Oceania Football Center

Telekom S-League: Laugu hits five past Real Kakamora as debutants stun Malaita Kingz

The Sunday of football was full of emotions for the Solomon Islanders as the Telekom S-League first matchweek continued. Two matches entertained the fans at Lawson Tama Stadium – six goals were scored in total, being Laugu United responsible for five of them.

The first match of day saw the debutants Central Coast take on Malaita Kingz. A match with no much opportunities created in the first forty-five minutes of action, but it was in the second half the impressive 20-year-old Junior Fordney scored the winner for the newcomers Central Coast with a clinical finish just past opposition’s goalkeeper. Central Coast counts on various young talented players, such as Philip Ropa, William Komasi, Densly Geseni and Javin Wae – as well the team captain is Solomon Islands national team goalkeeper Phillip Mango. The first match of CCFC history in Telekom S-League was already an impressive win over Kingz.

Junior Fordney celebrates his goal – *CCFC Media*

The second match of the day saw the stellar squad of Laugu United took on the good side of Real Kakamora. Despite counting on interesting players such as Joel Nanago, Kakamora was unable to hold the firepower of star player Gagame Feni and his attacking partner Mathias Iani. The first goal for Laugu was an own goal that Joachim Rande unfortunately put it to his own nets – minutes later Feni made a great play and assisted to Iani score his first in the clash.

In the second half, Mathias Iani secured his brace at the 61th minute of play as four minutes later Gagame Feni scored his first goal as Laugu United player. Feni also added another to his tally at the 71th minute of play to finish the account for Laugu – an emphatic 5-0 win over Real Kakamora in the team’s season opener.

Gagame Feni celebrates his goal – *S-League Media*

Gagame’s brother Matson Feni was sent-off in the 80th of play to reduce Laugu to 10-men. Despite the numerical advantage, Kakamora was unable to create serious goal scoring chances to reduce the margin as the game finish 5-0 in favour of Laugu United.

The completion of Telekom S-League first round of matches will be on Wednesday (12th Wed) when Marist will take on debutants Honiara City to finish the five matches of the round. Current champions Solomon Warriors are on bye this week as they will debut in the season in the next weekend.

Is Labasa missing Dennis Ifunaoa?

Labasa is definitively not performing as they had done in the past season – when they clinched Battle of Giants and Inter-District Championship titles. This year, Labasa is underperforming in Vodafone Premier League and is already knocked-out of BOG as they could not win any of its matches in the group stage of the traditional tournament.

Some Labasa fans are asking questions: what is missing for the Babasiga Lions? The question might be simple and direct: Dennis Ifunaoa. The Solomon Islands star departed from Labasa in the beginning of the season to join Solomon Islands’ giants Solomon Warriors where he helped the team to qualify for OFC Champions League knock-out stage.

This season, without Ifunaoa, Labasa is depending a lot on Siotame Kubu in attack, while his possible replacement Ratu Anare started well the season with a brace to win Champion vs Champion series against Ba, but since then the player is still to score.

Ifunaoa was one of the biggest responsibles of the Inter-District Championship title in 2019, scoring a very beautiful goal in the final match. The Solomon Islander stated that he was approached recently by Labasa’s management to return to the club, but the COVID-19 situation is still a barrier and he is likely to stay in his country in order to compete in OFC Champions League quarter-finals.

Certain Labasa supporters are already mentioning how important the Solomon Islander was for the team and wishing his return to the Lions. If it happens, sooner of later, would be certainly a major boost for the team coached by Ronil Lal.

Legendary midfielder Avinesh Suwamy scores a hattrick as Nadi surpasses Lautoka

Nadi surpassed Lautoka in the final match of Battle of Giants group stage; star Avinesh Suwamy scored three goals to help his side to confirm three wins in three matches played in the tournament. Sumway scored rapidly in the first two goals to put Jetsetters in advantage – the 2-0 in favour of Nadi was the final result of the first half.

In the second half, Merrill Nand reduced the scoreline for Lautoka that aimed to give some pride to its fans depite being aready eliminated from the tournament. Shivam Naidu scored another for Lautoka, but Suwamy still managed to score a third goal for Nadi to complete his hattrick in a fantastic performance.

Nadi qualified for the semifinals being the best campaign in the tournament, while hosts Lautoka stood at the bottom of the Group B.

Suva beats Ba as both teams advance to Battle of the Giants semi-finals

After a bad start in the 2020 Battle of the Giants, Suva surprisingly arrived in the last round with a chance to advance to semi-finals and Labasa’s draw against Nasinu kept the chances open so the Capital City Boys would qualify for the next stage of the tournament if they beat Ba.

In a very tough match, Suva managed to overcome Ba to win by 1-0 with a goal scored by Sairusi Nalaubu. With this result, Ba and Suva are the two teams from Group A that advanced to the semi-finals while Labasa and Nasinu were knocked out of the tournament.

Ba and Suva are now waiting for the end of Group B in order to know their opponents in the semi-finals. You can check more information about the tournament by clicking here.

Rewa smashes Navua to advance to Battle of the Giants semi-finals

Navua and Rewa clashed at Churchill Park in Lautoka in the final day of 2020 Battle of the Giants’ group stage. Both teams were tied in the second position of the Group B with three points each and the winner of this contest would advance to the semi-finals.

Current Vodafone Premier League leaders Rewa showed their power and smashed Navua by 3-0. Anish Khem opened the scoreboard for the Delta Tigers in the 23rd minute while youngster Josaia Sela extended the lead in the final minutes of the first half. The third and last goal was scored by Tevita Waranaivalu in the second half.

