The 2020 edition of the Battle of Giants approaches its final moments – the 3rd/4th playoff match and the grand final battle will be played this Sunday (16th Aug) to give the final results for the competition in Lautoka.
While Ba takes on Nadi to decide the who gets the 3rd place from the tournament, the major match of the day will see Rewa challenging Suva for glory. After 120 minutes of football for both sides in the semi-final stage, certainly the final will be full of emotions for the fans at Churchil Park. Rewa vs. Suva is one the oldest rivalries in Pacific football dating back 92 years – both clubs were formed in 1928.
Rewa and Suva will contest for the title in Lautoka – Fiji FA Media
Rewa will not be counting on the young talented Josaia Sela that suffered a serious injury just in the moment he scored the first goal for his side against Ba in the semi-final when coliding with goalkeeper Isikeli Sevanaia.
A defensive mix-up was the difference between Hekari United and Lae City on Saturday in Port Moresby, as a Jacob Sabua goal was enough for the five-time reigning champions to pull away from their biggest rivals at the top of the Papua New Guinea National Soccer League.
In the meantime, Vitiaz United kept the pressure on league leaders Lae with a 3-0 victory over Morobe Wawens, with ex-Lae City striker Mathew David scoring a hat-trick.
But it was the Hekari-Lae match which had fans watering at the mouth, as the two teams who between them have shared every single National Soccer League title since the competition’s inception went head-to-head for the second time this season. The sides met in Lae back in March with the points shared after a 1-1 draw; this time, the reigning champions were able to get over the line.
Despite Raymond Gunemba and Nigel Dabinyababeing cleared to play ahead of the clash and starting the game, Hekari coach Erickson Komeng selected an unusual backline, with Samoan Vito Laloata – who usually plays as a striker – featuring in defence alongside the only other foreigner left in the Hekari squad, right-back Junior David. But after just five minutes, Kamake’s gameplan was undone, as David and Laloata failed to clear a ball from the penalty area, and Jacob Sabua was there to smash home from just inside the penalty box.
Jacob Sabua scored Lae City’s winning goal against Hekari United
For the majority of the rest of the second half, the teams cancelled each other out, with Gunemba and Dabinyaba failing to truly link up with pacy forward Kolu Kepo for Hekari, and Lae dominating the midfield but not creating many clear cut chances on goal. Lae’s Emmanuel Simon looked particularly good as always in the Lae midfield, while Lae’s flowing forward line at times was spearheaded by Ecuadorian Abdias Aguirre, new recruit Stahl Gubag, and goalscorer Sabua – although the lack of a real out-and-out goal threat meant that they probably should have scored more than just the one goal.
Where Lae lack in attack, though, they make up in defence, with brothers Alwin and Felix Komolong looking remarkably assured on the ball and limiting Hekari to half-chances and long shots for the majority of the second half, allowing the league leaders to hold on to a clean sheet and, most importantly, a single-goal victory.
So, a disappointing weekend for Hekari United, compounded further by how comfortable Vitiaz United found their victory over Morobe Wawens earlier in the afternoon in the capital. Mathew David, who moved to Vitiaz United during the mid-season transfer window, scored a marvellous hat-trick to bring his goal tally for his new club to five in three games, and with Wawens unable to find an answer, Vitiaz join Lae at the top of the division, three points ahead of Hekari in third.
Vitiaz United’s starting eleven against Morobe Wawens
In the first match of the day in Port Moresby, Star Mountain continued their remarkable resurgence in the second half of the season with a 3-1 victory over FC Bougainville. Star Mountain now have seven points from their last three games – two more than they achieved in the entire first half of the season. The Tabubil-based side enjoyed two goals from free transfer Riggie Togubai, who most recently was playing for University in the Port Moresby Premier Division, and one from veteran striker Tau Winnie, who took his season tally to four. Bougainville’s Robert Kenake scored a late consolation for the visitors.
