After helping Henderson Eels to proceed in the group B of the 2020 OFC Champions League, the youngsters Leon Kofana and Raphael Le’ai are set for a very good opportunity in Australian football. The 17-year-old defender Kofana and the 16-year-old forward Le’ai are set to trial at the top-Australian side Melbourne Victory. The information was recently confirmed by Solomon Islands Football Federation.
“The trial is made possible through Basi Football Agent Group which run by Australian based Solomon Islander Keith Sanga“, said SIFF Media.
“The young lads will be drafted straight into the Victory U-23s during their week-long stay with the club“, added SIFF Media. Both players will have a rare opportunity to test their skills and impress overseas technical staff. The players are stil unavailable to sign any professional contract with a foreign side – they need to be at least 18-years-old -, what does not made this opportunity less atractive for talented players.
Leon Kofana and Raphael Le’ai helped Solomon Islands to qualify for the first FIFA football tournament – the U17 FIFA World Cup. The young footballers represented their country in Brazil last year at world stage.
New Caledonia international Jean-Philippe Saïko was named the player of the week of the 15th matchweek of 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership. The 29-year-old forward played a very important role at Tasman’s 2-1 win against Auckland City.
Saïko’s great performance was crowned with a goal in the 95th minute that awarded the three points to Tasman United. It was the first time that he was named the player of the week in New Zealand.
Saïko won the player of the week 15 award. Source: NZF Media
Saïko has scored seven goals in thirteen matches and he is being a key player for Tasman to keep their hopes of qualifying for the play-offs alive.
New Caledonia international Georges Gope-Fenepej suffered another injury on this Friday. The 31-year-old player left the pitch in the first half after being touched by an opponent in the 2-1 win against EA Guingamp.
Fenepej playing for Le Mans. Source: Le Mans Media
Fenepej was named for Le Mans’ starting eleven for the second straight match but he was not so luck in the clash against EA Guingamp as he got injured in the beginning of the match. He was replaced by Vincent Créhin in the 18th minute when Le Mans was already winning the game by 1-0.
There is no news about the severity of this injury however it is known that Fenepej has been suffering from injuries recently. Le Mans is in the 19th position in French Ligue 2 and they are very close of being relegated to the third tier of French football.
The weekend of football in the New Zealand top-tier league will have once again only three matches, this time the current champions Eastern Suburbs will be back to action in the national league after a succesful campaign in the OFC Champions League in Papua New Guinea, but Auckland City already travelled to Tahiti to play the regional tournament being this the reason for the split round at ISPS Handa Premiership.
The 2-1 defeat of the Navy Blues against Tasman United in the previous round will allow Team Wellington to have a rare chance to cut the deficit from the current premiers. A win for the team coached by Scott Hales will put them back with only three points difference from the top-tabled side.
Ahinga Selemani is the key man for Hawke’s Bay – NZF Media
Hawke’s Bay will finally be back to action at Bluewater Stadium as they face Southern United on Saturday. A win for the Napier-based club can put them back for the contest in the top four. The team coached by Chris Greatholder will hope the likes of Ihaia Delaney and Ahinga Selemani can score in the weekend to help them in this challenge.
Southern also needs the win to approach the top-four sides in the standings; their asset for this contest will be certainly the Irish striker Garbhan Coughlan that is back to his good form. A away win will put the team from Dunedin very close to the top-four.
Waitakere will rely on Dane Schnell – NZF Media
Waitakere United will face once again Hamilton Wanderers, but this time at Seddon Fields. After a 3-2 defeat in their rescheduled match in the previous weekend, Waitakere will really need a win if they want to keep inside the top-four sides in the regular season. The former OFC Champions League winners will hope the quality of players like Sam Burfoot and Dane Schnell can be a differential for Waitakere in the clash.
Hamilton will hope to have another win over their rivals to be placed inside the top-four of ISPS Handa Premiership. The likes of Derek Tieku, Xavier Pratt and Tommy Semmy might be instrumental for the team coached by Kale Herbert.
Team Wellington needs a win to cut the deficit from Auckland City in the table – NZF Media
The 2nd placed side Team Wellington will have a difficult task at David Farrington Park against the current title holders Eastern Suburbs. The likes of Jack Henry-Sinclair and Sam Mason-Smith might be important for the home side if they want to cut the deficit in the standings towards Auckland City.
Eastern Suburbs, after securing a spot in the knock-out stage of the current edition of the OFC Champions League in Port Moresby, will switch their attentions to the national league in order to improve their records – the Lilywhites are placed only 4th so far in the season. The influential Martin Bueno will need to keep his form if his side wants to collect all points from this very hard clash.
After scoring a hat-trick in the 3-0 win against Lae City from Papua New Guinea in the last gameday of 2020 OFC Champions League group B, Malampa Revivors’ forward Andre Batick was contacted by Hekari United’s team manager about the possibility of joining them later this year.
