Fijian footballers Malakai Rakula and Kishan Sami have debuted for Manukau United. Both players were in the starting eleven in the 3-0 win against Eastern Suburbs B, the Lilywhites’ reseve squad. This friendly match was part of Manukau’s preparation for the winter season of football in New Zealand.
Rakula (middle) and Sami (right) celebrating a goal. Source: Manukau United Media
Goalkeeper Mohammed Alam who is also from Fiji was not in the squad because he is in his homeland to solve particular issues.
Rakula and Sami both came from Ba to Manukau United and they must be important players in the upcoming winter season.
Hekari definitively did not have the best squad possible during the OFC Champions League 2020 – management mistakes did not allow the well-known coach from Solomon Islands Jerry Allen to have a balanced squad in the biggest challenge of Hekari United in the season; wrong choices made Hekari pay a huge price at OFC Champions League.
Hekari United was unable to beat Star Mountain FC with two full-professional players in their squad: Erick Joe and Vinicius Reis. Both Brazilians played alongside the likes of Michael Foster, Daniel Joe, Otto Kusunan, Kolu Kepo and Ati Kepo – all of them are Papua New Guinea internationals. Allen counted on two new players for the clash; Carlos Onne and Gregory Togubai who had less than a week training with their new team.
The reality of football in Papua New Guinea and a few countries in Oceania is marked by a sensible problem that is still to be completely fixed: the players play like individuals rather than a team. If the individuality of your players is set to be difference from your team to the opposition, the team who has the best technical players will be very close to win the contest. In Papua New Guinea, Hekari United is – alongside Lae City FC – the club that counts on the best financial background; it allows them to have a very good scope of players – it directly means, in the football context of PNG where the individuality is the decider of the tournaments, Hekari and Lae will compete for the major glories as history clearly shows it. This is what’s happening in the recent years: the likes of Michael Foster, Raymond Gunemba, Ishmael Pole, Daniel Joe and Emmanuel Simon play in one of the teams mentioned – the Kapuls is made up by a combination of Lae City and Hekari United players, with some rare foreign-based players and a few representatives of other PNG National Soccer League franchises.
It goes exactly to the point: the coaches of Hekari and Lae are not the responsible for the success of their sides – but yes, their financial background that permits them to bring the best players of the country and region. A testament to the statement made earlier is only Lae City and Hekari United count on foreign players in the current season of the national league and that should not come as a surprise. Even the squad that won the OFC Champions League in 2009/10 season was made up of the best players in the Pacific and the best players for the roles they played in.
This season, we have seen that Hekari has struggled against tactically good sides in the competition – Vitiaz United, Tusbab Stallions and new Star Mountain of Percy Mataio. We can all agree that the same was witnessed in their campaign at OFC Champions League couple of weeks ago. This also goes on to explain why the team has had multiple failed OFC Champions League campaigns after the breakthrough in 2009/10 and have lost the national crown to archrivals Lae City Dwellers – now known as Lae City FC – who won the grand final match last year while playing three attacking midfielders in their side – something Jerry Allen failed to leverage to his benefit.
Now, all of these learnings have a common denominator: the head coach Jerry Allen is not doing a good job at the moment and at least for the last few seasons with the club. Although Allen has a colorful CV which boasts of having won more domestic titles than any other coach and taking Hekari to the Club World Cup in 2010, he has an obvious approach which is stricted to change players game-to-game. If something does not go as planned, he drops certain players to the bench and gives the opportunity to others. There is no tactical set-play change judging from the way the team has performed this season which includes the OFC Champions league. Indeed, it seems that Hekari players do not know what to do when having the ball and they often look for their import midfielder from Brazil Vinicius Reis to spark some magic with the ball when attacking. Out of the five goals scored by Hekari United in their campaign at OFC Champions League, two came from set pieces, and three from defensive mistakes from the opposition team.
If Allen’s team is very predictable in the attack which is another department that has not improved since the OFC Champions League, they seem to be a mess defensively – and it is much due the lack of protection their midfielders provide to the last defensive line. In their last game against Star Mountain FC, there were no specialist defensive midfielders in the pitch in the tactical system of Hekari United and Michael Foster, one of the club’s obvious choices for the attacking midfield role was played out of positon in the defensive midfield role. This is another tactical flaw that was also very obvious at OFC Champions League and made Hekari pay the price – the only host team that did not qualify for the next round.
