He underwent surgery one month after getting injured to repair his knee and begin his rehab – “Surgery went well, and rehab has also been coming along well too. The good thing is that the lockdown gave me more time to rehab and not miss the winter season,” explained Abba.
Abba (right) playing for Napier City Rovers
In fact the lockdown due to COVID-19 really helped him once the ISPS Handa Premiership season was called off and winter football season kick-off was postponed from April to June. The 30-year-old forward also confessed that he spent some time thinking about retire from football due to this injury.
It has been almost five months since Abba underwent surgery but his knee is not fully recovered from the severe injury yet. However he is working hard to stay fit – “I was gaining a bit of weight during the lockdown as I could not train or go for runs. Once we moved to lockdown’s level 3 and I was able to start running I could focus on losing weight quickly,” he said.
Abba (left) played 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership season for Waitakere United
He was in talks to join Forrest Hill Milford for the winter football season before getting injured last December. At this moment he is still some steps away from playing a full match. Despite the caution he keeps his optimism about returning to football – “Being fully recovered on next month is my goal […] I need to work a little more on my knee and fitness,” he pointed.
Playing in New Zealand for over a decade, Abba also dreams about returning to Solomon Islands National Football Team – “If they are interested I will be available,” he stated. The next international challenge of Solomon Islands is not scheduled yet once 2020 OFC Nations Cup was cancelled.
Andrew is willing to return to National Team
Recovering from injury is much more than rest and then exercise. An athlete must have the desire to get well soon otherwise the psychological health goes away. Andrew is being a true warrior fighting day in day out to do what he loves: playing football.
The number of Fijian football players abroad is increasing a lot. The biggest example is legendary forward Roy Krishna who last played for ATK from India. However there are footballers from Fiji in other ends of the world like Scott Wara and Nicho Prasad in Europe and many others in Australia and New Zealand as well.
Son of a Fijian couple, Mudaliar was born in Australia on March 17 2002. The 18-year-old goalkeeper is the current Brisbane Strikers’ starting goalkeeper in the U-20 NPL Queensland, one of the biggest U-20 leagues in Australia. He is also an option in the main squad as he is always called up for senior matches as a back-up for starting keeper Brendan Wright.
The Strikers hold a partnership with Spanish top-tier club Leganés since February. The main purpose of this association is identifying and nurturing talented Australian players in their Madrid based LaLiga Club so there is an open door in Europe for Mudaliar.
Mudaliar is a promising goalkeeper
Despite being so young, he has the opportunity to train in better conditions and prove his talent in Australia – something that must be noticed by FFA. However it is not known if he would be interested on representing Fiji internationally at this moment.
FFA and National Team head coach Flemming Serritslev must have his young talent in sight. It would be a matter of time to see him playing for Fiji National Team if he accepts to represent his parents’ country.
Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) confirmed today that this year’s OFC U-17 Women’s Championship edition is cancelled due to COVID-19 and New Zealand is qualified for FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup that will be held in India next year.
The Oceanian spot for the next World Cup was given to New Zealand as they are the most successful country in the continental competition’s history. They won all editions of the OFC U-17 Women’s Championship.
New Zealand qualified for 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
It is important to remember that this tournament was scheduled to take place in 2019 but it was postponed due to the measles outbreak. According to the confederation, the next edition of the OFC U-16 Women’s Championship is currently foreseen to bel held in 2021.
In an exclusive interview with Oceania Football Center, 28-year-old central defender Mickael Tiaou revealed that he had left New Caledonia for France – he landed on the European continent at the beginning of the previous week (29 May). The player, who has already represented New Caledonia seven times, was in the squad of AS Magenta in the group phase of the OFC Champions League 2020, where the team won all these two matches against AS Tiare Tahiti and the Solomon Warriors.
Tiaou in 2019 OFC Champions League – Phototek
“I had expected to play the quarter-finals of the OFC Champions League 2020 for AS Magenta and the OFC Nations Cup for New Caledonia, but then Coronavirus happened and changed everything. It is something new, we have to adapt to it,” he said – “I came to France for personal reasons, I think my time in New Caledonian football is over now,” the defender added.
Magenta led OFC Champions League Group C, played in Nouméa, and Tiaou is another player that the New Caledonian powerhouse lost. Earlier this year, key players such as Émile Ounei and Richard Sele moved to AS Tiga and Jean-Philippe Saïko moved to New Zealand to defend the colours of Tasman United.
But football is not over for Tiaou: “I am going to look for a club here in France to continue playing,” the player explained – something that can be a good option for the player to develop his game in a better footballing environment than Oceania.
