One of the most surprising results of the 2019/20 season of the top-tier league of Papua New Guinea, the PNG National Soccer League had as central figure the newly appointed head coach of Star Mountain FC. Percy Mataio guided the rock-bottom team in the table to beat at PNG Football Stadium the mighty Hekari United by 2-1. The surprising result led Star Mountain to leave the bottom of the standing and climb two places in the ladder.
Percy Mataio – OFC Media
“We had only three days to prepare for this game against Hekari and what we planned to do today was executed well by the players“, stated Mataio to Oceania Football Center.
His side was able to score first through Tau Winnie, suffered an equalizer from Hekari United already in the final stages of the clash, but still managed to regroup and find another goal to seal a fantastic win, crowning the new ideas worked by Mataio. “Everything worked because we planned for it. I worked hard in getting the boys to understanding their individual roles in different moments of the game“, explained the new head coach of Star Mountain.
Mataio also stated that he had many conversations with the players during his first days in his new club: “Firstly, we needed understanding where we are on the ladder boar and then changing our attitude towards our football approach and then instilling belief in the team. We worked on our training model both in attack and defense, then we talked about improving our game performance. I know we have a long way to go, but the indicators are pointing in the right direction and we can only take a game at a time and work hard to improve every game in the challeging second round [of PNG National Soccer League]” told Mataio to Oceania Football Center.
Star Mountain fought hard to beat Hekari – PNGFA Media
If Star Mountain played against the then so 1st placed side in the table, they will now have the same challenge in their next match in the process: after beating Hekari, the players of Mataio will take on the new 1st placed team in the contention after the results of the last weekend of football in Papua New Guinea: Vitiaz United. Another challenge for Star Mountain – Vitiaz already knows they will have a hard match to come against the new-looking yellow-army commanded by Percy Mataio.
The football weekend of football at the top-tier of football in New Zealand proved the dominance of Auckland City in the country as they beat the current title holders Eastern Suburbs away from their home stadium – to grab all points and win the Charity Cup. The weekend also saw the giants Waitakere United sealing their spot to the semifinals of the ISPS Handa Premiership with their convicing win over Hawke’s Bay United.
The sleeping giants Waitakere United is coming back to the contention. The double of the star player Dane Schnell helped the former OFC Champions League winners to guarantee their spot in the semifinals of ISPS Handa Premiership – something they were not able to since 2016/17 season.
Ahinga Selemani put the visitors upfront at the 16th minute of play, but their lead just lasted one minute – an unfortunate own goal gave Waitakere the equalizer. Dane Schnell put his side upfront still in the first half – a 2-1 advantage for Waitakere was the result at the break. Nick Zambrano and Luck Searle added another two for the home team before the former Team Wellington striker Angus Kilkolly scored for HBU to cut the deficit. The potential comeback of Hawke’s Bay ended when Schnell converted from the spot-kick to score his 11th goal of the season and decide the match for the home side. Waitakere march on to the playoffs.
The result is terrible for the team coached by Chris Greatholder; the chances of playoffs for Hawke’s Bay are now over with the outcome of their trip to Auckland to take on Waitakere.
Schnell performed really well
Team Wellington did not have an easy afternoon in Dunedin when they took on Southern United. The current 2nd placed side in the process keep their chances to be premiers – finish at the top of table in the regular season – as they beat the home side by 1-0 and continue just three points away the leaders Auckland City in the process with two matches to be played.
The young talented winger Jack-Henry Sinclair was the difference between Team Welington and Southern as his goal at the end of the first half was the unique of the day in Dunedin. The three points guarantee at least a 2nd place in the process as Waitakere United can not reach Team Welly anymore in the run.
Southern United continues to have chances to reach the 4th place in the ladder, they are three points away Eastern Suburbs in the contention and will need to win their last two games in the process if they want to get a dreamed spot at the playoffs.
Tasman United missed their attacker Jean-Philippe SaĂŻko in their encounter in Hamilton against the Wanderers, but their side still managed to hold a draw against the match that marked the debut of Solomon Islands’ football legend Henry Fa’arodo in the team coached by Kale Herbert.
Xavier Pratt put the home team upfront at the 18th minute of play, but the talented forward Jesse Randall equalized for Tasman five minutes later. The strong defender Fox Slotemaker scored another for Tasman still in the first half to give the visitors a narrow lead at the break.
Derek Tieku leveled the game for Hamilton and Pratt added another to his tally eight minutes later. Hamilton was close to celebrate a very important win against Tasman, but Lachlan Brooks broke the hearts of Wanderers when he scored in the injury time to share the spoils at Porritt Stadium.
Both Hamilton and Tasman continue in the contention for a 4th place spot as they are just two-points away Eastern Suburbs in the ISPS Handa Premiership ladder.
The terrible sequence of losses had an end for Canterbury United as a savior Luke Tongue goal at injury time gave the Dragons a draw against Phoenix Reserves.
The good prospect Ahmad Othman scored another in the season to his tally and the first for Phoenix Reserves in the clash. The 1-0 result was the outcome of a hard fought match in the first 45 minutes of contest.
The Christchurch-based side was in an emotional day as the last 15th March completed one-year of the mass-shooting tragedy in the city mosques. Both teams weared black arm-bands in honours of the victims of the sad case. The fight of Canterbury paid off when they scored at the 94th minute of the game through Luke Tongue to end their drought of points in the last place of the ladder.