Another interesting factor is that the players play too far from each other and the game is very much concentrated in the middle of the park. The lines are not stretched to allow the playmaking players to have more passing options. The lack of movement in the final third often makes the offensive options of Hekari very predictable – depending on an individual player of Vinicius, the Kepo brothers or Patrick Aisa. The concerning fact is that the players are still not combining well and we are already in the second part of the season – Hekari cannot depend for long entirely on the quality of their players, they need to get organized in the field of play to win games, if they want to reatain the national title.
Hekari United still has time to take back its 1st spot position in the process; they can even still win the league playing as they are due the big gap of individual quality they have in comparison to other teams in the competition, but this will never be enough for a good campaign at regional and international levels. The team struggles against well-organized sides, they lack of ideas to break defensive systems and they allow their defenders to be direct attacked in counter-attacks – they recently suffered a second goal against Star Mountain just after leveling the score line which is also what happened against Eastern Suburbs AFC in the OFC Champions League couple of weeks back.
The lack of ideas, the headstrong game system of Hekari United is hidden by the quality of their players that are able to fix certain problems of their tactical depth, but when they are not in a good day, they will suffer defeats as it happened at OFC Champions League and recently against Star Mountain FC. The problems cannot keep hidden – they have to come up as soon as possible – for Hekari United: time is ticking away and the red alert is already noisy.
BASI Futbol confirmed that Solomon Islands wonderkids Raphael Le’ai and Leon Kofana have completed their trials with Melbourne Victory in Australia. The duo trained with the U18 team in the first week and then they started training with the U21 squad in the second week.
Le’ai (left) and Kofana (right) attending an A-League match. Source: Basi Futbol Media
Le’ai is expected to reutrn to Honiara due to personal reasons while Kofana is going to remain in Australia with relatives to continue with his personal training. This experience will surely be unforgettable for both players as they were once again exposed to a higher level of football.
It is important to remember that is not the first time that both players have the opportunity to be closer to an A-League team as they have been training at Scots College (a college linked to Wellington Phoenix Academy) in New Zealand for a year.
Siotame Kubu was one of the most important players in the Fijian football last season. The 26-year-old forward helped Labasa to lift three trophies in the last twelve months: Battle of the Giants (BOG), Inter-District Championship (IDC) and Champion vs Champion Series (CVC).
Kubu was the top scorer of his team in the 2019 football season with twelve goals. and the most important one was also the most beautiful one that will never be forgotten by the supporters. He scored Labasa’s winning goal against Lautoka in the Battle of the Giants final by lobbing the goalkeeper to find the net and give the title to his team to end Babasiga Lions’ 19-year drought. You can watch the goal by clicking here.
Siotame Kubu with BOG trophy.
He deservedly won this award and he must be taken into consideration by Fiji National Team’s head coach Flemming Serritslev for OFC Nations Cup as he has enough quality to be part of the squad.
The 20-year-old forward played a friendly match last week alongside his countrymen Savenaca Baledrokadroka, Asaeli Batikasa and Peni Tuigulagula and he really impressed the coaching staff as he scored four goals in the contest. Baledrokadroka has also found the net once.
Vodowaqa (right) playing for Pines. Source: Frankston Pines Media
Frankston Pines will debut on 2020 Victorian State League Division 3 on Friday. However it is not known if the Fijians will be cleared to play as the Australian team is still waiting for their International Transfer Certificate (ITC).
Vitiaz United continued their fantastic debut season in the Papua New Guinea National Soccer League with a narrow 3-2 victory over Morobe United in Port Moresby on Saturday. With results elsewhere going their way, the club climbed from third to first in the league standings after Lae City drew and Hekari United were surprisingly defeated by bottom-of-the-table Star Mountain.
It was two signings from the transfer window that buoyed Vitiaz United to victory in the 3pm kick-off at the PNG Football Stadium in Port Moresby, with new arrivals Mathew David, from Lae City, and Jonathan Allen, from FC Bougainville, scoring the goals which saw them past struggling Morobe United.
