Oceania Football Center

Telekom: S-League Laugu and Eels ready to clash as Kossa and Central Coast aim the top

After an exciting opening week, the 2020 Telekom S-League reaches its second matchweek as five games will be contested from Saturday to Wednesday at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara – the capital of Solomon Islands.

The first match of the weekend will be contested between Laugu United and Henderson Eels. Both teams thrashed their opponents in the opening round and now they are going to fight for another win to remain unbeaten in the league. While Henderson Eels will count on a powerful squad led by youngster Raphael Lea’i, Laugu United can rely on the talent of some top players like Atkin Kaua and Gagame Feni. The bad news for Laugu is that Matson Feni will miss the match after being red carded in the opening match against Real Kakamora.

Central Coast and Real Kakamora are the other teams that are coming to the pitch on this Saturday. While Real Kakamora are trying to recover from a heavy loss against Henderson Eels, newcomers Central Coast count on young players like Javin Wae, Philip Ropa, Densly Geseni and Junior Fordney to win again in order to remain unbeaten in the tournament.

Lea’i, Limoki, Fordney and Feni – four players that shone in Telekom S-League’s opening round

Two other matches are going to take place on Sunday. After losing in the opening round, Southern United and Malaita Kingz need to win and both teams will play all-out in an interesting clash. Despite the loss, newcomers Southern United performed in a good level against Kossa FC while Malaita Kingz had a poor game against Central Coast.

Another team that will play on Sunday is Kossa that have beaten Southern United by 3-2 in the last matchweek with two goals scored by youngster Barrie Limoki. The team coached by Fred Osifelo is going to have an interesting clash against debutants Honiara City that are looking for their first win in the league’s history.

The fifth and last match of this round will be contested by current league champions Solomon Warriors and Marist FC. After resting in the opening matchweek due to a bye week, Warriors rely on a strong squad led by Vanuatu international John Alick to beat the young Marist squad whose captain is defender John Aeta.

Isabel United will not play in this matchweek as they are having a bye week. All five matches will be livestreamed by S-League on their official page on Facebook. You can check the current standings of the season by clicking here.

Midland Football League: an amazing football project from Solomon Islands

The benefit that sport provides to society is almost incalculable. Social inclusion and the countless benefits that physical activities bring to human health are some items that make sport an important role in society.

At a time when violence has become commonplace in society in general, sport plays an important role in social inclusion. By taking children and adolescents off the streets, he helps prevent and combat drugs and violence, contributing to the promotion of public security.

The transformative power of sport has led several companies to adopt it as a way to improve the performance and health of employees, as it has been scientifically proven that physical activities develop self-esteem and, consequently, work performance.

In addition to social inclusion, sport provides numerous benefits to human health. Acting in the prevention of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and several other diseases, the sport gains space and interest in medicine.

Having all these points in mind, the Midland Football League (Solomon Islands) was created in 2014 with two main goals: promoting football in Auki – the biggest city in Malaita Province – and reducing the incidence of negative behavior in local youth. The current season is being contested by thirteen teams from the region.

Despite the good intentions, the project still face some problems like the lack of sponsorship. According to Midland Football League’s (MFL) president Paul Kabolo there top teams will be awarded with prizes, but they still need the help of local companies and business houses to award all prizes. You can see an official letter from MFL board asking for sponsorship by clicking here.

Oceania Football Center congratulates Paul Kabolo and all MFL’s board for the initiative we look forward to keep up with the next steps of this local football league from Solomon Islands.

Suva in trouble for Battle of the Giants’ clash against Nadi

After a bad start in the Battle of the Giants, Suva still managed to advance to the semi-finals. However the Capital City Boys have to deal with problems for the semi-finals’ clash against Nadi as many players are injured.

According to Suva’s president Ritesh Pratap, midfielder Patrick Taroga got injured against Nasinu and he will miss today’s match. It was also reported that Christopher Wasasala, Iosefo Verevou, Meli Codro, Nickel Chand and Simione Nabenu are injured as well but these players are expected to be available to face Nadi.

The *Capital City Boys* have to deal with some injuries against Nadi – *Fiji FA Media*

Despite all problems, Suva’s management are confident that the team can have a good performance: “For us officials, we have done our part and it is up to the players now on how they will be performing so looking at the player’s body shape and their attitude towards the game, I think definitely we are there,” said Pratap.

The clash between Suva and Nadi is scheduled to kick-off at 4pm at Churchill Park in Lautoka. You can check more information about 2020 Battle of the Giants by clicking here.

Darold Kakasi eager to stop Rewa and take Ba to Battle of the Giants’ final

Current Vodafone Premier League champions, Ba have the chance to win another tournament this weekend: the 2020 Battle of the Giants. However the Men in Black have to beat Rewa in the semi-finals if they want to reach the final contest against Nadi or Suva.

The team coached by Ronil Kumar finished the group stage in the first position of the Group A with four points in three matches and now they need to perform in a better level to reach the final: “It is going to be a very hard match because we will face a good team. Our coach has been working on strategies to stop Rewa during the training sessions,” said Ba’s winger Darold Kakasi.

