final whistle to confirm a very important win in the process. Now the men commanded by Eddie Marahare are five points ahead Warriors in the table – continuing as the first-placed side in the run. Warriors played five matches in the season so far while Eels played six, giving the current champions a great chance to reduce the point difference to Eels if they are able to win their match that is still to be played.

You can see the current table, results and top scorers for the Telekom S-League 2020 season by visiting the competition’s session in our site.

Sairusi Nalaubu: the new Vodafone Premier League top scorer

Sairusi Nalaubu is being a key man for the Capital City Boys in their run at the Fijian Vodafone Premier League. All the last seven goals scored by Suva in the national league were scored by the same man: Nalaubu – he is the man of the moment of Fijian football.

Nalaubu is not playing well only for his side at the Vodafone Premier League, the striker was also Suva’s top goalscorer in the recent Battle of Giants tournament held in Lautoka where his side ended up beaten by Rewa in the grand final match.

The only 23-year-old player is now the top scorer of the Vodafone Premier League as he scored in Suva’s latest match against Lautoka. Despite his goal, Suva was not able to win Lautoka at ANZ Stadium, but the team returned to the second-place in the national league with the point earned from this match – but now they are four points away the top-tabled Rewa.

With his goal Nalaubu surpassed Avinesh Suwamy in the ‘Golden Boot’ race with only more four games remaining in the season. If the striker can continue his fantastic the golden boot will be consequence – and certainly getting the attention of Fiji national team Flemming Serritslev for a possible call up in a near future.