Oceania Football Center

Stallions’ Nigel Malagian deserves national recognition

The current edition of the PNG National Soccer League is not only having the spotlights under the giant-duo Lae City and Hekari United. The Port Moresby-based side Vitiaz United is impressing – challenging the two-best teams of Papua New Guinea and standing close to them in the standings of the league so far. Alongisde Vitiaz, the only Madang-based club in this year PNG NSL is also proving there is a lot of talent unexplored in one of the most important cities of the nation.

Tusbab Stallions imposed heavy defeats to Kutubu and Star Mountain already in the season as they forced Lae City and Hekari United to fight until the last minute to grab a winning goal in the both matches the teams met. The Wadunah brothers, Jason and Ricky, are impressing, alongisde the top-scorer of the league so far Stahl Gubag – the 20-year-old already scored eight in the process. The team work, the good management and the individual skills of the players all together are putting Stallions in the 4th place in the league at the moment; but a team can not work so well without a leader in the pitch, and he is Nigel Malagian.

Image may contain: 2 people, people playing sports and outdoor — Malagian (right) against Bougainville – *PNGFA Media*

The still 24-year-old central defender is having a top-class season for Tusbab Stallions: Malagian is receiving a lot of praise from local fans, media and football experts around the country and his performances are certaintly putting as a potential Kapuls member for the upcoming international duties of the Papua New Guinea national team.

The defender already played one edition of the OFC Champions League when he represented Madang FC – proving he has the necessary experience to display a very good role at Papua New Guinea national team. He is the leader and captain of Tusbab Stallions, responsible for organizing the defensive system of Stallions and start the offensive plays of his side.

Very calm with the ball, the player is also an accomplished defender, with very good tackles and excellent when covering his teammates in defense. Nigel Malagian has a very good passing skill – he knows what to do with the ball and also when not having the ball – and his intelligence in the game proves the high level he is in the national competition – a player that can offer more than the usual PNG defenders.

The defender is one of the responsibles for the fantastic season the Madang side is doing so far. His quality deserves national recognition – Papua New Guinean football is much more than only Hekari and Lae City.

Potential PNG international Harley Gepp contacted by PNGFA

Recently, Oceania Football Center presented to Oceania football fans Harley Gepp – see Harley Gepp: from the PNG Highlands to Australian football – and his possible availability to represent Papua New Guinea internationally.

The most important football tournament of the region is not far; the OFC Nations Cup is set to start in June and the addition of Gepp would be surely instrumental for the aspirations of the Kapuls in the tournament.

There are good news for the PNG fans: the 26-year-old attacker was contacted by the PNGFA staff to inform about the proceedings to get all proper documents in order to confirm the availability of Gepp to represent Papua New Guinea.

The player was born in Papua New Guinea and has strong roots in the country, but he is still in the process to acquire the PNG citizenship. Gepp made his entire career in Australia and surely could be a very good addition to the Kapuls.

Our media group will be watching closely the process in order to inform the proceedings regarding the possibility of Harley Gepp to play internationally for Papua New Guinea.

Ba: it is not about bringing foreigners…

Fijian people are used to say Batoro as a depreciative adjective for foreign people in football. It can also be used to depreciate someone that is from another district. Lautoka had a shameful performance on Champions League and lots of people put the blame on the foreign players and the same thing is already happening to Ba after being beaten by 6-0 in their first international match in the year.

Ba signed with Ricki Herbert to coach the team in the tournament. He was New Zealand’s head coach in 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa and he surely knows more about football than anyone in Fiji due to his expertise in the sport.

Ricki Herbert coached New Zealand in 2010 FIFA World Cup

Bringing a foreign coach is something amazing but you need to provide him good conditions if you want to succeed. If you look at Ba’s squad you will find lots of mistakes and they are not Herbert’s fault.

The Men in Black started the match against Auckland City with six players that are used to play as forwards and it reflects a bigger problem: poor management.

Ba took seventeen players to Tahiti to play the Champions League including four foreigners: Micah Tommy (Vanuatu), Alwin Komolong (Papua New Guinea), Benjamin Totori and Darold Kakasi (both from Solomon Islands). If you check the squad minutely you will find lots of problems: no full backs and lack of quality in the midfield.