Mobil Super Ligue – the top tier of New Caledonian football – is still on hold and a new schedule is currently being reviewed by the local football federation and clubs. Magenta won their first game of the season 6-0 against the newly promoted AS Kunié – the only matchweek played in the league before the forced break.
A meeting between Fédération Calédonienne de Football (FCF) and representants of Mobil Super Ligue’s ten teams was held this Thursday in the federation’s headquarter to discuss about the return of the first tier of New Caledonian football.
According to FCF media, clubs would rather a kick-off on 4 July while the federation is more focused on a recovery in August, an option more adapted according to it to this exceptional situation linked to COVID-19. The resumption of the Mobil Super Ligue – the top tier of local football – must take place on August 8 while the end of the championship is scheduled for May 2021.
Football is close to resume in New Caledonia. Source: Alain Vartane
However FCF is really considering clubs’ preference to resume football in July, that is why the federation is put the possibility of an opening cup under study so the teams will have the opportunity to be back to action before August.
The final calendar is likely to be announced in the next week. You can check the current standings of 2020 Mobil Super Ligue by clicking here. Oceania Football Center team will keep an eye on this situation to bring the best information possible for you!
Football in Oceania is very interesting and a bit different. Unlike the rest of the world there is a good amount of footballers also play futsal or beach soccer regularly. It is not so difficult to find a player that represented his nation in two of these sports and there are also a few ones that played internationally in these three sports. However it is not everyday that a 11-a-side player becomes a legend in another modality, but it happened to Solomon Islands international James Naka.
Currently playing for Galaxy FC from Vanuatu, he was ruled out of the team’s final squad for 2020 OFC Champions League so he did not have the opportunity to find the net in this year’s edition. The 35-year-old forward has scored thirteen goals in thie tournament’s history including a goal for Kossa in 2007-08 OFC Champions League final against Waitakere United from New Zealand.
Naka (right) fighting for the ball in 2007-08 OFC Champions League final
His quality on finding the net took him to Solomon Islands National Football Team. He made his official debut in the 2007 Pacific Games in a 12-1 win against American Samoa. Naka has been regularly called-up to represent his countryfor many years and his last international match in 11-a-side football was in 2017.
But Naka’s international experience goes further. In 2006, one year before debuting for Bonitos, he scored six goals and helped Solomon Islands National Beach Soccer Team to win the first ever edition of OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup. And it was just the beginning… Despite having a respectable career in football, Naka still had time to write his name on beach soccer’s history to become a legendary player in Oceania.
In the same year the Bilikiki (Solomon Islands National Beach Soccer Team nickname) went to Brazil to play their first ever FIFA World Cup. He scored the first goal of his nation in a World Cup in the 5-2 win against Cameroon and finished the tournament with six goals scored in three matches.
He still had another opportunity to play in Brazil in the upcoming year in the 2007 FIFA Beach Soocer World Cup. Unfortunately Bilikiki did not win any match, but Naka found the net for four times in the tournament. And after one year he scored eight more goals in Beach Soccer World Cup’s history.
Naka scored 17 goals in FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup’s history
The decade of 2010 also brought him a lot of pride and joy in the sand. He was awarded twice in 2011 OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup: the Golden Boot (award given to the tournament’s top scorer) and the Golden Ball (best player award). Two years later – in 2013 he won the Nations Cup with Solomon Islands once again but Bilikiki’s kingdom in Oceania was getting close to its end as Tahiti became the most powerful nation in Oceanian beach soccer. His last official challenge in the sand was last year in 2019 OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup. He scored twice and helped his homeland to achieve the final, but they lost to Tahiti.
Solomon Islands’ last appearance in FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups was in 2013 but Naka remains as the Oceanian player with most goals scored in the history of this tournament with 17 goals. This record will probably be broken in some years, but Naka will never be forgotten in his country.
Football can create very emotional moments, memories that will live for eternity. In a sport where the best team does not always win, it is really possible to dream – you can achieve results that are theoretically impossible. That is what the 2012 OFC Nations Cup held in Solomon Islands can teach us: Football is unpredictable – that was the moment of To’a Aito, as the Tahiti national football team is known.
In a group where Tahit faced Vanuatu, Samoa and New Caledonia and won all the matches, including a 10-1 win over Samoa, the team then coached by Eddy Etaeta did not have much to fight to lead the group and advance to the semi-finals. In the decisive match against hosts Solomon Islands at Lawson Tama Stadium, the Tahitians’ story was quite different; they had to stop Benjamin Totori if they wanted to continue in the competition. Much to the chagrin of the local fans, Tahiti did their job well to stop the star player and secure a place in the tournament’s grand final by scoring the winning and only goal in the clash through the legendary Jonathan Tehau.
