New Caledonia international Georges Gope-Fenepej played his second straight match for Le Mans in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. The 31 years old midfielder played 70 minutes in the 1-1 draw against Nancy. It was Fenepej’s first start for Le Mans since November when he played 65 minutes in the 3-3 draw against Caen.
Fenepej did not play a good match. Despite being used to play in the left side of the pitch he was placed in the right side today by Le Mans head coach Richard Dezire. According to some sources he was subbed off in the 70th minute due to an injury. However there is no news about it so Oceania Football Center will keep an eye on the situation.
Le Mans is in the 17th position of French Ligue 2.
The sixth matchweek of Papua New Guinean National Soccer League arrived and the match between Kutubu and Hekari United is already remarkable because Brazilian players Erick Joe and Vinícius are set to make their debuts for Hekari. However there is another interesting fact about this clash and it comes from the goalkeepers of both teams.
Well known Ishmael Pole played his whole career for Hekari United. He is one of the best goalkeepers in the country and he made his debut for PNG National Football Teams in the 2019 Pacific Games held in Samoa.
There is also a Pole in the other side: Jonathan, the young brother of Ishmael. He is a very talented 20 years old keeper that represented PNG the OFC U23 Olympic Qualifier held in Fiji last year. Jonathan played for Aporro Mai last season and now he is the starting goalkeeper of Kutubu.
Jonathan (left) and Ishmael (right)
Now they are going to face each other in an important clash. Hekari United won all their five matches so far and they are very strong and ready to win one more time while Kutubu will try to recover from the 1-0 loss against Morobe United last week.
The 26 years old striker Hamish Watson left Team Wellington to go back to Australia to play for Melbourne Knights. It is not the first time that he leaves Team Welly to play for the Knights – He already did it last year.
Watson was an important player for Knights in the 2019 National Premier League Victoria by scoring nine goals in 23 matches and now he is back to help the team in the upcoming season that is scheduled to begin this month.
Watson playing for Knights in 2019.
It was reported that Ollie Bassett also left Team Wellington to play in Melbourne. However there is no official news about his new club.
Watson was having a good season with Team Wellington. He scored eight goals in 11 matches in the 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership.
The most important football league in New Zealand comes to action again this weekend with very interesting clashes. The derby of Wellington – Wel Clasico – will take place at Porirua Park when Phoenix Reserves face Team Wellington. Auckland City and Eastern Suburbs will hope to continue their good form so far as they face Hamilton Wanderers and Southern respectively at home. The contention for the four top spots continue in high voltage in ISPS Handa Premiership.
Team Wellington will have to battle hard against Phoenix Reserves – NZF Media
Team Wellington is really not luck; the current 2nd placed side in the table will face the Phoenix Reserves exactly in the week the first team Wellington Phoenix is in a bye-week from the Australian A-League. The first team players Oli Sail, Matti Steinmann, Alex Rufer, Brandon Wilson, Liam McGing, Sam Sutton, Ben Waine and Callan Elliot will all be taking place in Phoenix Reserves side. To complete the drama, the match will be played away from their home, the David Farrington Park and they will not count with two very important players: Hamish Watson and Ollie Bassett, both players were key for the team in the season, but they departed from the club to play NPL in Melbourne, Australia.
Team Wellington is six points away Auckland City in the top of the table and they really need a win to keep in the contest. While they will have a harsh challenge, the coach Paul Temple will try to take advantage from the players he will have in action to take all points from the clash for the second round in a row – as they come from a 2-0 victory away from home against Hawke’s Bay.
Southern had a fantastic win over Canterbury last weekened – NZF Media
Southern could recover from a harsh defeat against Tasman two weeks ago as they came from behind to beat Canterbury United in Dunedin by 2-1. The goal of Andrew Cromb was crucial and gave the home side the win at the 85th minute of play.
They will be facing a hard opponent this weekend, away from home in Auckland the Eastern Suburbs finally found their perfect balance. The club won without much dificulties the good side of Hamilton Wanderers by 3-0 with a brace of Uruguyan striker Martin Bueno. A win can put the Lilywhites tied up with Team Wellington in the 2nd position if the side from Wellington loses their match in the round.
Clayton Lewis and Auckland will have a hard opponent this week – NZF Media
Auckland City continues six points clear in the top of the table, but they come from a 0-0 draw against Team Wellington at David Farrington Park in the derby. They will be back at Kiwitea Street and will hope to count with the goals of Myer Bevan to beat Hamilton Wanderers.
