Michael Oyesanya is one of the newest players of Suva for 2020. The 32 years old Nigerian player adds lots of experience to the Fijian club. Oyesanya already played in African and Asian countries and he last played for Kiwi from Samoa.
Oyesanya is a versatile player that can perform as a right back or as a defensive midfielder. He arrived to Fiji alongside with his countryman Afonja Jibola that was also playing in Samoa for Kiwi FC. Both players arrived in Fiji after Suva’s president got in touch with Kiwi FC president to sign with them.
Oyesanya (wearing blue) playing for Kiwi in 2019.
They recently arrived but they already have high expectations for the 2020 season – “A lot is expected from us and we also expect to be the champions at the end of the season,” said Oyesanya.
The Nigerian defender played in some countries like Ghana, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and he pointed some things about football in Oceania – “Football in Oceania is quite different […] Oceania still need to improve on technical areas although they are already trying to,” he stated.
Suva will debut in the 2020 Vodafone Premier League on Saturday against Labasa at Subrail Park in Labasa.
Current Port Vila Premier League leaders Tafea FC have a major blow for the second half of 2019-20 season because two important players that are going to work in Australia for a few months: attacking midfielder Malakai Andrew and central defender Junior Felix.
Malakai Andrew is one of the players that will not play the rest of the season for Tafea
Tafea will be in trouble to replace these two players and some others that left the team like midfielder Edisson Stephens (on loan to Galaxy) and Jeffery Bob that is not going to stay with the team for the rest of the season. It was reported that Tafea are going to count on youth players to complete the team.
Some remaining players like goalkeeper James Iamar, defender Gordshen Dona, midfielder John Thomas and fowards Jordy Tasip and Allista Kalip must play key roles in order to help the team in the 2019-20 Port Vila Premier League title race.
Raphael Le’ai is the top scorer of 2019-20 Telekom S-League, the Solomon Islands national football league. The 17 years old forward scored 24 goals in seven matches to help Henderson Eels to finish the league in the second position.
Le’ai arrived in the mid-season transfer window alongside with central defender Leon Kofana after spending the year with Scots College from New Zealand.
New Zealand Football announced the ISPS Handa Premiership Team of the Week 11 and Brian Kaltak was one of the eleven players named for the team. The Auckland City’s defender from Vanuatu played a solid match in the 0-0 draw against Team Wellington last weekend.
2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership Team of the Week 11. Source: NZF Media
Kaltak is having a wonderful season playing for the Navy Blues. The 26 years old player has already been named for the “Team of The Week” for four times in the current season. Only five players have been named for the “Team of The Week” for four times this season: Brian Kaltak, Myer Bevan and Angel Berlanga (Auckland City) – Jack-Henry Sinclair and Ollie Bassett (Team Wllington). You can check all “Team of the Week” awards from 2019-20 season by clicking here.
Kaltak playing against Team Wellington. Source: NZF Media
That is Kaltak’s second season with Auckland City and he is one of the best players in the ISPS Handa Premiership. It seems that the 26 years old central defender is ready for the next step and play outside OFC region.
Former All Whites goalkeeper Glen Moss announces that he is playing his last season as a professional footballer. He is currently playing for Newcastle Jets in the Hyundai A-League, the top-tier of football in Australia.
Glen Moss playing for Newcastle Jets
Moss is one of the greatest goalkeepers of A-League’s history. He capped 29 times for New Zealand National Football Team and he was part of All Whites squad in one World Cup and two Confederations Cup.
Rewa does not seem to be in a good moment as they will play Ba in their first match of Vodafone Premier League without a head coach. The team plans to announce a new head coach soon, but he will not be able to prepare the team to face Ba in the weekend with the little time left for the clash.
Senior players as Simione Tamanisau might be the leaders for Rewa when they face Ba. The 37-year old goalkeeper has plenty of experience, represeting Fiji 39 times internationally, playing the 2016 Olympics Football Men’s Tournament and also experienced the FIFA Clubs World Cup in 2010 for Hekari United from Papua New Guinea. Another players spotlighted for this role is Tevita Waranaivalu, that already represented his country six times internationally.
Simione Tamanisau playing for Rewa – OFC Media
Rewa saved themselves in 2019 season from relegation under the guidance of the former international Pita Rabo in the head coach position. The new head coach – that will probrably arrive after the first round of the national league – will have a lot job to do to make Rewa competitive for the top-tabled places in the league.
Solomon Islands had the taste to be for the first time in a FIFA football competition in the past year, when they played the FIFA U17 World Cup in Brazil. Despite losing all three matches they played in group stage, for the first-timers it was a especial moment. The team led by Charles Mani, Leon Kofana and Raphael Lea’i faced high quality opposition and surely could learn a lot from this experience, as Charles Mani stated in an interview.
The honour the country felt from their young men was in 2019 – now they have the task to continue developing their game to be the future starts Solomon Islands need in football, but now it is time for another honour, for another World Cup: the Kurukuru will play their 4th straight FIFA Futsal World Cup in 2020.
Solomon Islands squad in U17 World Cup last year
After winning the OFC Futsal Nations Cup back in 2019, the Solomon Islands Futsal national team qualified themselves for their fourth appareance in a row in the most important competition of the sport. The 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup will be held in Lithuania and will count with the quality of players as Elliot Ragomo, James Egeta and Anthony Talo to represent Solomon Islands and Oceania.