But the real surprise came in the other semi-final, when New Caledonia played New Zealand. The New Caledonians surprised Oceania and the world by winning 2-0 thanks to goals from Bertrand Kaï and Georges Gope-Fenepej, beating so the strongest team in the region. It was a shocking moment for Oceanian football, because something new was about to happen: Neither New Zealand nor Australia would win the OFC Nations Cup for the first time ever – the grand final between Tahiti and New Caledonia would decide who would reap the glory.
An exciting game in Honiara brought together the two francophone forces of Oceania football; players like Georges Gope-Fenepej, Bertrand Kaï and Jacques Haeko were a real threat to the Tahitians. The Tahitians captained by Nicolas Vallar, could count on the Tehau brothers – Alvin, Jonathan and Lorenzo – and the experience of players like the goalkeeper Xavier Samin.
The 10th minute of play marked the decisive goal of the match, Steevy Chong Hue received the ball in the middle of the penalty area and with a strong finish found the nets guarded by Rocky Nyikeine. Despite New Caledonia’s best efforts, the strong front line could not equalise – Tahiti had themselves the best moment in their footballing history, but there was even more to come.
The Tahitians celebrate the winning goal – FIFA
In 2012, Tahiti conquered Oceania, and the following year they suddenly had the chance to taste the best of football when they represented the OFC at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil. The Tahitians were grouped with then reigning world champions Spain, South American champions Uruguay and African representative Nigeria. Players from clubs like AS Dragon and AS Tefana had the chance to play against players like Luis Suárez, Sergio Ramos and Fernando Torres.
The excitement was great, the Brazilian fans welcomed the Tahitians and gave the Oceania champion their best support. Tahiti prepared for the tournament with a period of trainings and friendlies in Chile and then travelled to Brazil, more precisely to the city of Belo Horizonte, where Tahiti would make their debut at a FIFA tournament against Nigeria. Before the big moment of kick-off, the Tahitians also played a few friendly matches against local clubs.
Nigeria, an experienced team counting on players like John Obi Mikel, did not take long to open the scoring charts with an unfortunate own goal from Nicolas Vallar. The Nigerians kept pushing forward, with Nnamdi Oduamadi scoring through a mistake by goalkeeper Xavier Samin and adding another before half-time. The greatest moment in Tahitian football history was just around the corner. You can watch this goal by clicking here.
Jonathan Tehau celebrating
After the break, right on 54th minute of play, the only fully professional player of the Tahitian squad, Marama Vahirua, put a corner to the far post – defender Jonathan Tehau went up and headed the ball to Nigeria’s nets to score Tahiti’s first and only goal of the tournament; an unforgettable moment, all the team came together to celebrate the goal by making the move of Va’a, the Tahitian canoe. This is the reason why Jonathan Tehau turned himself into a Tahitian football legend.
The same Jonathan Tehau scored an own goal later in the game, Tahiti lost 6-1, but the most famous goal was certainly the one scored by the francophones. Tehau and his team made history, but they still had two very important games to play against Spain and Uruguay.
In the iconic Maracanã, Spain had no trouble beating Tahiti 10-0. Steevy Chong Hue, the same man who scored against New Caledonia to secure a place in the FIFA Confederations Cup, had a real chance of scoring against the world champions but failed to reach the ball after a good cross from Teaonui Tehau. Tahiti’s best moment in the game was certainly when Fernando Torres lost a penalty sending it over the crossbar. Unfortunately for the Tahitians, that was the biggest goalscoring advance a team has ever had in a FIFA football tournament.
Mikael Roche (left) celebrating the mistake of Torres
In the final match of Tahiti in Brazil, the South American powerhouse Uruguay also did not have any problems to surpass the defence led by Nicolas Vallar – the 8-0 result reflected the difference of both teams. The FC Barcelona star Luis Suárez came from the bench in the second half to score a brace in favour of his team. At the end of the game, despite the harsh defeat, the Tahitians were the most celebrated by the Brazilian crowd.
Tahiti left the tournament as the team who most conceded goals in the tournament, something that was expected before the start of the competition. The experience these players had in Brazil was crucial for the development of the game back in their home land. Steevy Chong Hue, after FIFA Confederations Cup, earned a possibility of a trial period in French top-tier side FC Lorient; Ranui Aroita, a young member of the Tahitian squad, also had himself a possibility of trials in Brazilian second-tier side América from Minas Gerais.
‘Thank you Brazil’ from the Tahitian players after the final match against Uruguay
Tahiti proved to the world that football is more than winning; the possibility to represent your country at the highest level is something any money can pay. The exposure the team had put Tahiti in the map of football, they came to Brazil to represent their country and also Oceania – they did well.