Hamilton suffered a harsh defeat imposed by Eastern Suburbs last weekened, the team coached by Kale Herbert will need to be at its best to grab an upset in Auckland against the current 1st placed side. The likes of Derek Tieku and Tommy Semmy will need to be in form to threat the defensive led by Brian Kaltak and Adam Mitchell.
Tasman hopes to bounce back after lose in the previous round – NZF Media
A very interesting clash will take place in Nelson as the home side Tasman United faces Hawke’s Bay United. Both sides come from a defeat in their previous mathces – Waitakere was twice behind the scoreline, but could still win by 3-2 Tasman and Hawke’s Bay was surprised by a fast Wellington Phoenix Reserves to lose by 2-0 at Bluewater Stadium.
The team from Nelson will hope their talented attack led by Jean-Phillipe Saïko can cause problems for the strong central-back and also coach of HBU Bill Robertson. The young Jesse Randall is being a standout for the team coached by Jess Ibrom, as well the newcomer midfielder Ben Watson that already scored twice in the season since his signing – including a thunderbolt free kick in his last match against Waitakere.
Hawke’s Bay is certainly needing the goals from Dylan Sacramento and specially from the North-American Ahinga Selemani. In the previous weeks both players could not help their side as before to get their so needed victories, what made the team from Napier to leave their place inside the top four in the standings.
Sam Burfoot scored the winner of Waitakere against Tasman – Simon Harmer
Waitakere is back to the top four of the season as they managed to bounce back and win Tasman at home by 3-2. The absolute fantastic goal of Jake Porter gave him the ‘Player of the Week‘ award, but it was the captain Sam Burfoot that scored the winner for the former OFC Champions League winners.
Canterbury was not succesful in their trip to Dunedin after suffering a heartbreaking comeback in the final minutes of the game. Now, at English Park, the team coached by Lee Padmore will hope to count with the goals of George King to leave the last place in the standings; the team reached the semifinals of the league last season and they will be certainly willing to be back to the final part of the season still in contetion for the national glory.
The Solomon Islands international Micah Lea’alafa was once again left out of the matchday squad in South African top-tier clash of his side Maritzburg United against Cape Town City. The forward played eleven games in the season so far for his side, but did not make part of the matchday squad of Maritzburg in their last four matches in a row. Micah is set to be available soon for the coach Eric Tinkler, as he is recovering from an injury – then we will know if the player is still in the plans of the club or not.
Lea’alafa in Maritzburg colours – MU Media
Despite not having none of the three Oceanians of the club in the starting line-up, the former All-Whites member Jeremy Brockie came in the second half and scored his first goal of the season for Maritzburg United. The team was playing with 10-men since the first half and might be pleased to get one point from this very harsh contest.
Brockie celebrates his goal – DISKIFANS
Maritzburg United sits now 6th in the South African Premier League with 20 matches played and 27 points in the standings. The fans and the club might be happy with the performance of the club in the season so far.
The sixth round of the top-tier football league in Papua New Guinea, the PNG National Soccer League comes with a lot of emotions in the entire country. Hekari United will travel to the Highlands for their clash against FC Kutubu where their new recruits from Brazil – Erick Joe and Vinícius – will be available for the coach Jerry Allen to make their debut for the Red Army.
Star Mountain lost once again last weekened – PNGFA Media
Star Mountain needs to improve their season: the club based in Port Moresby suffered another defeat in the last round against Gulf Komara. The side has lost four and drawn one of their matches so far this season. The club will hope veteran attacker Tau Winnie can deliver a few more goals in the coming weeks, having picked up just one so far.
Morobe Wawens, on the other side of the story, will be traveling to the capital to face Star Mountain with their second victory in the bag after beating FC Bougainville at Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium in Lae.
Lae City will be looking for another win – PNGFA Media
The strong Lae City side suffered a hard defeat to accept in the last weekened when they faced Vitiaz United in Lae. The 2-1 defeat was the major upset of the season for the team coached by Peter Gunemba so far and they will be hoping to grab another three points when they travel to Port Moresby to play FC Bougainville. The Ecuadorian Abdias Aguirre might be making his debut for Lae – the other Ecuadorian import Gustine Icaza already debuted in their previous match.
FC Bougainville must improve for this important match at home, after suffering a harsh defeat away from home against Morobe Wawens in Lae. Lae City will need to take care of striker Jonathan Allen, who has already found the net four times for FC Bougainville this season so far.
Hekari United won all matches so far in the league – PNGFA Media
Hekari United will look to keep their good form as they face in Goroka, Kutubu. The current leaders of the league has won all matches so far in the league, but needed to fight hard to win Tusbab Stallions last weekend in Port Moresby with a last-minute winner from Koriak Upaiga.