Myer Bevan helped Auckland City to win
The Charity Cup trophy was won by Auckland City as they beat Eastern Suburbs by 2-0 in the city derby. The title holders gave a lot of fight for the Navy Blues that could just decide the game in the second half.
Brian Kaltak scored the first for Auckland at 60th minute of play – it was his 4th goal in six matches for his team. The prolific goalscorers Myer Bevan added another to his tally and for his team to give final numbers to the clash at 89th minute: Auckland City wins by 2-0.
Auckland continues three-points clear at the top of the standings, being followed by Team Wellington. Eastern Suburbs is still to confirm their spot at the ISPS Handa Premiership playoffs, their next two matches in the process will be decisive for the fate in the national league. The Lilywhites are followed by Tasman, Hamilton and Southern in the process and any points can decide the final spot in the post-seaosn contention.
One of the greatest footballer of all time in Solomon Islands history, Henry Fa’arodo is back to action as a player as he made his official debut for Hamilton Wanderers in the 3-3 draw against Tasman United in the 18th matchweek of 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership, the top-tier of football in New Zealand.
Fa’arodo was in the starting eleven and he played the whole match – a pretty good start for a 37-year-old player that has not been playing for a while. It is important to remember that Henry was coaching Solomon Warriors in the 2019-20 Telekom S-League before signing with Hamilton Wanderers.
Fa’arodo played 90 minutes against Tasman United. Source: NZF Media
Hamilton Wanderers is the fourth team that Fa’arodo represented in the main football league from New Zealand. He also played for Canterbury United (2006-2007), Auckland City (2007-2008) and Team Wellington (2012-2015).
He is expected to keep as part of Wanderers squad until the end of this year once he is going to play the remainder of 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership season and the NRFL Premier for during the winter.
COVID-19 pandemic keeps putting the world sports community in trouble and now it has affected the most important football team from New Zealand: The Wellington Phoenix.
Hyundai A-League management has released a statement saying that the remainder of the current regular season will be played behind closed doors. They also pointed that it might be reviewed for the finals series if the situation gets better.
It was also confirmed that Wellington Phoenix had two postponed matches as the whole team will be in quarentine. These two matches are going to be rescheduled. Furthermore, the Nix will be relocated to Australia temporarily until the end of the 2019-20 season so they will not be playing at Sky Stadium in Wellington in the current A-League season.
Phoenix will miss Sky Stadium during the relocation
The New Zealander side is in the third position in the Hyundai A-League with 36 points in twenty matches.
Everbody knows that Ni-Vanuatu international Brian Kaltak is one of the most prolific defenders in Oceania. But it seems that now we are facing a new side of Kaltak’s game as he is becoming an offensive threat for his opponents.
He arrived in New Zealand in 2018 as an Auckland City’s brand new player. The Ni-Vanuatu defender has always been a well rated player there as he has always been doing a good job on defense. However things are changing for him at the present moment: Kaltak scored four goals in the last six matches.
Kaltak had another good performance this weekend. Source: Auckland City Media
That is what you just read – a central defender scored four goals in the last six matches and it is pretty impressive. He scored two goals in the OFC Champions League against Ba and Lupe o le Soaga and two other goals in the 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership.
His last victim was Eastern Suburbs. Kaltak opened the scoreboard for the Navy Blues in a very important clash last weekend to lead his team to beat the Lilywhites by 2-0 to lift Charity Cup’s trophy.
Labasa’s Atonio Tuivuna has recently won the 2019 Fiji Footballer of the Year Award and it is obvious that a player of his level must be watched closely and taken into consideration as a contender to book a spot in the National Team.
Tuivuna had a marvelous season by helping Labasa to lift three trophies: Battle of the Giants (BOG), Inter-District Championship (IDC) and Champion vs Champion series (CVC) which allowed him to win the most important award of Fijian football in the Vodafone/Fiji FA Awards Night that took place on Saturday. It is not Tuivuna’s first award as he has also won IDC’s Golden Ball award by taking his team to the top alongside with his teammates.
Tuivuna with IDC’s Golden Ball Trophy. Source: FIJI FA MEDIA
He last played for Fiji National Football Team in 2018 in a friendly match against Malaysia. Currently living the best moment of his career as a footballer, Tuivuna deserves a spot in the Bula Boys squad.
As it is already known, Mr. Konofilia is facing a three-year ban from Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) for assaulting a referee back in 2017. It is also known that Molea was not punished yet and that is what made Puia so angry.
Molea Tigi playing for Solomon Warriors.
SIFF has recently released a statement about the case in order to shed some light on the situation. According to the federation, Molea’s case is currently before the SIFF Disciplinary Committee (DC) for determination. DC is one of the three judicial bodies set up within the football structure that is responsible solely and independently to deal with and handle matters of disciplinary nature. The other two judicial bodies are Ethics Committee (ethical matters) and the Appeals Committee (appeal cases).
SIFF Logo
It was also pointed that neither the federation nor Telekom S-League board have the power to decide if they will punish the player or not by itself which means that we will need to wait a little to see if Molea will be sanctioned or not.
It has been almost two months since Solomon Warriors was crowned the champions of 2019-20 Telekom S-League, the main football league from Solomon Islands. However there is no recent news about the final decision regarding the Golden Boot Award winner.
Due to this situation, Ni-Vanuatu forward Tony Kaltack still has chances to win the final award. The final decision should have already been taken and people are still waiting for it.
Oceania Football Center 