Star Mountain’s victory takes them to sixth in the table, just six points off the playoffs; and on current form, that doesn’t look very far away.
That’s because both sides ahead of them seem to have lost their mojo since the resumption of play following the coronavirus outbreak. Tusbab Stallions, in fourth, hosted Morobe United this week expecting a win – especially given the return of key youngster Ricky Wadunah in the midfield and Papalau Awele up front. However, Morobe United, who had looked bereft of form recently, having not won a game since January, came up with a shock win, with goals coming from Alex Kamen and Bruce Tiampo, despite Oswald Bade’s equaliser from the bench for the Stallions.
Meanwhile, Gulf Komara, in fifth, also lost in Lae this week, having travelled there to face FC Kutubu. In a goal fest, Komara’s Kenneth Arah scored a hat-trick from the bench but still ended up on the losing side, with Oberth Simon‘s brace and goals from Aisome Kila and Karesa Morris giving Kutubu a 4-3 victory – a result which still fails to lift them off the foot of the table.
The race for the final playoff spot, then, is very much still on, with Stallions five ahead of nearest rivals Gulf Komara, but with just three points separating Komara in fifth and Kutubu in tenth. With both Tusbab and Komara struggling for form, the resurgence from the sides beneath them could and should be worrying them.
The current standings with six games to play.
Next weekend, the top three are all at home as Lae take on Bougainville in Lae, while Vitiaz host Tusbab Stallions in Port Moresby and Kutubu travel to face Hekari in the capital. Gulf Komara host Morobe United in POM, while Morobe Wawens take on Star Mountain in Lae.
Results:
Star Mountain 3-1 FC Bougainville FC Kutubu 4-3 Gulf Komara Vitiaz United 3-0 Morobe Wawens Tusbab Stallions 1-2 Morobe United Hekari United 0-1 Lae City
This Saturday was a huge day for Rewa fans as the Delta Tigers reached Battle of the Giants’ final after beating Ba in the shootout. However this day was just not perfect for one reason: the serious injury of the talented Josaia Sela.
Sela opened the scoreboard for Rewa in the 35th minute when he found the net from a right-footed shot. However the 17-year-old forward could not celebrate the goal because he got injured at the same time that thousands of people celebrated the goal scored by him. Ba’s goalkeeper Isikeli Sevanaia collided with Sela and the youngster player from Rewa ended up breaking his leg in the play.
His injury caused a stir on social media as people started to blame Sevanaia began to accuse Sevanaia for having purposely injured his opponent – which is a great fallacy. First of all it is important to point that Ba’s goalkeeper was reckless in his move once he should have tried to catch the ball with his arms, and not with his legs.
Sevanaia (left) and Sela (right)
It is clear that Sevanaia collided with his opponent because he was trying to reach the ball but he arrived late and the outcome of this move was a terrible injury that nobody wanted to see. People were shocked with Sela’s broken leg but we can not say that Sevanaia had the intention to injury his opponent.
Oceania Football Center wish a fast recovery to Josaia who is one of the most talented footballers from Fiji. We can not wait to see him back to the pitch to show his talent.
Suva did not have a good start in 2020 Battle of the Giants as thy edid not win in their first two matches. However the Capital City Boys managed to bounce back to reach the final of the tournament against Rewa.
The team from Fiji’s capital was very close from being knocked-out of the tournament in the first stage but a goal scored by Sairusi Nalaubu in the last match of the Group A against Ba placed Suva in the semi-finals.
It seems that Nalaubu was born to play in the Battle of the Giants. The 23-year-old forward shone once again when he opened the scoreboard for Suva against Nadi in the semi-finals by heading the ball into the net after a a marvelous cross from the right wing by Filipe Baravilala.
Nalaubu playing for Suva – Fiji FA Media
With two goals scored in the tournament, Nalaubu still has the possibility to win Battle of the Giants’ Golden Boot for the second straight year as he is just one goal behind current top scorers. Regardless of scoring goals or not, he must be focused on helping his team to clinch the title.