Kutubu has won two matches so far in the season and sits in 6th place in the competition. Their main striker Andrew Apo has scored four goals so far in the season and will be the key man if the team from the Highlands want to cause an upset this weekend. They will be looking to recover from their 1-0 defeat last weekend against Morobe United.
Morobe United will be taking on Gulf Komara – PNGFA Media
The experienced Jeremy Yasasa scored the winner for the Lae-based Morobe United against Kutubu in their latest clash in Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium, but the team in green needed to fight a lot to overcome the opponents. They will be receiving Gulf Komara in Lae and both sides will be coming from a high as they recorded important wins in their clash in the previous round.
Gulf Komara, after being beaten by Tusbab Stallions, changed their head coach, and they got a very fast response: they collected their first three points of the season last week with a win against Star Mountain.
Stahl Gubag is the top scorer of the season so far – PNGFA Media
One of the most entertaining matches of the weekened will take place in Madang as Tusbab Stallions will receive at Laiwaden Oval the 3rd placed site Vitiaz United. Both teams come in high-spirits for the contest, especially the visitors as they grabbed a very important win against Lae City thanks a brace of Joel Tiampo.
Stallions are coming from a hard contest against Hekari which they lost in the last minutes due a free kick scored by Koriak Upaiga. The team counts on the flair of Stahl Gubag: the 20-year old forward is the top goalscorer of the league so far with six goals scored in five matches played. The outcome of the contest will certainly have a lot of influence on national football in the week, as well on the standings of the PNG National Soccer League – click here to see the full standings of the league so far.
The last match of the OFC Champions League preliminary stage sealed the last spot in the group stage of the 2020 edition of the regional tourament. Once again a Samoan and a Cook Islander side proceeded to the group stage, as it was in all other opportunities of the competition.
Veitongo from Tonga and the Cook Islands champions Tupapa Maraerenga faced each other in Ngahue Reserve in Auckland with a good number of supporters of both sides. The Tongans saw their to get a shocking a lead in the first minutes of the game after Sione Uhatahi long ball fell into the talented Hemaloto Polovili feet, the striker had no hesitation and sent the ball to the low corner of Tupapa goalkeeper Tahiri Elikana.
Veitongo players celebrate their early goal – OFC Media
The early goal was giving the result the Tongans needed: a win would knock-out Tupapa Maraerenga and qualify Veitongo for the first time intot the group stages.
But the lead did not take long: after a good combination play, André Estay was found unmarked inside the box – a lapse of concentration of the goalkeeper Sinilau Taufa and his defenders allowed the Chilean number 9 to find the nets and equalize the match for the Cook Islanders.
Estay celebrates his goal – OFC Media
Veitongo would throw themselves upfront to find their so needed goal even in the first half. The likes of Tupou Uhatahi and Hemaloto Polovili were very dangerous for the defenders of the Cook Isalands side.
After a foul in 30-meters position, Hemaloto Polovili took his time and take the ball for another attempt. The Tongan international made no mistake even from far distance, giving no chance for Tupapa Maraerenga goalkeeper, placing the ball at the top corner – putting his side once again upfront.
Hemaloto and his celebrate celebrate their second goal – OFC Media
The first half ended with the 2-1 result in favour of the Tongans – enough to proceed to the next stage. Unfortunately for Veitongo, just five minutes later from the first whistle of the second half, a good combination play left the experienced Harlem Simiona upfront the goalkeeper Sinilau Taufa, that could not reach the ball first than the Cook Islands international that found the nets once again for his side. Tupapa had once again equalized the encounter, in another defensive mistake from the Tongan side.
The Cook Islanders were surely not in a good day, having a lot of difficulties with the artificial turf – losing easy balls with bad controls. The Tongans that seemed more used to it took advantage and continue to press them – the second goal was much celebrated for Tupapa, they know it was a very important achievement.
The combination between Tupou Uhatahi and Hemaloto Polovili continued to work: both players created the most important chances for Veitongo in the second half – the first one Hemaloto could not find a good angle to finish, the second Tupou notched a good cross to area, finding his teammate that with a powerful shot had his hattrick denied by Tahiri Elikana with a fantastic save with this right leg.
The Cook Islanders created some chances as well in counter-attacks, but the Tongan stopper Sinilau Taufa managed well to stop the fast-breaks from the black and white side. You can watch the full highlights of the game by clicking here.
Unfortunately for the Tongans and with some luck for the Cook Islanders, the match ended with a 2-2 draw, enough to qualify Tupapa Maraerenga once again for the group stage – the team will be certainly hoping to do a better campaign than in the 2019 edition. The Tongans just by a goal could not proceed for their first ever group stage in the modern era of OFC Champions League, but they certainly have something to celebrate from.