Ba faced Auckland City in their OFC Champions League opening match. Source: Christophe Fotozz

Herbert placed a very “strange” team in the pitch to face Auckland but he did not have many options. That is why some players played outside their main positions like Darold Kakasi who played as a right back or Micah Tommy that played as a central midfielder. Despite the 6-0 loss, Ba managed to hold the New Zealanders for thirty minutes even with a very different line-up

You can not bring a top head coach and expect everything from him if he does not have enough sources to do a good job. Before blaming foreigners with xenophobic expressions it is necessary to take a look at Fijian football structure to detect and correct all mistakes that prevent Fijians to reach the top of Oceanian football.

Le’ai and Kofana arrive in Australia

Henderson Eels youngsters Raphael Le’ai and Leon Kofana arrived in Australia. Both players will be on trials with Melbourne Victory U23 squad for a week.

Both players performed well in the group stage of 2020 OFC Champions League and now they are having a huge opportunity to show their talent. It is going to be their second experience with A-League clubs as they spent one year at Scots College in New Zealand as part of Wellington Phoenix Academy.

It is important to remember that both players are under 18 and they can not sign any professional contract.

Brian Kaltak ready to make history in Oceania

Auckland City have beaten Ba by 6-0 in the opening match of 2020 OFC Champions League Group D. The Navy Blues have a very strong squad and they are one of the favourite teams to win the tournament.

Winning OFC Champions League would not be something new for Auckland as they have won the continental tournament for nine times but it could be something really special for one specific player: Brian Kaltak.

Kaltak had the opportunity to win the Champions League in 2018 when he helped Lautoka to reach the final but they lost to Team Wellington from New Zealand. Now the Ni-Vanuatu defender is back to the tournament as part of Auckland City’s squad and he wants to write his name in history. If the Navy Blues win this edition he will become the first player from his country to lift the continental trophy.

The 26-year-old defender scored a goal in the opening match against Ba and he still has a lot to offer for his team in order to reach the finals.

Kaltak (left) scored against Ba. Source: OFC Media

That is his seventh appearence in OFC Champions League – his first for Auckland City. He scored four goals in 27 matches in the tournament’s history.

American Kiwis #01 – MLS begins

The 2020 edition of Major League Soccer finally began. Twenty six teams from United States and Canada started to fight for the title of the main football league from these countries. This year will be very special for New Zealand in the MLS because there are eight Kiwis in the league.

The first matchweek is over and Oceania Football Center brings a small but valuable report about the New Zealanders in this league. Scroll down to check!

Michael Boxall is back for one more year at Minnesota United. The 31-year-old central defender played the whole game and he had a decent performance in the 3-1 away win against Portland Timbers. Noah Billingsley and James Musa were not part of Minnesota’s squad in this clash while Timbers’ defender Bill Tuiloma missed this match because he is still injured.

Boxall (left) playing for Minnesota United. Source: Getty Images

Chicago Fire’s Elliot Collier made his first MLS appearence since 2018. He joined the pitch in the 70th minute to replace Djordje Mihailovic but the Kiwi forward did not have a good performance in the 2-1 loss against Seattle Sounders.

The three other Kiwis were not called for their teams’ matches: Winston Reid (Sporting Kansas City), Kyle Adams (Houston Dynamo) and Deklan Wynne (Colorado Rapids). The next matchweek is scheduled to begin on Saturday.

AS Vénus start OFC Champions League campaign with a convincing win over Lupe o le Soaga

Samoans and Tahitians clashed in a bad pitch in the opening round of 2020 OFC Champions League Group D and AS Vénus grabbed all three points by beating Lupe o le Soaga by 6-0.

Lupe o le Soaga had a good start by creating some chances but they could not attack well in the second part of the first half. Their luck finished in the 30th minute when Tamatoa Tetauira found the net with the help of Lupe’s goalkeeper Zane Green after a confusion in the box. The Samoan side did not have time to recover as Teaonui Tehau made a beautiful one-two play with a teammate to extend the lead in the 32nd munute.