The continental tournaments in Oceania are currently suspended due to COVID-19 pandemics, including the 2020 OFC Nations Cup that would be the first round of Oceanian Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup.
With OFC Nations Cup cancelled, the Oceania Football Federation must set a new model to be used as 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers that is likely to begin later this year. As part of the preparation for the qualifiers a 30-men list was announced as Tahiti National Team provisional squad and you can check this list by clicking here. Samuel Garcia remains as the head coach and will lead the training sessions.
There are some good names from this list like Terai Bremond, François Hapipi and Abdel Kader Lazreg that are currently playing in France. They will add a lot of power to this team that already counts on good local players like Teaonui Tehau and Tamatoa Tetauira from AS Vénus while 2019-20 Ligue 1 VINI top scorer Sandro Tau is not in the list.
Another name that must be highlighted is Yann Pennequins Le-Bras, a 26-year-old midfielder from France that has been playing in Tahiti for a while.
Tahiti National Team will be training together in the upcoming weeks
While senior World Cup will take place in 2022, FIFA U17 and U20 World Cups are confirmed to be contested next year which means that the Oceanian qualifiers must take place in the upcoming months.
There are two tournaments that are used as qualifying rounds for FIFA World Cups at men’s youth level: the U16 and U19 championships. The football federation from Tahiti (FTF) got ahead and released a 25-men list as their U16 provisional squad. You can check the full list by clicking here.
All U16 players must go to AS Dragon Stadium, from 6 July to 31 July from 8am to 10:30am. Tahiti is a very traditional nation when it comes to youth football in Oceania. They finished 2018 OFC U16 Championship in the third position after losing to New Zealand in the semi-finals.
Today’s Throwback Thursday (TBT) episode will take us to a fateful day that is sadly remembered by humanity: September 11, 2001. No, this TBT is not going to talk about the attacks that killed thousand of people in the United States of America. Keep reading and come with us!
While the whole world was astonished with the biggest terrorist attack of all time, European football fans were pretty excited that day because the 2001-02 UEFA Champions League group stage was about to begin a few hours later in the same day.
It was a special night at Stade de la Beaujoire in France. Nantes FC was back to UEFA Champions League after missing the tournament for five straight seasons. Their previous participation in Europe’s major club football competition was historic, with the team reaching the semi-finals in the 1995/96 season. This night could not be better for Les Canaris, but it was, specially for Tahitian forward Marama Vahirua.
Tahitian Marama Vahirua celebrating a goal for Nantes
Thousands of people went to the stadium to watch the opening clash against 2000-01 Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven and the French crowd was surely happy with the 4-1 win after the final whistle.
However the big story was written by Vahirua in the 75th minute. After a throw-in, Stéphane Ziani crossed from the left and the Tahitian forward found the net to score Nantes’ fourth goal and one of the most important goals of the history of Tahitian football. You can watch the goal in the link below:
Vahirua became the first player from Tahiti to score in the UEFA Champions League history. An amazing accomplishment for him and his homeland. Nantes finished the group stage as Group D leaders, but they did not manage to repeat the 1995/96 campaign as they were knocked out in the upcoming stage.
It has been almost 19 years since Vahirua wrote his name in football’s history but no other Tahitian player ever did what he did that night.
Roberson is one of the Brazilian players that are currently playing in Oceania. The 28-year-old midfielder arrived in Vanuatu last year to sign with Galaxy FC and he quickly became a key player in the squad.
His last club before moving to Oceania was Sofia Farmer from Northern Ireland, more than 15 thousand kilometers away from Vanuatu – “I came through Diego,” explained the Brazilian midfielder. Diego is Galaxy’s captain, he plays in Oceania since 2016 and he is a well known defender in the Pacific Islands.
He started his stint in Oceania showing his quality by scoring many goals and helping his team in the 2019-20 Port Vila Premier League, the top-tier of football in Port Vila, the country’s capital. However the main Galaxy’s purpose is the 2020 OFC Champions League.
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Roberson (left) playing against Erakor Golden Star in 2019-20 Port Vila Premier League. Source: Vanuatu Sports News
Roberson’s quality is recognized by football fans in Port Vila and some of them consider the Brazilian midfielder as the best foreign player that has ever played for a Ni-Vanuatu team. Now, after spending almost a year in the country, the midfielder reveals – “It was not so difficult to adapt to the country. I am completely adapted to Vanuatu”.
Roberson celebrating a goal against Eastern Suburbs in 2020 OFC Champions League
Oceania Football Center 