The last image of the OFC Champions League preliminary stage – OFC Media
Lupe o le Soaga from Samoa and Tupapa Maraerenga from Cook Islands are qualified for the group stage: the Samoans will play in Tahiti, alongside the hosts AS Vénus, the New Zealand powerhouse Auckland City and the Fijian champions Ba.
Tupapa Maraerenga will be playing in another French territory, they are grouped alongside the current OFC Champions League runners-up AS Magenta, the Solomon Islands champions Solomon Warriors and the Tahitian first-timers AS Tiare Tahiti. To check the full schedule of the competiton, you can visit our section of the 2020 OFC Champions League.
Labasa managed to hold some key players like Siotame Kubu and Antonio Tuivuna that attracted the interest of Suva FC and Ba respectively. They also brought Ratu Anare that scored two goals in the 2020 CVC against Ba. Solomon Islands international Dennis Ifunaoa left the team to come back to his homeland to play for Solomon Warriors.
Ratu Anare scored two goals against Ba in 2020 CVC
Recently promoted Navua brought some players to strengthen their squad for 2020 season including former Lami’s striker Taniela Rakariva that was Vodafone Senior League Golden Boot winner in 2018 and 2019. They are going to debut on Sunday against Nadi at Uprising Resort Ground. Nadi did not make many moves in the transfer window but it seems that Ba’s Avinesh Suwamy applied for release from Ba to join Nadi. Suwamy’s arrival would be a huge addition for Nadi. Marvelous forward Rusiate Matarerega will lead Nadi’s attack for one more year and he is one of the contenders to win the 2020 Vodafone Premier League Golden Boot.
Matarerega will lead Nadi’s attack for one more year
Current league champions Ba will visit Rewa at Ratu Cakobau Park on Sunday. The Men in Black recently lost 2020 CVC to Labasa and they are hungry to win their first official game of the season to have a good start in the league. Ba brought some important players like Mateinaqara, Totori and Drudru. Vanuatu international Jason Thomas also joined the team for 2020 while foreign players Darold Kakasi and Micah Tommy are back to the team for one more year.
Legendary Benjamin Totori made his debut for Ba against Labasa. Source: FFA Media
Rewa will start the season with some problems as they do not have a head coach. They brought the experienced goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau and his arrival must be a huge improvement for a team that suffred 25 goals in 14 matches last season. It was also reported that Rewa could sign with a Brazilian forward but it seems that it is not going to happen. Anyway the Delta Tigers will have a very difficult challenge against Ba.
Oceania Football Center wish good luck to all teams in the upcoming league season!
Vanuatu international Alex Saniel will play 2020 OFC Champions League for Lautoka
It was also reported by our media in December that he would join New Zealand side Franklin United in 2020 and everything is clear now. According to Saniel he is going to play 2020 OFC Champions League for Lautoka and then he will come back to New Zealand to play for Frankling United.
Le mardi dernier le guardien de but cagous Jean-Gilles Hnamuko a été présenté par sa nouvelle équipe européenne le Jonglënster, qui joue dans la deuxième série luxembourgeoise. Nous avions déjà parlé de ce transfert ici.
Hanamuko, né a Nouméa en 1996 et qui aura 24 ans le 2 mars, est l’un des espoirs du football calédonien. Il a commencé à jouer en metropole à la Paris Racing Academy quand il était très jeune, une équipe qui joue actuellement en National 3 mais qui a été l’un des fondateurs de la Ligue 1. Puis il s’installe pour une saison chez le US Roye_Noyon, l’équipe amateur de la Somme qui est dans le nord de la France. Donc il a signé son premier contrat professionnel avec l’équipe portugaise de le R.D. Agueda, qui joue actuelment dans le Campeonato de Portugal, la troisième série portugaise. Il a ensuite rejoint le FC Swift Hesperange, une équipe qui joue dans la deuxième série luxembourgeoise.
Pour le moment, Hnamuko n’a disputé qu’un seul match avec l’équipe nationale calédonienne lors des Jeux du Pacifique 2019. Il a joue touts les 90 minutes face a American Samoa. Maintenant qu’il joue en Europe, ses espoirs de défendre le but de l’équipe nationale augmenteront, car la Nouvelle-Calédonie jouera des matchs amicaux en Europe. Le premier à Tallinn en Estonie le prochaine 26 mars. Nous souhaitons à Hnamuko de réussir dans le football européen.
Oceania Football Center 