It is an exciting moment as the competition is nearing – starting in September 12th. This Kurukuru generation might have their last shot in the world stage competiton – most of their players are already 30+ and might be not able for another World Cup cycle for 2024.
Kurukuru players celebrating 2019 OFC Futsal Nations Cup title
Something that did not happen so strongly in the previous editions of the Oceanian tournament, Solomon Islands had a lot of difficulties to beat New Zealand in the grand final held in New Caledonia. The match ended in a 5-5 draw after much fight from the Solomon Islanders, that counted with the presence of their star goalkeeper Anthony Talo to seal their title and confirm their new appearence in the FIFA Futsal World Cup.
2019 was the year to support the U17 Football team in Brazil to show to the world there is football in Solomon Islands, 2020 is the year to support the Futsal national team in Lithuania to keep showing to the world Solomon Islands continue to be the king of futsal in Oceania – looking to settle themselves in the world stage, competing alongside the best.
The mighty Galaxy suffered a shock defeat against current 2nd placed team in PVFA Premier League Ifira Black Bird in their second match at 2020 PVFA Opening Cup. The match was earlied from the weekend. The tournament is important for Galaxy and taken seriously – they are using the tournament as preparation for their first ever appearance at OFC Champions League.
Galaxy has previously won Sia-Raga by 4-2 with a brace of Terence Carter in the first game of the competition for the blues. Ifira did not have a good start in the tournament losing by 3-1 against Tupuji Imere. In this match Galaxy could not count with the defenders Diego Máximo and Alphonse Lency, both suspended after seeing a red card in the previous match of the team.
Ifira BB team for the clash – Vanuatu Sport
All three goals of the clash happened in the first half; the new addition of Ifira BB Tonly Kalotang coming from Erakor Golden Star scored the first goal of the match. It did not take long for Ifira to increase their lead through the efforts of the talented Jonathan Spokeyjack.
The Brazilian midfielder Roberson Felipe could reduce the scoreline to 2-1 still in the first half. It was the second goal of the Brazilian in this edition of the PVFA Opening Cup so far.
Kalotang, the first goal scorer of Ifira BB – Vanuatu Sport
The Green Birds were able to hold their lead in the second half – managing to control the best technical side of Galaxy – and collecting valuable three points in their group. Galaxy, Ifira and Tupuji Imere are all square with three points in their group, while Sia-Raga is still to record any point. The signing of five players from Erakor Golden Star seemed to work for Ifira as they could be the strongest team in Vanuatu capital currently.
The competiton will continue in Port Vila on Friday (31/01) and Saturday (01/02) with all the matches of the Opening Cup for their second round.
Jason Thomas is a well-known defender in the region and played for important clubs as Hekari United, Erakor Golden Star and Solomon Warriors. Thomas also took part in the U20 FIFA World Cup in 2017 defending the colours of his nation.
Thomas wearing the captain armband of Vanuatu – OFC Media
The defender also took part in 2016 OFC Nations Cup, the 2019 Pacific Games and in the last U23 Olympic Qualifiers where he captained his country to get the third place in the competition – and chosen as one of the best players of the tournament by Oceania Football Center. You can see highlights of the player by clicking here.
The 23-year old player did not play for Ba in the CVC Series where they lost to Labasa and is set to make his debut in the national league opener. The Vanuatu international might be very keen to impress his new coach Ricki Herbert to solidify his presence in the starting eleven. Thomas is not going to be only Ni-Vanuatu player to represent Ba in this season, as his countrymen Micah Tommy rejoined the club.
Henderson Eels finished the Telekom S-League as runners-up, being beaten once again by Solomon Warriors that sealed their title in their last match after beating Guadalcanal by a forfeit – the team just did not appear to face Warriors as they collect all three points from the clash.
Henderson Eels coach Eddie Marahare was aware of how hard it would be for his team to overcome the difference and, especially, hope Warriors lose to Guadalcanal that won just one match in all season. The coach explained how his team could beat Kakamora for so big goal margin: “The difference [from Real Kakamora] is that we started training and prepared for the match as our trial match for the OFC championship for 3 weeks while for them they trained only for a week before the match“.
Eddie Marahare, the Eels head coach – The Islands Sun News
Marahare expected the team to cut the deficit from Solomon Warriors and hope that Guadalcanal won the 1st placed team in the following day to celebrate the national glory. The bad news came when S-League media stated Guadalcanal lost the match by a forfeit to Warriors; sealing the back-to-back title for the red side. “A bit dissappointed, but just have to accept it anyway“, said Marahare. “They did the same thing on their final game last year. I just do not understand what happened to some of our local coaches. They want to coach national teams, but fail very badly to manage clubs. I should blame the coach for lack of proactiveness to involve people with money to support him“, added the head coach of Henderson Eels, blaming Guadalcanal for their forfeit in the second year in a row in the last match of S-League.
At the end of the day, Warriors celebrated their second straight title in the national league as they also qualified for 2020 OFC Champions League. Eels had also granted their spot in the regional tournament as they finished in the second place. Both teams will represent Solomon Islands in the competiton that will kick-off next month for the two sides.
Oceania Football Center 