Teaonui Tehau scored AS Vénus’ second goal. Source: FTF Media

The second half was not different: The rain kept pouring and Vénus kept scoring. They scored two goals in a row to set a 4-0 lead in the 50th minute. Lupe o le Soaga tried hard but they could not hold the Tahitians that still had time found the net for the fifth time.

Tamatoa had an unforgettable day as he scored his third goal to set a hat-trick by heading the ball into the net after Teaonui Tehau’s cross.

The Samoans now have an impossible mission against Auckland City while AS Vénus will face Ba from Fiji in the next gameday.

Ba can not resist to strong Auckland City

Seven-times OFC Champions League winner Auckland City faced Ba in the first match of Group D. After facing some resistance, the New Zealand side found the path through the net and smashed the Fijian team by 6-0.

The pitch was not so good as Tahiti has been suffering from heavy rains recently. This match was supposed to be played at Stade Mahina but it was changed to Stade Pater in Pirae due to weather conditions.

Former All Whites head coach Ricki Herbert faced some difficulties on building the team’s line-up for this match since he made some strange but necessary arrangements as Ba only had 15 available players for the opening clash. Papua New Guinea international Alwin Komolong’s absence was something unexpected by the fans as it seems that he was signed just to play this tournament.

Auckland City did not do anything different from what people are used to watch in the ISPS Handa Premiership while Ba tried to surprise them using the counter-attack. The Fijians resisted for thirty minutes when Jordan Vale opened the scoreboard.

Vale’s goal opened the path for the Navy Blues as Emiliano Tade scored two goals in the late minutes of the first half to seal a 3-0 lead at Stade Pater.

Tade scored two goals in the first half. Source: NZF Media

The second half was not so different as the Navy Blues scored three other goals. Ba’s did not offer much problems to Auckland as goalkeeper Conor Tracey did not have many problems in the whole game.

Ba will have to improve a lot for their next match against AS Vénus while the New Zealanders will have the chance to seal their qualification for quarterfinals in the upcoming clash against Lupe o le Soaga from Samoa.

AS Vénus set for debut against Lupe o le Soaga at OFC Champions League

AS Vénus is set to debut in OFC Champions League 2020 against the Samoan champions Lupe o le Soaga at Stade Pater. The home crowd is expected to be there to support the local team in order to start with a much needed win in the first matchday of group D in the regional tournament.

After the big win of Auckland City over Ba, the Tahitians will hope to achieve a big scoreline against the Samoans, but Lupe already proved in the past not to be an easy side to beat: Teaonui Tehau and his teammates will need to be at its best to beat the defensive line led by Andrew Setefano, the captain of Lupe o le Soaga.

Image may contain: 2 people — Teaonui Tehau is the top man of AS Vénus – *OFC Media*

The Tahitian international top-striker Teaonui Tehau is the most dangerous player of AS Vénus, the man the coach Samuel Garcia put his hopes to be key for a succesful campaign at OFC Champions League this season. The all-time top-scorer of Tahiti national team is the captain of Vénus and will hope to combine well upfront with the likes of Tamatoa Tetaiura and Tauhiti Keck in order to achieve the scoreline needed by his side.

Lupe will expect a strong defensive setup to stop the good attacking force of the Tahitian side: the captain Andrew Setefano can be crucial for the hopes of the team coached by Paul Ualesi, alongside the experienced goalkeeper Zane Sole and the attacking players Jamie Mason and Tom Mosquera.

Venus has serious chances to proceed to the next stage of the competition if they can have a dominant win over the Samoan side in both sides debut in this edition of OFC Champions League, but Lupe seems ready to make Venus fight for their goals.

PNGFA looks for a new national team’s head coach

Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA) announced that they are looking for new personal for National Team’s coaching staff and team management. You can check the necessary requirements below:

The applicants must send a mail with current resume and copies of relevant certificates until March 20:
pngfootballassociation@gmail.com
footballassociationpng@yahoo.com

PNG National Football Team will play OFC Nations Cup in June.