History made by Galaxy FC

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.

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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.

Anthony Talo set to take a break from international duties

Recently, the Solomon Islands star goalkeeper Anthony Talo talked to Oceania Football Center regarding the next steps of his career in football and futsal. The player who almost represented Hekari United at OFC Champions League 2020, informed he is going to take a break on international duties after the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2020, to be held in Lithuania at the end of the current year: “After this year Futsal World Cup I want to take a break from international duties“, explained the player.

The player also stated he will keep available at club level, but he decides to take a break from representing Solomon Islands in any international competition for a uncertain amount of time: “I am not sure for how long it will be. After the end of the Futsal World Cup I may get to know“, said the goalkeeper.

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Athony Talo helped the Kurukuru to qualify for their fourth Futsaa World Cup in a row – OFC Media

“There are lot of things happening in my career life of football that are not good“, explained the former Western United goalkeeper. “But I am not going to retire from international duties, I just want to take break”, mentioned Talo to give a relief to Solomon Islands football fans.

The player also took the opportunity to apologize to Hekari United after the happenings in January: “I want to apologize to Hekari staff and fans for what happened“, said the goalkeeper.

Fijian players finally arrive in Australia

After lots of rumours, four Fijian players arrived in Australia to play for Frankston Pines. Peni Tuigulagula, Asaeli Batikasa, Savenaca Baledrokadroka and Tito Vodowaqa are ready to represent the Australian team.

From left to right: Tuigulagula, Kevin Taylor (head coach), Batikasa, Vodowaqa, Baledrokadroka, Jai Krishna (team manager) and Christopher Hodgson (team captain). Source: Frankston Pines Media

According to Pines’ head coach Kevin Taylor, all four players are going to debut in a practice match tomorrow evening against Beaumaris SC.

Goalkeeper Asaeli Batikasa left Labasa to play in Australia. Tuigulagula and Vodowaqa were representing Nadi in the 2020 Vodafone Premier League while Baledrokadroka was playing for Rewa.

Frankston Pines play in State League Division 3 in Victoria football league system. The club is based in Frankston North, a suburb from Melbourne.

Joses Nawo apologizes after being suspended from national team duties

Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) recently announced that four players were suspended from national team duties due to innapropriate behavior: Benjamin Totori, Dennis Ifunaoa, Joses Nawo and Michael Boso.

One of the players involved in this case, Henderson Eels’ forward Joses Nawo made a public statement about the case. He apologized for what happened and expressed his dissatisfaction on how SIFF dealt with the case.

Joses Nawo (left) representing Henderson Eels in the 2019-20 Telekom S-League. Source: SIFF Media

According to Nawo, the players were not formally informed about the case and they knew about the suspension on social media.

OFC U16 and U19 Championships: host nations confirmed

Samoa and Fiji will host 2020 OFC youth tournaments

Oceania Football Confederation confirmed that Fiji will host 2020 OFC U16 Championship. The top two teams in the tournament are going to qualify for 2020 FIFA U17 World Cup that is scheduled to be held in Peru.

It is going to be the second time that the U16 Championship will be played in Fiji. They hosted the tournament in 1999 and they finished the competition in the second position as they lost to Australia in the final.

Last year they hosted the OFC Olympic Qualifiers and it was a successful tournament. So people can expect a good tournament to see the newest talents of Oceania.

It was also confirmed that Samoa will host 2020 OFC U19 Championship and there are lots of complains about that due to the Measles Outbreak that ravaged the country recently. However it seems that the country has recovered from this outbreak which means that they are ready to host the tournament just like they did last year when they hosted the Pacific Games.

The top two teams of 2020 OFC U19 Championship are going to represent Oceania in 2021 FIFA U20 World Cup in Indonesia.

Jake Butler signs with Australian club

Former All Whites midfielder Jake Butler has signed with Brunswick City SC from Australia after representing Hamilton Wanderers in the 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership season.

Butler is a 36-year-old defensive midfielder that played two matches for New Zealand National Football Team in 2013. He is going to play NPL Victoria 2, the second tier of the football league system from Victoria, Australia.

Jake Butler representing New Zealand National Football Team

He scored three goals in eight matches for Hamilton Wanderers in the season.

Misiwani Nairube ruled out of Ba’s squad for 2020 OFC Champions League

Misiwane Nairube is ruled out of Ba’s squad for Champions League. The 24-year-old goalkeeper suffered a finger injury in a friendly match against Nadi on Friday.

Misiwane Nairube will miss 2020 OFC Champions League

According to Ba’s head coach Ricki Herbert, Nairube is expected to miss three weeks due to his injury which means that he is going to miss 2020 OFC Champions League. Beniaminio Mateinaqara and Atunaisa Naucukidi will be Ba’s goalkeepers in the continental tournament.

Nairube is one of the best goalkeepers from Fiji and he was Ba’s starting goalkeeper in the last OFC Champions League.

Ba will debut in 2020 OFC Champions League on Sunday against Auckland City from New Zealand.

Harry Kewell to visit Fiji

Former Australia National Football Team player Harry Kewell will be visiting Fiji in the next month. Fiji Football Association president Rajesh Patel confirmed that Kewell will be the guest speaker at Vodafone/Fiji FA Awards Night on 14th March.

The Fiji FA Awards Night will reward the best players from 2019 Fiji Football season.

Harry Kewell celebrating a goal in 2006 FIFA World Cup against Croatia

Kewell is one of the most important footballers of Australia’s history. He represented the Socceroos in two FIFA World Cups (2006 and 2010). He scored 17 goals in 58 matches for Australia National Football Team.

SIPA Championship starts on Saturday

The SIPA Championship starts on Saturday. Eight futsal teams from Solomon Islands will fight for the title. They are divided in two groups of four teams each and the top-two teams from each group will advance through the semifinals.

The futsal league is back.

Current OFC Futsal Champions League winners Kooline FC is drawn in the Group A alongside with The Saints, KF Gold and Joma FC while Marist FC, Island Brothers, Mataks and Koloale FC are grouped in the Pool B.

All matches will be played at Multi-Purpose Hall in Honiara. Oceania Football Center wishes good luck to all participants.

Solomon Warriors release 18-men squad for OFC Champions League

Current Telekom S-League champions Solomon Warriors announced their 18-men squad for OFC Champions League. All eighteen players represented the team in the national league and now they are ready for the continental challenge.

The transfer window of Solomon Islands closed on November 8 and it did not open before the upcoming edition of OFC Champions League. It means that Warriors could not sign players from other teams.

However, Warriors still have a strong squad with lots of quality including two foreigners from Vanuatu: 2019-20 Telekom S-League MVP John Alick and striker Tony Kaltack.

You can check the squad by clicking here.