Rewa advanced to 2020 Battle of the Giants semi-finals – *Fiji FA Media*

Rewa and Nadi are the two teams that advanced from Group B. However the Delta Tigers still can finish the group stage in the first position if Nadi loses to Lautoka. You can see more information about the tournament by clicking here.

Barrie Limoki leads Kossa in the opening match of Telekom S-League

The 2020 Telekom S-League season kicked-off on this Saturday as two matches were contested at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara. The opening match was contested by Kossa FC and Southern United and a young player was the name of the match: Barrie Limoki.

Limoki is a 16-year-old striker that was part of Solomon Islands squad that travelled to Brazil to play the FIFA U17 World Cup last year. He scored two goals for Kossa FC in the 3-2 win over Southern United. His amazing performance in the first match of the season shows that he can be a candidate to win the Golden Boot Award this season tournament.

Limoki scored a brace in Telekom S-League season opener – *S League Media*

The young forward was set to join his countryman Alden Suri in New Zealand to study and play for Scots College – a college that is linked to Wellington Phoenix Academy. However Limoki was not able to travel to New Zealand due to border restrictions caused by COVID-19 pandemics.

The second match of the opening day was contested by Henderson Eels and Isabel United and Eels won by 5-1. You can check more information about the opening day of Telekom S-League season by clicking here.

Reigning champions Labasa knocked out of BOG as they drew against Nasinu

The last day of 2020 Battle of the Giants’ group stage started with a clash between Labasa and Nasinu at Churchill Park in Lautoka. Both teams did not have a good performance which is understandable because most players were playing for the third time in three days.

Ilisoni Lolaivalu opened the scoreboard for Labasa in the 19th minute to give hope to Babasiga Lions’ fans. However it was not enough as Jasnit Vikash equalized for Nasinu in the second half from the penalty spot after a foul inside the box committed by Labasa’s goalkeeper Akuila Mateisuva.

Labasa is knocked out of 2020 Battle of the Giants – *Fiji FA Media*

Labasa finished the 2020 Battle of the Giants with three points in three matches while Nasinu still has possibilities to advance to the semi-finals if Suva does not win Ba. You can see more information about the tournament by clicking here.

Lautoka is out of Battle of Giants’ semifinals

Despite still having one match to be played in the Group A of the 2020 edition of the Battle of Giants, Lautoka is already eliminated from the Battle of Giants – the two defeats the club had against Rewa and Navua let them with no chances to proceed.

The first match of the team coached by Ravinesh Kumar was against the strong Rewa side – a defeat was an acceptable result due the quality of its opponent. Lautoka was expected a good performance and a comfortable win against the bottom ranked team in Vodafone Premier League Navua; indeed the outcome was totally different as Navua recorded a famous win over Lautoka by 3-1 to eliminate the Blues.

Lautoka could not hold the quality of Setareki Hughes in its first match and was stunned by the strong performance of Navua. For the fans it was certainly something hard to accept: Lautoka hosted the Battle of Giants, thousands of supporters left their homes to cheer for its team at Churchill Park, but certainly they were very dissapointed with Lautoka’s performance.

Lautoka first eleven before the match against Navua – *FFA Media*

Now, the Blues will play their final match against Nadi in the competition seeking for some pride for its fans. The team will certainly turn it focus soon to Vodafone Premier League – where they seek for a position in the top of the table.

Antonio Tuivuna available for Labasa in decisive match against Nasinu

The ‘2019 Fiji FA Player of the Year’ Antonio Tuivuna will be available for the coach Ronil Lal in the decisive clash in Group A of 2020 Battle of Giants. Labasa draw their both matches so far in the tournament against Suva and Ba and will have a very important clash against Nasinu to decide which of the sides will proceed to the next stage.

Nasinu with their 3-1 win over Suva put themselves in a good position to qualify – even a draw might be enough for them. Labasa needs a win if they want to proceed as Ba is very close to secure their spot in the semifinals of the tournament. Labasa depends only of its efforts to qualify and counting on a player of Tuivuna’s caliber can be certainly a turning point for the Lions.

The 25-year-old star player was suspended for the starting two matches of Labasa in BOG due a direct red card received against Ba in Labasa’s most recent match in Vodafone Premier League. The incident was around much controversy on social media, but the fact is that Tuivuna was not available against Suva and Ba in Battle of Giants, but now he is ready to contribute in the final group match at Churchill Park.

Gagame Feni: the new star of Laugu United

The 2020 Telekom S-League kicked-off on this Saturday and people expect that this is going to be the best ever season of the major football league from Solomon Islands. Moreover it is the first time that eleven teams will fight for the title in the tournament.

Laugu United is surely one of the teams that people must look at. After a decent 2019-20 season, Laugu is even stronger for this season as they signed with Atkin Kaua, Gagame Feni and Jared Rongosulia who decided to join the club as they can not leave the country due to border restrictions caused by COVID-19.

Kaua and Rongosulia were playing for Nasinu from Fiji while Gagame Feni was playing for Galaxy FC from Vanuatu before the pandemics: “I decided to play for Laugu United because I would not be able to leave Solomon Islands to play for Galaxy,” said Feni.

Laugu is a traditional team in the country but they spent many years out of the league until returning to S-League last year. Now Feni and his teammates have the challenge to take the club to a higher level, but the 27-year-old forward knows that it will not be easy: “It is going to be an exciting season and I hope we can perform well in this Telekom S-League. The level of the league is higher now with eleven teams,” he said – “But I know we can compete against the top teams and I hope we can finish in the top two to get a spot in the next OFC Champions League,” he added.

The first match of Laugu United in the current Telekom S-League season will be against Real Kakamora on this Sunday at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara. You can check the schedule the league’s first matchweek by clicking here.