Suva have the opportunity to win Battle of the Giants for the fourth time in the history. They last won the tournament in 1995 and winning this edition would be special for the Capital City Boys because they are going to face their biggest rivals in the final.
The final clash between Suva and Rewa is scheduled to kick-off at 3pm in Lautoka. You can check more information about the tournament by clicking here.
The first football champions of the year are finally known in Samoa as the youth leagues are finishing in Upolu – the most important island of the country.
Lupe o le Soaga were crowned as U19 Champions after beating Vaipuna by 3-1 in the final clash while Moata’a clinched the U17 League’s title by beating Faleasiu in the shootout: “I am really proud of them tonight, I just don’t know what to say. It’s been a tough 10 weeks for them but they did it,” said Paul Scanlan – the head coach of Moata’a – to Samoa Observer.
U19 Lupe o le Soaga (left) and U17 Moata’a (right)
Premier Men’s League – the major football league from Upolu is scheduled to kick-off on Tuesday and many players from U19 and U17 squads will also play the senior tournament including Lupe o le Soaga’s youngster Oscar Anto from Ghana.
You can check more information about the U17 League and U19 League by clicking in the league’s name.
The start of the second round of football in Solomon Islands’ national league had 11 goals scored in two matches played this Saturday (15th Aug); the most interesting match of the weekend was set to be Laugu United against Henderson Eels, but the outcome of the clash was surprising for all fans of football in Solomon Islands: 7-0 in favour of Eels.
The first goal of the match was just scored by Joses Nawo at the 43th minute of play after a blunder from Laugu’s goalkeeper that saw Nawo succesfully lob him to score his first and the first of his team. The talented Raphael Lea’i added another in the injury time for Eels to make a 2-0 scoreline just before the half time break.
The second half was remarkable for Eels’ fans – and a nightmare for Laugu United. Despite counting on star players such as Atkin Kaua and Gagame Feni, Laugu suffered five goals in 45 minutes to be hammered in their second match in the Telekom S-League season. The show started again with Joses Nawo that hit two goals in a space of six minutes to complete his hattrick – Lea’i added another to his tally at the 68th minute of play as in the final moments of the game Tutizama Tanito scored the 6th goal for his team and Joses Nawo in a great day scored his fourth and 7th goal for Eels. A remarkable win to show the power of Henderson Eels.
Eels celebrating one of their goals – S-League Media
In the second match of the day, the debutans Central Coast FC took on the traditional Real Kakamora to finish the two-legged Saturday of football in Honiara. The first 20 minutes of game were full action as Atana Fa’arodo received the ball from Junior Fordney to put Central Coast upfront – 10 minutes later Adrian Mara equalised for Real Kakamora to put his team back to the game.
We would have more goals only in the second half; Chris Hatarau completed the comeback for Kakamora to put his team upfront at the 55th minute of play. When it seemeed Kakamora was going to recover from their 5-0 harsh defeat to Laugu in the first round with a win, the young defender William Komasi equalised the match once again for CCFC at the 87th minute of play – a very celebrated goal that gave one more point in the table for his side. Now, Kakamora got one point from their two games as Central Coast has one win and one draw (4 points) – a very interesting start for the debutants in the Telekom S-League.
Mara (black with the ball) scored for Kakamora in the match – Danzo Photography
More two games will be played this Sunday (16th Aug) to continue the weekend of football in Honiara. Both matches will be livestramed by S-League official account on Facebook.
The Capital City Boys celebrated a very important win againt Nadi to seal a spot in the grand final match of Battle of Giants. The team coached by Babs Khan needed extra-time to complete a fashion comeback over the Jetsetters as they will now looking to finish their 25-year drought of Battle of Giants titles.
Both sides went goalless to the half-time break, but the second half was full of emtions for the fans at Churchill Park. In the 59th minute of play, the star striker Rusiate Matarerega put Nadi upfront for the joy of the fans of the Green Machine.