Kakasi playing for Ba in 2020 Battle of the Giants – *Fiji FA Media*

Kakasi is a regular starter in the team as he was in Ba’s starting eleven in all Battle of the Giants’ matches so far. The 21-year-old player from Solomon Islands also scored one goal in a 7-3 win over Nasinu in the opening day of the tournament, but he knows that football is a team sport “We need to stay together and play as a unity during the whole match if we want to win,” he pointed

It is already known that 17-year-old goalkeeper Isikeli Sevanaia will be in Ba’s starting eleven as Misiwani Nairube remains injured while forward Saula Waqa was suspended for three years after being caught in a drug test. The clash between Ba and Rewa is scheduled to kick-off at 2pm at Churchill Park in Lautoka.

Suva and Nadi looking to finish 20-year drought in decisive BOG weekend

The coming weekend in Lautoka will be certainly one of the top moments so far in the season of football in Fiji. While Ba will be seeking for 18th title in history of the Battle of Giants, their opponents in the semi-final, Rewa, will be looking to celebrate their 9th ever title. Ba’s last title of Battle of Giants was in 2018 while Rewa got their last BOG‘s trophy in 2017.

Suva, from all the four semi-finalists, is the district that has the longest wait to get a BOG title: 25 years. Since their 2-1 win over Navua in 1995, the Capital City Boys have no idea what it is like to celebrate a Battle of Giants win. There are not much differences between Suva and their opponents in the other semi-final of the 2020 Battle of Giants – Nadi is waiting to celebrate another BOG victory since 1996 when they surpassed Tavua by 3-1, a 24-year drought for the Jetsetters.

Combined, Nadi and Suva are in a 49-year drought of Battle of Giants title – *Fiji FA Media*

There is a guarantee: Suva or Nadi will be in the grand final of the tournament on Sunday as they met in one of the semi-finals, it means only one of them will to able to have a chance to finish their long wait to celebrate again one of the most important titles of Fijian football.

Alwin Hou returns to Solomon Warriors expecting an instant impact

The current title holders of the Telekom S-League are set to make their debut only on the next Wednesday (19th Aug), but the Solomon Warriors are already preparing for the league for a couple of weeks and released their squad for the season recently. Including some well-known names such as Gibson Daudau and Dennis Ifunaoa, another player in the list caugh attention of the fans: Alwin Hou.

The dual international for Solomon Islands – futsal and football – has returned for Solomon Warriors after playing the last Telekom S-League for Kossa and being absent from their 2020 OFC Champions League campaign in the group stage – competition that is on hold due COVID-19 concerns as Solomon Warriors is qualified for the knock-out stage.

Alwin Hou with Solomon Islands national team

Hou played the last edition of the Pacific Games men’s football tournament for Solomon Islands – also taking part of the national team camp in Netherlands as preparation for the tournament. After that, still in 2019, he helped Solomon Islands in futsal to win OFC Futsal Nations Cup and qualitfy his country to the FIFA Futsal World Cup and also was part of the Kooline’s squad that won the first ever edition of the OFC Futsal Champions League.

The midfielder adds even more talent to Warriors’ squad; improving an already very good team that won the last two seasons of the Telekom S-League and granted a spot among the best eight teams in the OFC Champions League in 2020.

Hou has everything what it takes to have an instant impact for Solomon Warriors; the fans might be pleasued to count again on the arguably quality of the still 23-year-old player – an important addition to Warriors and also an important addition for the top-tier football league in Solomon Warriors.

Manasa Nawakula set to make comeback in BOG semi-final

Experienced defender Manasa Nawakula is confirmed back to Ba as the Men in Black head to a massive game this Saturday (15th Aug) against Rewa for 2020 edition of the Battle of Giants. The central defender did not feature in Ba’s group stage campaign where the team coached by Ronil Kumar ended up at the top of the club with one win, one defeat and one draw.

Nawakula is being an important man for Ba since the return of football in Fiji. The defender score three goals from the penalty spot in the Vodafone Premier League – and as the team lost a number of players in the recent transfer window, the player is one of the most experienced member of Ba’s defensive system alongside Ilimotama Jese.

The introduction of Nawakula back to the team was celebrated by Ba’s chairman Raynal Kumar in interview for Fiji FA Media: “We didn’t count on Manasa Nawakula in the group stage, we look forward to have him now,” said Ba’s president.

Ba will certainly have a hard challenge against the good side of Rewa, the current top-tabled side of Vodafone Premier League, this Saturday at Churchill Park in Lautoka. Both sides will be eager to take a spot in the final on Sunday against the winner of the match batween Nadi and Suva.

Mess: the perfect word to describe football in Vanuatu

After eight months the 2019-20 PVFA Premier League will resume… or not. The tenth matchweek of the tournament was scheduled to kick-off today but the league’s resumption was postponed on Tuesday – and it was not reported by any source.

