The 2020 season of Port Moresby’s football is cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. The official announcement came from Port Moresby Soccer Association (PMSA) president Joseph Ealedona.
According to Post Courier, this is the outcome of the PMSA club delegates meeting and though it is a sad and hard decision, the executive management has endorsed this for best interest of the association, its members and players. Ealedona also pointed that it is going to be an opportunity to review PMSA competitions and management.
PMSA season is cancelled
Port Moresby Soccer Association is one of the local football associations from Papua New Guinea. This organization is responsible to manage the tournaments in Port Moresby region. It is not related to Papua New Guinea National Soccer League that is ran by Papua New Guinea Football Association.
Living in New Zealand, Anthony Likiliki keeps his path as a footballer. The 20-year-old player from Tonga moved away from his homeland last year and since then he is playing for Christchurch United FC in the Mainland Premier League.
Better known as Kina, he had his first contact with New Zealand when he was eight years old when he attended Coerver Academy in Auckland during his school holidays. He repeated this process a lot of times throughout the years before moving to New Zealand which helped him to improve as a player and get used to the country – “There are so many talented players that were way better than me but they did not get opportunities to further there game,” he said.
Likiliki has some good international experience for his age. He made his official debut for Tonga National Team at senior level when he was just 15 years old. He played two matches in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification five years ago. He also represented his country at youth level for several times including 2016 U-20 Championship and 2018 U-19 Championship. He had an outstanding performance in 2018 when he helped Tonga to advance to the tournament’s group stage.
Likiliki in action for Christchurch United.
Kina currently faces some problems when it comes to international football once Tonga Football Association (TFA) has not been in contact with him since he moved abroad. Actually it is a bad situation that many Tongan players face nowadays. There are many good players eligible to represent the country that are not contacted by the federation. A rare exception is Mohammad Rajani who is born in Australia and represented the country last year in the OFC Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Likiliki (left) and Rajani (right) are close friends
Despite not being in touch with the federation, Likiliki still wants to play for Tonga National Team – “I am still keen on representing Tonga […] but have not heard anything from them,” he revealed. Tonga’s next official challenge must take place later this year in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification’s first round when they will face Samoa, American Samoa, Cook Islands. Samoa is the favourite to advance to the further round but Tonga can be a tough challenge if they count on these who play abroad.
The biggest problem – apparently – is that TFA does not seem interested on getting stronger internationally despite have conditions to become more competitive – “Hopefully one day it will change,” added Likiliki.
Vanuatu Football Federation (VFF) had an extraordinary Execitive Committee Meeting this weekend in Santo island to discuss some important things related to the sport. One of the most important points from this meeting is that football leagues are finally cleared by the federation to resume in the country.
Football cleared to resume in Vanuatu. Source: Vanuatu Sport News
VFF allowed football matches to take place from 1st July on. Despite COVID-19 pandemics that stopped football in most countries in the world, Vanuatu was also affected by Tropical Cyclone Harold a few months ago.
AS Vénus is qualified for 2021 OFC Champions League. The Tahitian side will be in the most important club competition in Oceania for another year after finishing 2019-20 Ligue 1 VINI in the second position.
It is going to be Vénus’ third appearence in four years in the tournament which shows that they have become one of the most powerful teams in Tahiti in the last recent years.
AS Vénus players celebrating a goal against AS Dragon in 2019-20 Ligue 1 VINI. Source: FTF Media
They are still alive in the 2020 OFC Champions League as they advanced to knockout stage and the tournament is currently suspended due to COVID-19 pandemics. Anyway we are going to see Teaonui Tehau and his teammates once again next year in the major club competition from Oceania.
Aaron Clapham is not a football player anymore. The 33-year-old midfielder announced his retirement a few hours ago. He spent most of his career playing in New Zealand. He also played in Australia and United States.
“A life times worth of highs and lows. Experiences money cant buy. Friends for life. It is with a deep sense of gratitude I retire from playing this great game. For the numerous people who helped along the way, thank you! To my parents, sister, and wife, thank you the most!” – said Calpham on his official Twitter account.