Vitiaz got themselves off to a dream start as David, fresh from the turmoil at his previous club, slotted home in the second minute to put the league debutants ahead. His fellow new arrival, 19-year-old Jonathan Allen, scored a second just after twenty minutes, burying his seventh goal of the season and cementing his position in second place in the race for the Golden Boot.
However, just 60 seconds later, Morobe got one back through Jeremy Yasasa, putting the pressure on the title chasers again. Undeterred, Mathew David buried his second of the game just before half-time, giving Vitaz a two-goal lead at half-time.
Mathew David (#18) celebrates scoring against Morobe United. Photo: PNGFA
After a foul in the box, Morobe midfielder Emmanuel Simongi lashed home a penalty to bring it back to 3-2, but Vitiaz were able to see out the game in a very professional manner, demonstrating why they’ve become real contenders in the title race despite starting out the season as dark horses.
One player who didn’t end up leaving Stallions for the reigning champions was league top goalscorer Stahl Gubag, who opened the scoring for Tusbab Stallions just after half-time. However, Albert Morgan Jr, who had scored a hat-trick in last week’s 8-1 victory against FC Kutubu, equalised for the champions fifteen minutes later, and the score remained tied until the end of the game.
With Lae drawing, Hekari United had a chance to extend their lead at the top of the table in the late kick-off against bottom-of-the-table Star Mountain. Coach Jerry Allen rotated his squad a little bit, bringing in Dave Tomare in goal to replace in-form Ishmael Pole, as well as Joseph Joe ahead of Ati Kepo up front, with Kepo being absent from the squad entirely. Allen also handed debuts to Carlos Onne and Gregory Togubai, signed from Gulf Komara and FC Bougainville respectively during the transfer window.
Joseph Joe (Hekari, red) was picked by Jerry Allen, who made a few changes to the regular starting eleven. Photo: PNGFA
Star Mountain, meanwhile, had brought in former PNG U23 boss Percy Mataio as their new coach, as well as a handful of new players, and Mataio’s fresh tactics combined with the renewed energy from the players shellshocked Hekari in the opening half. Particularly impressive was Steven Inia, the former Madang FC and Besta PNG United midfielder who has OFC Champions League experience, and who essentially ran the game for the side bottom of the table. It was, however, veteran striker Tau Winnie who put Star Mountain ahead after 34 minutes, and the bottom side held an unlikely lead into half-time.
Upon the resumption of the second half, Hekari tried to wrestle control of the game, but Mountain remained for the most part on top, and could have increased their lead on several occasions in the second half. However, it looked like Mataio’s side had been denied a classic victory in the last ten minutes after Hekari defender Daniel Joe scored a late equaliser with five minutes to go. But Mountain were able to hit back immediately, Taman Romas restoring their lead, and the side were able to hang on to a priceless victory, and condemn Hekari to their first defeat of the season.
Elsewhere, Gulf Komara went fifth after defeating FC Bougainville 2-1 in Port Moresby. Moses Arisib put Bougainville ahead just after half-time, but goals from Ilagi Geno and Numa Kila secured a third consecutive victory for David Aua’s side, who move ahead of Bougainville and four points behind fourth-placed Tusbab Stallions. Finally, Morobe Wawens picked up their third victory of the season despite a spirited comeback from FC Kutubu. Wawens went 2-0 ahead thanks to goals from Ferdallas Namuesh and Teddy Tommy, but veteran Samuel Kini and striker Scott William levelled things up for the Highlanders. Wawens inched ahead through Donatus Bandi before scoring a fourth late on to rubber-stamp the win.
Numa Kila celebrates scoring the winner for Gulf Komara. Photo: PNGFA
Results
FC Bougainville 1-2 Gulf Komara Morobe Wawens 4-2 FC Kutubu Vitiaz United 3-2 Morobe United Lae City 1-1 Tusbab Stallions Star Mountain 2-1 Hekari United
Questo fine settimana è iniziata la Mobil Super Ligue, il campionato principale che si disputa in Nuova Caledonia. Le squadre iscritte sono soltanto 10 e si gioca con partite di andata e ritorno. Le prime due della classifica a fine stagione si qualificano alla OFC Champions League della stagione successiva. In questa prima giornata sono stati segnati 21 goal in 5 partita, una media altissima di 4.2 a incontro. Una partenza col botto. Le prime due partite si sono giocate venerdì a Nouméa. Nel primo incontro netto successo dell’AS Magenta, reduce dalla facile qualificazione ai quarti di finale di OFC Champions League. Un 6-0 senza appello contro la neo-promossa AS Kuniè, condito da un magnifico goal di Nathanael Hmaen, 5°. La squadra della capitale si presenta a questa Mobile Super Ligue come la principale favorita e ha voluto subito farlo capire al resto del lotto delle squadre.
