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.
Brian Kaltak. Source: NZF Media
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 Fijians commanded by the New Zealand football legend Ricki Herbert are not going to have an easy challenge against the powerhouse Auckland City in the first match of group D of OFC Champions League 2020.
Ba boosted their squad with the addition of the Papua New Guinean international Alwin Komolong – that might be key to hold the strong attack of Auckland City -, but can be also very dangerous upfront with the likes of Benjamin Totori and Samuela Drudru.
The Fijians will need to be at their best to avoid a defeat against the New Zealanders and this is something the coach Herbert certainly knows: the New Zealand-side coach José Figueira has plenty of quality to choose from, couting on players as Clayton Lewis, Myer Bevan and Adam Mitchell in their squad – all of them with European and New Zealand national team experience.
Clayton Lewis is instrumental for Auckland City – NZF Media
Auckland is coming with, probrably, their strongest ever squad for an OFC Champions League edition, but Ba might be also in the same stage: the Fijians added very important players to their team in order to compete at continental stage and had a long period of preparation guided by a very experienced coach.
The defensive system of the Men in Black might where the game will be decided: the experienced goalkeeper Beniamino Mateinaqara will need to be at his best, alongside with his defensive players led by the Fijian international Laisenia Raura.
Ba will have a big challenge – FFA Media
Despite the clear favouritism of Auckland City for the encounter, the clash of two giants of Oceanian football will be a very interesting match to watch – expecting a defensive strong approach of the Fijians against the very good side from New Zealand. Stade Pater will be the venue directly from Pirae, Tahiti for this very important match, the opener of the group D of OFC Champions League 2020.
After not taking part in the 2019 OFC Champions League, the powerful defender Brian Kaltak is set to represent the New Zealand-based club Auckland City in the 2020 edition of the most important club football tournament of Oceania. The 26-year-old central defender is confirmed in the final squad of the Navy Blues that is in Tahiti to play the group D of the OFC Champions League.
Brian Kaltak – ACFC Media
Kaltak already played 23 matches of OFC Champions League, being Auckland City the sixth club the Ni-Vanuatu international will represent in the regional tournament. The defender alreeady defended two clubs from Vanuatu – Erakor Golden Star and Amicale -, Solomon Warriors from Solomon Islands, Lautoka from Fiji and Hekari United from Papua New Guinea. In 2018, Kaltak helped Lautoka to reach the finals of the tournament, but his former team was beaten in the final by Team Wellington.
Auckland City will start their campaign in the OFC Champions League against Ba from Fiji at Stade Pater, Tahiti.
The Samoan champions Lupe o le Soaga are not going to have an easy task in the group D of the OFC Champions League: they are grouped alongside the hosts and champions of Tahiti AS Vénus, the Fijian powerhose and title holders of Vodafone Premier League Ba and the hardest of them all, the nine-time champions Auckland City from New Zealand.
But the coach of the Samoan side, Paul Ualesi, still have one ambitious goal for this tournament: to win at least one match. Lupe, in their previous campaigns at OFC Champions League, was able to draw a match already, know they are looking to move one step ahead. “To be realistic, I know it is not going to be easy for us as underdogs, but our goal is to win a game against these top teams from the Oceania. We need to achieve that goal” says the head coach of Lupe o le Soaga.
Andrew Setefano and Paul Ualesi (right) at OFC Press Conferece – OFC Media
“The preparation is going well, we expect a really tough pool and a different level in this stage, but we are coming to compete on this level. Great exposure and experience to our players and whole team“, mentions Ualesi.
For the group stage, Lupe picked three New Zealand imports to help them in the process, players that Ualesi expect can be instrumental to achieve their goals: “It is really important to have them to assist and help us a lot, sharing their experience to our local young lads“, states the former player.
Lupe is going to start their campaign against the hosts AS Vénus in Stade Pater expecting for the best for the brave Samoan side.
It is not nothing new for the Oceania football fans that Auckland City comes as heavy favourites for this edition of the OFC Champions League. The New Zealand powerhouse won nine of the 15 participations in the most important club football tournament of the region and in 2020 they expect to be back to the winning ways after not sealing the title for two years a row.
But the result of a football match comes just after 90 minutes; Auckland City will have to overcome all the 16 sides in the competition to grab their 10th trophy of the regional tournament. In the 2019 edition, the apotheotic win of AS Magenta in the semifinal over the Navy Blues is still something fresh in José Figueira men’s mind – the same mistakes can not happen to finally retain back the continental glory.
One of the most important players of the offensive structure of the former Team Wellington coach is ready for the challenge. The 21-year-old wonderkid Logan Rogerson is there to be key upfront – being a major threat for Ba, Venus and Lupe o le Soaga in the group stage. “Our expectation is to win the Champions League and qualify for the Club World Cup“, says the forward.
Logan Rogerson – ACFC Media
Rogerson and his teammates are prepared for the tournament, as they top the ISPS Handa Premiership, the first tier of football in New Zealand: “The preparation is already going very good. We are enjoying being in Tahiti“, mentions Rogerson.
Rogerson’s coach, José Figueira, already knows how it is to win the OFC Champions League as he guided Team Wellington to the title in the 2018 edition of the tournament; his advices are certainly important for Auckland City squad: “The main advice from José is that we must stick to our own style of play and keep to the system in every game regardless of the score and who we are playing“, says OlyWhites captain Logan Rogerson.
The message from the coach is clear: we are here to win and we are going to play to win. Auckland City is set to have no mercy – if they have the opportunity to score, they are not going to waste it. “We have a lot of experienced players that have played against these teams [from Oceania] and have won Champions League titles. The coaching staff will prepare us perfect for these matches“, states Rogerson.
The Navy Blues have a stellar squad; Rogerson will have alongside him the All-Whites members Myer Bevan, Adam Mitchell, Clayton Lewis, Tom Doyle and Cameron Howieson. Another very important names are the Ni-Vanuatu international Brian Kaltak, the Spaniards Albert Riera and Angel Berlanga and the legend and top-goalscorer in history for Auckland City, the Argentinian Emiliano Tade.
When the Fijians of Ba enter the pitch to face the New Zealand side in their debut in the tournament, they know they will have a hard task: Auckland is back, stronger than ever, but only after 90 minutes we will know the outcome of the clash.