Clapham playing for New Zealand National Football Team
Clapham represented New Zealand National Football Team for 14 times and he was part of All Whites squad that played 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He also represented Team Wellington in 2018 FIFA Club World Cup scoring a goal in the 3-3 draw against Al-Ain from United Arab Emirates.
The Kurukuru, as the Solomon Islands national futsal team is known, is certainly the most successful national futsal team in Oceania; Solomon Islands will be competing in the FIFA Futsal World Cup for the fourth consecutive year in 2021, having qualified for the world tournament after winning the OFC Futsal Nations Cup in 2019 after defeating New Zealand in the grand final.
Solomon Islands won six of the seven OFC Nations Cup tournaments, showing their dominance of futsal in Oceania. The first step into this golden era began in 2008, when Solomon Islands won their first competition at regional level and qualified for the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil. The likes such as Micah Lea’alafa, Elliot Ragomo and Jack Wetney shone in the Brazilian country and carried the Solomon Islands flag.
The experience for the Kurukuru was certainly at the highest level: host Brazil, the most successful national team in futsal, was drawn in Solomon Islands group. Russia, Japan and Cuba were the other three opponents of the Oceanians in the group stage of their first appearance at a FIFA Futsal World Cup.
The Solomon Islanders’ first game was against Cuba; surprisingly, a 18-year-old Elliot Ragomo scored in the first minute of the game and put his nation ahead against the Caribbeans. It was the Solomon Islands’ first ever goal at a FIFA Futsal World Cup. Despite all the Oceanians’ efforts, the more experienced Cuban side recovered in the game and ended up winning by 10-2. The same Ragomo, who scored the first historic Solomon Islands goal, added another in the closing stages of the game.
Elliot Ragomo (right) in 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil – Teamfoto
The second match was the most important for the Solomon Islands, against whom they had to play in Brazil, in the Brazilian capital and, above all, against the best futsal player of all time: Falcão. No one really expected the Pacific Islanders to give the Brazilians any kind of fight, Falcão scored six times and gave the newcomers to the tournament no chance. The final score of 21-0 reflected the difference between the two sides, but it was a fantastic show for the Oceanians. Despite the huge difference between the two sides, Solomon Islands created some goalscoring chances, but unfortunately a historic goal was not scored. At the end of the game, Falcão was surrounded by Solomon Islands players to sign autographs and take photos – a memorable moment.
Falcão against Solomon Islands’ James Egeta
Solomon Islands played their best game in the tournament against Japan, their third opponent in the group. The Asians got off to a better start and scored the first three goals of the match, but an own goal from Yoshifumi Maeda and another quick goal for the Pacific Islanders from Ron Ginio gave Solomon Islands plenty of hope of getting back into the game. Much to the chagrin of the OFC representatives, Japan scored a fourth goal and regained control of the game, ending the match with a 7-2 win in favour of the Japanese.
The final match of the Solomon Islanders in the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil was against Russia, a very strong side that needed a win to confirm their second place in the group. This match was unfortunately for the Pacific Islanders their worst defensive performance – Solomon Islands conceded a total of 31 goals in the match. A 18-year old Jack Wetney and a 17-year old Micah Lea’alafa scored the only two goals of Solomon Islands in the game.
Ron Ginio celebrates his goal against Japan
Solomon Islands ended the competition with six goals scored and 69 conceded, with a goal difference of -63 – the worst campaign of all 20 national teams participating in the competition. However, as we already know, this was only the beginning of Solomon Islands’ adventure on the world futsal stage – they took part in two other FIFA Futsal World Cups and have already recorded a win over Guatemala at the 2012 edition in Thailand.
The Kurukuru‘s debut on the world stage has shown that their talented young players have much to look forward to in the coming years – the team has already proved as they have qualified for the next three FIFA Futsal World Cups and Oceania fans of the sport expect them to continue to represent the region as well as they did in the past in the next World Cup to take place in Lithuania in the next year.
The 2019-20 Ligue 1 VINI was officially cancelled and AS Pirae was crowned the league’s champion and booked a spot in 2021 OFC Champions League alongside runners-up AS Vénus while third-placed AS Tiare Tahiti qualified for 2020-21 French Cup’s seventh round.