Nell’altro anticipo di questa prima giornata c’è stata la grande sorpresa della giornata. Il Tiga Sport ha battuto l’AS Mont-Dore per 2-0, con una doppietta di Richard Sele. La squadra vincitrice ha sede nella più piccola delle Isole della Lealtà, l’arcipelago che compone la Nuova Caledonia (qui trovate una bella descrizione), e si propone come una delle sorprese del campionato.
Negli incontri del sabato, lo Hienghéne Sport parte col piede giusto sconfiggendo per 5-1 il Patho. Speriamo tutti che questo sia un segnale di ripresa per i vincitori di tutto della scorsa stagione. E’ chiaro che se i campioni neo-caledoni non riprendono a macinare risultati tutto il calcio oceaniano tornerà sotto il dominio neozelandese. Una prospettiva non auspicabile.
Hienghène Sport vs Patho
I due ultimi incontri che completano il quadro di questa prima giornata della Mobil Super Ligue sono stati quelli che hanno visto l’AS Wetr battere il JS Baco per 4-0 e lo SC Ne Drehu vincere una partita complicata contro l’AS Lossi per 2-1
Il conteggio dei punti in Mobil Super Ligue è il seguente: 4 pt. la vittoria, 2 pt. il pareggio, 1 pt. la sconfitta
La Super Ligue Mobil, le champion le championnat le plus important de la Nouvelle-Calédoniea commencé ce week-end. Les résultats ont été immédiatement frappants, avec de nombreux buts: 21 en 5 recontres c’est pas mal du tout. Deux matchs ont été joués vendredi. Dans le premier l’AS Magenta a gagnè 6-0 (avec un but magnifique de Nathanael Hmaen) face a l’AS Kunie, l’équipe de L’Ile des Pins qui est revenue en première division après avoir terminé invaincu la divion d’honneur l’année dernière. Magenta, qui a facilement passé le tour de la OFC Champions League 2020, se présente comme la favorite de ce championnat et a commencé immédiatement forte, comme le résultat nous le dit.
Dans l’autre rencontre de vendredi le Tiga Sport a battu le AS Mont-Dore pour 2-0, grace a un doublé de Richard Sele. Ce fut la grande surprise de la journée.
Hienghiène Sport a gagné facilmente contre Patho pour 5-1. Sera-ce le signe de la reprise des champions de toute la saison passée? En attendant, il peut être un bon remède pour guérir les blessures de la déception torride pour l’élimination au premier tour de la OFC Champions League 2020. Nous l’espérons car tout le mouvement océanien du football a besoin que Hienghéne retrouve ses niveaux.
Hienghène Sport vs Patho
Dans les deux derniers rencontres AS Wetr a battu JS Baco par 4-0 et SC Ne Drehu a gagné un match compliqué face a le AS Lossi 2-1.
Roy Krishna can be considered as the best player ever produced in Fiji; the Fijian Flyer already proved his capabilities in New Zealand and Australia leagues – and now in his first season in the most important football league of India, the Fijian international already turned himself a champion.
Krishna helped his side ATK to win the 2019/20 season of the Indian Super League after beating in the grand final match Chennayin by 3-1. Unfortunately for the Fijian, he sustained an injury in the first half and had to leave the pitch at the 40th minute of play. Before this moment, Krishna already assisted for the first goal of the final netted by the Spanish midfielder Javi Hernández.
Krishna could have turned himself not only a national champion, but also the top goalscorer of the season. The Lithuanian Nerijus Valskis clinched the golden boot after scoring for Chennayin in the final – both players had 15 goals in the season, but Valskis played less minutes than Krishna and earned the award.