Batick celebrates a goal against Lae City. Source: OFC Media
According to reliable sources there is an agreement between the parts so Batick could join Hekari after the end of OFC Champions League which means that he would be cleared to represent the team in the second part of 2020 Papua New Guinean National Soccer League.
Malampa Revivors have qualified for OFC Champions League’s knockout stage while Hekari United was eliminated in the group stage.
Fijian side Ba announced their final squad for OFC Champions League. They released a 17-men list on social media that will be travelling to Tahiti to play the continental tournament.
Henderson Eels’ squad had its first training session after qualifying for OFC Champions League quarterfinals on this weekend. Head coach Eddie Marahare confirmed that the trainings resumed today at SIFF Academy.
Henderson Eels starting eleven against Lautoka in 2020 OFC Champions League. Source: OFC Media
The Solomon Islands side finished the Group B in the second position and now they are waiting for their opponents in the quarterfinals. The match is scheduled to be played on April 25/26.
The fifth gameweek of 2020 Vodafone Premier League is on! Three matches will be played this weekend and Oceania Football Center brings to you a full preview of these clashes. Scroll down and check it!
First of all, it is important to remember that Ba vs Nadi clash is not going to happen this weekend because Ba will debut on 2020 OFC Champions League on Sunday.
After being eliminated in the Champions League, Lautoka turns its attentions to the Premier League as they receive Labasa at Churchill Park. The Bluez had an amazing start in the season by winning two matches by 6-0. However the current situation is not so good for Lautoka as they were smashed in the continental tournament.
The men led by Anand Sami are going to count on the crowd support to face Labasa that lost in the last two matchweeks. That is a crucial clash for both teams: Lautoka needs to pursue league leaders Rewa while Babasiga Lions need to recover from the bad streak. Let’s see how the Bluez will come to the pitch after the bad performance in the Champions League.
Lautoka did not have a good performance in the 2020 OFC Champions League. Source: OFC Media
Ratu Cakobau Park will host a double header this weekend. The first match will be contested by Nasinu and Suva. The Capital City Boys did not play in the last gameweek while Nasinu was smashed by Nadi by 5-0.
Both teams need to win on Sunday in order to keep up with their goals for this season. Seventh placed Nasinu needs the three points to move away from bottom placed Navua while Suva still thinks about fighting for the title. Christopher Wasasala must play a key role in the team if they really want to win this match as he scored all Suva’s three goals in the tournament
Wasasala is very important to Suva. Source: Fiji FA Media
Current league leaders Rewa will receive Navua at Ratu Cakobau Park aiming up another win. With nine points in four matches, the Delta Tigers do not count on Savenaca Baledrokadroka anymore as he signed for Frankston Pines from Australia. Anyway they still have a very good team and they are favourites to beat recently promoted Navua.
Dans le video de la OFC on se voit que tout le monde est au travail au stade Mahina, Tahiti, parce que tout doit être prêt pour le premier match du groupe D qui aura lieu dimanche à 17h entre Auckland City et Ba FC.
Ici le defenseur Kevin Barbe qui peint le mur – Source OFC
Les joueurs d’AS Venus sont également occupés. Il y a ceux qui peignent les murs, ceux qui réparent les portes et ceux qui contrôlent le terrain de jeu. Une communauté entière travaille pour que cet événement fonctionne au maximum. Cette chose n’est pas banal et n’est pas vue dans le reste de l’Océanie mais est également est tres rare comme meme dans le reste du monde. Un grand applaudissement au peuple tahitien qui se révèle une fois de plus plein d’esprit et et disposé à faire les choses comme il se doit.
Galaxy FC, a club created in 2014, rapidly shown their power in the Port Vila league system, to get promoted to the top-tier of the tournament and to turn the champions of Top Four in the capital city of Vanuatu. The team owned by Andrew Leong already had proven a lot of their power, but their major focus was surely their first appearance at OFC Champions League; their biggest achievement, to qualify for the quarterfinal stage of the regional competition. Among these big achivements, Galaxy reached another interesting milestone that deserves to be noted.
Galaxy celebrates in Port Moresby – OFC Media
New Zealand is certainly the top-football nation in the region – all teams from the other ten OFC members are always hungry to beat any representatives coming from there. Galaxy almost won Eastern Suburbs – the current national champions of New Zealand – but ended up in 2-2 after suffering a heatbreaking goal in the final moments of the clash.
The goals of Terence Carter and Roberson carried Galaxy to achieve an impressing mark for Vanuatu football: they turn into the first team from the country to avoid a defeat from a New Zealander side since 2014, when Amicale won by 1-0 the powerful Auckland City with a goal of the former international Dominique Fred.
The impressive result is not the only thing to notice from Galaxy; they played a really good football, with lots of offensive options and a very good defensive system especially in the historical match against Eastern Suburbs – that they played almost the entire second half with only 10-men. Despite not displaying a so good football in their final match against Hekari United, the 2-1 defeat was still enough to make the team captained by Seiloni Iaruel to proceed to the knock-out stage of the most important club football tournament of the region.
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