Anyway, four matches are going to be contested this weekend in Port Vila as part of a new tournament that was created from night to day. These four matches are exactly the same four matches that compose the tenth matchweek of PVFA Premier League which means that a league matchweek became the first matchweek of a new tournament.

The reason for the league’s postponement is the VFF National Championship’s kick-off on next weekend. However the biggest problem is that Port Vila Football Association (PVFA) claims that they did not know that this tournament would kick-off this month – that is why PVFA Premier League was scheduled to resume this weekend.

According to reliable sources, PVFA did not send any representative to attend a VFF meeting held earlier this year. It was reported that VFF communicated PVFA about the National Championship but PVFA denies it – a problem that would be easily solved by sending an e-mail.

Vanuatu’s football suffers amid all this mess. The worst part of it is that the development of the sport slows down due to lack of communication.

Weekend Preview: Hekari and Lae to Clash with Full-Strength Squads

One of the key matches to decide the location of the Papua New Guinea National Soccer League Minor Premiership will take place this weekend in Port Moresby, with eight-time champions Hekari United playing host to five-time reigning champions Lae City.

With the news that Raymond Gunemba and Nigel Dabinyaba are free to play for Hekari United following a fortnight of uncertainty, it should be a mouth-watering clash between two sides at full strength which could go a long way to deciding which two teams will qualify for the 2021 OFC Champions League.

Raymond Gunemba (left) and Nigel Dabinyaba are back in Hekari colours and cleared for Saturday’s game against Lae City.

With the 2020 OFC Champions League yet to be completed, it remains to be seen how qualification for the 2021 edition shakes out, but if it corresponds to previous years, then the top two finishers in the regular season table will qualify for the Champions League, as OFC prioritises league table results ahead of end-of-season playoffs.

Despite such an upheaval during the transfer period and Peter Gunemba’s removal as manager, Lae City came out swinging with a 5-0 victory over Gulf Komara last weekend as the season resumed. With five different goalscorers finding the net, and a clean sheet for the new-look defence containing brothers Alwin and Felix Komolong, it was a dream restart for Bob Morris’ side, but Hekari United are a different beast entirely.

The Red Army has the best defence in the competition, having conceded just six goals in eleven matches so far, and having enjoyed six clean sheets. A back line that includes experience in Koriak Upaiga, Daniel Joe alongside youngblood Carlos Onne and Junior David is expected to be solid, but the loss of Brazilian Erick Joe could be crucial when up against the attacking prowess of Lae City. Can they keep the fluid Lae attack at bay?

Lae’s Jacob Sabua scored an astonishing long-range effort last weekend in Lae’s 5-0 win over Gulf Komara.

Up front, Hekari have ‘struggled’ – by their standards, at least. They have scored 13 fewer goals than Lae so far, and their real issue has been having someone to put the ball in the back of the net. The arrival of Gunemba and Dabinyaba should be the final piece of the puzzle: the pair have 11 goals between them so far this season, while aside from Kolu Kepo (with 6), no-one else at Hekari has more than 3 goals. With the pace of Kepo feeding the flair and skill of Gunemba and Dabinyaba, the Red Army may have just found a potent and lethal combination in front of goal.

It will certainly be an interesting clash, but of course there’s other football to be played this weekend as well. While Hekari and Lae try to damage each other’s title hopes, Vitiaz United will be hoping to regain the lead in the title chase with their match against Morobe Wawens. Vitiaz have home games until the end of the season, so are in an excellent position to retain peak fitness without any long journeys, but Wawens looked good against Morobe United last weekend and can put up a fight on their day. The third game in Port Moresby is Star Mountain’s clash with FC Bougainville – a very intriguing game which will see Bougainville coach Percy Mataio return to his former club.

In Lae, Tusbab Stallions will be hoping to continue their playoff push against Morobe United, who look bang out of form and lacking in real talent. Stallions will retain the services of central midfielder Ricky Wadunah and attacker Papalau Awele, after both were absent last week, and they will be confident of securing victory against an ailing Morobe United side. Meanwhile, FC Kutubu will be looking to build on last week’s draw with Stallions against Gulf Komara, who will be looking to bounce back from their thrashing in Port Moresby last weekend.

Samoa: Men’s Premier League set to kick-off next week

The major football league from Samoa is ready to kick-off! Football Federation Samoa (FFS) announced that Men’s Premier League will kick-off on August 18. Twelve teams will fight for the title this year – the same clubs in comparison with the last season that was called-off due to a measles outbreak that affected the country.

The opening match will be contested by Vaivase-Tai and Vaitele-Uta at JS Blatter Football Complex in Apia – the capital of the country. Current league champions Lupe o le Soaga will debut on next Thursday against Moata’a while local powerhouse Kiwi FC is going to face Lepea on next Wednesday.

Current league champions Lupe o le Soaga playing in 2020 OFC Champions League – *OFC Media*

You can check the full schedule of the first matchweek of the tournament by clicking here. Oceania Football Center wishes good luck to all involved teams.