The Fijian also could not be beat the Frenchman Hugo Boumous in the MVP award of Indian Super League in a controversial decision for some fans; both players participated in 21 goals in the season – Krishna scored 15 goals and provided six assists, while Hugo Boumous scored less than him – but ISL management decided to award the FC Goa player that ended the regular season at the top, but could not beat Chennayin in the semi final.
Krishna was tremendous for ATK and delighted the fans all over Kolkata and India. The Fijian has Indian roots and made history in the land of his forefathers. After winning the golden boot and MVP awards in the last season of Hyundai A-League in Australia when player of Wellington Phoenix, Krishna continues the momentum by winning the most important title of his footballing career – certainly, the Fijian is at the best moment of his career.
Fiji has something to be really proud in football; his son Roy Krishna is making wonders far from his hometown Labasa. Krishna has still one more big challenge in 2020, to represent and captain his country – as he captained ATK to the title – in the OFC Nations Cup to be held in New Zealand. The forward will have the chance to also overcome the legend Esala Masi and turn himself into the all-time top goalscorer of Fiji national team in the tournament.
Krishna can be the path for more players like him coming from his nation and Oceania. A moment to remember – a stepping stone to work from.
Wellington Phoenix imposed a harsh defeat for Melbourne Victory in a very concerned scenario regarding COVID-19 outbreak – the league future is uncertain after this weekend matches.
A very emotional moment started the day at Sky Stadium as Phoenix and Victory players honoured the victims with the mass-shooting of Christchurch that happened exactly one year ago.
After the starting of the game, it did not take long for the Wellington side to take the lead: a fantastic play by Tim Payne in the right side of the pitch, allowed him a great cross to the penalty box; Reno Piscopo chips it in to the middle of the area and the Mexican Ulises Dávila scores with a strong finish – giving and end his drought of goals, scoring his 11th of the season.
The first goal of Phoenix in the clash
Victory did not have much time to settle their game down; surprisingly the Swedish international Ola Toivonen started from the bench, being the attacking duo of the visiting made up by Andrew Nabbout and Marco Rojas.
The duo-tried to create some trouble to Phoenix defense, forcing Stefan Marinovic to some hard stops during the game. But the excellent moment of the home side continued as Gary Hooper headed to the nets after a fantastic assist of Liberato Cacace still in the first half, giving Phoenix a very comfortable lead.
The team coached by Ufuk Talay allowed Victory have more the possesion of the ball, but the visitors could not create major threats to Marinovic goal – all of their possibilities being well-controled by the defensive duo Luke DeVere and Steven Taylor alongside their defensive system.
The 2-0 advatange was the result for Phoenix at the break; but it did not take long after the beginning of the second half for the New Zealand side to score another. The combination Hooper-Ball worked very well again as the marksman provided a great long ball to his compatriot, Ball passed beat two Victory defenders to score the third of his team with a clinical finish.
Ball (center) celebrates with his teammates – Phoenix Media
The New Zealanders were three ahead and also had chances to increase their lead; but it was Victory who scored after a shot of Andrew Nabbout deflected by Ola Toivonen after coming from the bench – after some minutes of confusion, VAR checked referee call to allow the goal and detected Toivonen was in an off-side position, rulling out Victory’s goal to keep the clean sheet of Phoenix.
The Nix managed very well the match, with a top-class performance not allowing many threats coming from Marco Rojas and his teammates. The attacking trio composed by Ball, Dávila and Hooper worked very, very well alongside the strong midifielders Cameron Devlin and Matti Steinmann. Tim Payne has a very good match – specially in attack – while the always good Liberato Cacace continued his superb form. Defensively, Phoenix got another clean sheet in the run with a solid performance of DeVere and Steven Taylor in the heart of defense.
The future of A-League will be decided in the following days regarding the concerns around Coronavirus outbreak. The situation in numbers is still not much serious in Australia and New Zealand, but the governments of both nations are taking caution actions to prevent the fast-spreading virus to harm more its countries.
Phoenix, at the moment, stands at 3rd spot in the contention just one point behind Melbourne Victory in the process. The New Zealand side expects the league can continue as they have real chances to end-up the regular season in the top-two of A-League, sealing so a very important advantage for the playoffs – being a home win away from their first ever appearance at a grand final.
Oceania Football Center 