However the biggest news comes from the bottom of the table. AS Central Sport and AS Jeunes Tahitiens were the ninth and tenth-placed teams respectivelly and they were supposed to be relegated for Ligue 2, but it is not going to happen.
As the local leagues were cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic, the Fédération Tahitienne de Football (FTF) decided to abolish relegation this season so both teams are confirmed in the upcoming Ligue 1 VINI’s season.
AS Central (left) and AS Jeunes Tahitiens (right) are saved from releagation
Despite relegation’s abolishment, FTF confirmed that the top two teams from Ligue 2 – AS Excelsior and AS Arue – are promoted to the top-tier of Tahitian football which means that the next season of Ligue 1 VINI will count on twelve teams.
It is probable that the next season will be a bit different from the others. Ligue 1 VINI is usually contested by ten clubs and with each time facing each other four times throughout the championship. Let’s wait and see how it is going to be in 2020-21.
Tommy Smith is not a Sunderland AFC player anymore. The English club confirmed that the 30-year-old defender has left the club following the expiration of his short-term contract signed in last February.
Smith returned to England this year after spending two years with Colorado Rapids from Major League Soccer (United States of America). Now the Kiwi defender is officially a free agent and he is able to sign with a new club.
Smith leaves the club without playing a official match. The experient defender represented the New Zealand National Football Team in 38 opportunities with two goals scored.
After spending some years playing for Suva, Ivan Kumar left the team. The 23-year-old player has joined South Auckland Rangers AFC to play in New Zealand’s winter football season.
Kumar is not the only Fijian who left the country to play the upcoming winter season in New Zealand. There are six other players from Fiji who joined Manukau United as it was previously reported in this website.
Kumar playing for Fiji U23 National Team. Source: OFC Media
Kumar represented played all Fiji’s five matches in the OFC Olympic Qualifiers held last year and now he has a new challenge playing abroad. South Auckland Rangers AFC play in the AFF/NFF Men’s Conference League promoted by the Northern Football Federation.
The lack of competition has been a problem for most Oceania national football teams for several years; the Cook Islands are at the top of the list when it comes to the inactivity of their men’s senior national team – without proper exposure, football can not develop anywhere.
The last time Cook Islands national team played an official football match was in September 4th, 2015 – almost five years ago – against American Samoa, in a heartbreaking 2-0 defeat at 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. In this same competition, the Cook Islanders played against Tonga and Samoa, winning both matches by 3-0 and 1-0 respectively. Taylor Saghabi is the man responsible for scoring the last goal of Cook Island at international stage – the Australian-based player also scored all other three goals of his national team in that competition.
OFC Media
It is known that the Cook Islands national team has made a trip to New Zealand in 2019 to play a few friendly matches against local clubs. The local media or the Cook Islands Football Association did not disclose exactly which teams the Cook Islands were playing against, but the Oceania Football Center is aware that Manukau United and Bucklands Beach AFC were opponents to the national team in two friendly matches. Unfortunately, the results of all matches were not published.
Unlike the men’s national team, the Cook Islands women’s team played in Samoa for the last edition of the Pacific Games in 2019 and had a fantastic campaign, finishing 4th after a 3-1 defeat in the bronze medal game against Fiji. During the competition, the Cook Islands beat Tahiti, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu before losing 5-1 to Papua New Guinea in one of the semi-finals. CIFA made a huge effort to recruit Dutch coach Judith Kuipers as head coach for the women’s national team.
Unfortunately for football in Oceania, the lack of official matches and friendly matches for most OFC national teams is a chronic problem: the same Cook Islands, for example, only played in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers before the same qualifying tournament for the 2018 FIFA World Cup – a gap of almost four years without an official match for the men’s national team. The drought of football matches might be close to an end for Cook Islands as the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifirs will be starting this year as it is scheduled by OFC.
In order to continue the development process of football in the Pacific, it is very important that the local football associations cooperate with the football confederation and FIFA. The lack of support that most of these local associations receive from the major football organizations could be a real problem, but this is not only a financial issue: workshops, training and know-how are a very important part of the change process of this disappointing lack of competitiveness scenario.
Oceania Football Center 