Matarerega (green) scored for Nadi – City Star
Suva continued to seek for an equaliser, but their fans had to wait until the dying moments of the game to celebrate a very important goal: at the 85th minute of play, midfielder Ravnesh Karan Singh was found free in the box to put the ball in the back of the net with a strong finish.
As the other semi-final in the day, Nadi and Suva headed for the extra-time to decide which side would take on Rewa in the final this Sunday – but, unfortunately for the Nadi fans and for the bliss of Suva supporters we did not need to go to the penalty shootout as Rewa and Ba previously needed.
The 2019 Battle of Giants top scorer Sairusi Nalaubu was there to decide once again the match in favour of his team: at the 9th minute into the extra-time, the striker scored the winning goal for Suva to give them a berth at the grand final match to contest for the major glory of the tournament.
The team led by Avinesh Suwamy could not answer in time the goal conceded and will end up playing Ba in the 3rd/4th playoff match before the big game of the weekend that will have two very good sides: Rewa and Suva.
Ba and Rewa starred a wonderful match on this Saturday at Churchill Park in Lautoka in the 2020 Battle of the Giants’ semi-finals. Rewa were the favourites to win but it does not mean that it was an easy match for them.
Rising star Josaia Sela opened the scoreboard for Rewa in the 34th minute but sustained a serious leg injury in the process and was stretchered off the field. Setareki Hughes extended the lead for the Delta Tigers eight minutes later with a shot from the left to take the 2-0 lead to the second half.
Ba fought hard and Narendra Rao found the net in the 69th minute after a nice play by Abbu Zahid to bring the goal difference to one. The Men in Black kept working hard inside the pitch but things are not going well until the stoppage time when Abbu Zahid headed the ball into the net in the 92nd minute to take the match to the extra-time. You can check all four goals scored in the regular time by clicking here.
Rewa players celebrating Setareki Hughes’ goal – Fiji FA Media
In the extra-time Ba were reduced to ten players as Manasa Nawakula saw the red card but the Men in Black managed to keep themselves alive in the contest and the spot in the tournament’s final was decided in the penalties and Rewa had better luck as they won by 8-7 in the shootout to book a spot in the final.
Rewa will fight for their ninth Battle of the Giants’ title tomorrow against Nadi or Suva. You can check more information about the tournament by clicking here.
The most important football match of the season in Papua New Guinea is set to take place in Port Moresby as the top-teams Lae City and Hekari United play at PNG Football Stadium. Lae City comes from a very strong win against Gulf Komara by 5-0 while Hekari also won, but for 2-0 against Boungainville in both sides last matches in the national league.
Gunemba and Dabinyaba of Hekari – Sabua and Simon of Lae City
PNG National Soccer League has three teams tied at the top of the table: Lae City and Hekari are two of them alongside Vitiaz United – a situation that adds even more importance for this clash.
Gunemba and Dabinyaba will be looking for revenge against their former team as they said, recently, they were hummiliated by their treatment after leaving the club. But, certainly, the strong defense of Lae now led by Alwin Komolong will not make their life easy in this very important match.
The match is set to be livestreamed by PNGFA Facebook Page to start at 3pm local time.
One of the most important players from Central Coast FC, rising star Javin Wae is confirmed in the squadlist for today’s match against Real Kakamora after getting injured in the opening matchweek of 2020 Telekom S-League.
Javin was in Central’s starting eleven n the 1-0 win against Malaita Kingz but he was forced to leave the pitch in the 74th minute due to an ankle injury. It is not known if he is going to be in the starting eleven today but the 18-year-old defender is available to play if the head coach wants to count on him.
Javin Wae (right) got injured last week – S-League Media
The clash between Central Coast FC and Real Kakamora is scheduled to kick-off in a few hours at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara – the capital of Solomon Islands. This match is going to be livestreamed by S-League on their Facebook page.
Oceania Football Center 