Oceania Football Center

Eddie Marahare: disappointed to lose S-League title by a forfeit

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.

Eels knew they needed a miracle to take the title for the first time, but they did their part in the process to keep their chances alive. Counting with the help of the wonderkid Raphael Lea’i that scored eleven goals in a single match against Real Kakamora, the team won the last-ranked side by 19-0. The importance of this result is shown in the table of the competition: the goal difference from Eels to Warriors were of 13 goals; Eels needed to surpass this number and hope Warriors lose to Guadalcanal to win the S-League season.

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“.

Image may contain: 1 person, playing a sport and outdoor — 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.

Roy Krishna captained ATK once again

The Fijian Flyer weared the captain armband once again for his side ATK in the Indian Super League as they faced NorthEast United in their latest match in the Indian top-tier football league.

Roy Krishna was the leader of his team as they beat NorthEast United by 1-0 to retain the top-spot in the league, now ATK has 27 points in the run and Krishna and his teammates are surely making the Kolkata fans full of joy.

Image may contain: 6 people, people playing sports and outdoor — Krishna was the captain for ATK victory – *ISL Media*

The striker scored already eight goals and recorded four assists for his team in 14 matches so far the season – the last match against NorthEast was the 5th time that Krishna captained the team.

Krishna had a fantastic 2019 year for his former club Wellington Phoenix, for the Fijian national team and also for ATK, but he is still to score a goal in 2020, despite his good performances for the team. In social media Krishna stated “Not the best performance from us but happy to get all 3 points. Congratulations paaji Balwant Singh on your first goal this season. Congratulations NorthEast United for giving us a tough match. Time to regroup and strategize better for upcoming matches“.

ATK and Krishna will be back to the pitch on 02nd February when they travel to face Jamshedpur.

Avinesh Suwamy to leave Ba

Legendary Avinesh Suwamy is ready to leave Ba after representing the Men in Black for many years. It was reported by a local media that he applied for release from Ba to join Nadi.

The 33 years old player has a long and victorious career. His last title was the 2019 Vodafone Premier League. He also had a good international career by playing 38 matches in the OFC Champions League and 17 matches for Fiji National Football Team.

Michael Boso set to rejoin Suva

The 28-year old Solomon Islands internatinal Michael Boso is set to rejoin Suva for the 2020 season that is set to start 1st February. The central defender stated to Oceania Football Center and informed that he will be flying to the Fijian capital today (29th Jan). Suva also signed two African players for the season recently.

Image may contain: 1 person, outdoor — Michael Boso wearing Suva FA jersey – *FFA Media*

Boso is an experienced defender that already represented his country eight times. He also played in New Zealand clubs Miramar Rangers and Team Wellington, taking part in the 2018 FIFA Clubs World Cup. Boso also reached success with Marist FC in Solomon Islands, reaching the semi-final stage of the 2018 OFC Champions League.

The player represented Suva in the last season, helping the club to reach the finals of Fiji FACT and InterDistrict Championship, also playing for the team in 2019 Pacific Cup held in New Zealand. The defender played the Pacific Games for Solomon Islands also in 2019.

Pijnaker joins Grasshopper Zürich

New Zealander defender Nando Pijnaker signs with Grasshopper Zürich from Switzerland. He joins fellow Kiwi Max Mata who recently returned to Switzerland after a stint in Estonia.

Pijnaker is 20 years old and he was playing for Torslanda from Swedish fourth tier. He made his debut for New Zealand National Football Team last year in a friendly match against Lithuania. You can check his full profile by clicking here.

Lupe o le Soaga qualify to OCL Group Stage

Samoan team Lupe o le Soaga faced Tupapa Maraerenga from Cook Islands on this Tuesday and the match finished at a 0-0 draw. This result qualified Lupe to the group stage of 2020 OFC Champions League.

The Samoan side had a better performance than Tupapa Maraerenga but they could not find the net. You can check the match highlights by clicking here. Lupe will play OFC Champions League group stage for the fourth time. They first qualified for the main draw of the continental championship in 2014-15, 2017 and 2018.

Lupe o le Soaga and Tupapa Maraerenga draw at nil. Source: OFC Media

Tupapa will face Veitongo on Friday and they still have a chance to finish the preliminary round in the first position. They need to win by 3 or more goals to overtake Lupe o le Soaga.

The winner of the Qualifying Stage will join Group D in the Champions League which includes Auckland City FC (New Zealand), Ba FC (Fiji) and AS Venus (Tahiti). The runner-up will enter Group C featuring AS Magenta (New Caledonia), AS Tiare Tahiti (Tahiti) and the Solomon Warriors (Solomon Islands).

LIGUE 1 VINI – Deuxième journee de la Phase deux

🇮🇹 Italiano 🇬🇧 English

Nous sommes arrivés a le deuxième jour de la deuxième phade de La Ligue 1 Vini. Vendredi soir, les leaders du classement, l’AS Venus, ont facilement gagné contre l’AS JT avec un resultat de 4-0. Les marquers de l’equipe blanc-violet étaient Yann-Pennequin-Le Bras, Tamatoa Tetauira, Ariiura Labaste et, bien sûr, le capitaine Teanoui Tehau, qui a porté son score saisonnier à 15 buts.

Vendredi également, nous enregistrons la victoire de l’AS Manu Ura qui, avec un but à la 6e minute de François Mu, a battu l’AS Tefana dans un défi de bas rang.

Samedi, trois matchs se sont déroulés au Stade Pater de Pirae. Dans le premier, Tiare Tahiti a remporté une très large victoire 7-0 contre l’AS Olympic Mahina, de plus en plus en bas du classement. Comme si le résultat n’était pas suffisant pour dire cette victoire, je souligne que tous les buts sont arrivés en seconde période. Une fois le premier marqué, tous les autres sont arrivés. Je me demande: n’est-ce pas que le problème de l’AS Olympic Mahina est un problème mental et non technique?

As Tiare Tahiti en maillot vert (source FTF)

Samedi, lors du deuxième match, se sont affrontés l’AS Tac et l’AS Central Sport. Le premier a gagné le match 3-2. C’est la séquence des buts: Marcel Tihoni pour AS Tac, égalité de Jess Horoi pour AS Central Sport, but de Steve Horoi 2-1 pour AS Tac juste avant la fin de l’intervalle. Le TAC est allé 3-1 grâce à Jason Punuatua Papaura. Résultat final de 3-2 fixé par le but du capitaine du Central, Fred Tissot.

Le troisième et dernier match de cette deuxième journée de retour a vu l’AS Pirae et l’AS Dragon s’affronter, les équipes s’affrontant pour la troisième place. Les joueurs de Pirae ont eu le dessus sur leurs adversaires assez facilement pour que le match se termine 5-2 pour eux.

AS Venus poursuit son chemin vers la victoire du titre en douceur. La victoire en reprise contre Pirae leur a également permis de garder l’équilibre des affrontements directs de leur côté en cas d’égalité de points face à leurs rivaux habituels qui sont actuellement à 6 points derrière les leaders mais avec 2 matchs encore à récupérer. Reste l’AS Tiare Tahiti qui est sournois à 1 point du sommet et qui procède avec un calme égal. Ce qui est certain, c’est que le championnat de cette année se déroulera jusqu’au bout.

Le’ai and Kofana to remain with Henderson Eels for OFC Champions League

Solomon Islands internationals Raphael Le’ai and Leon Kofana should fly back to New Zealand today to attend Scots College but according to Solomon Islands Football Federation media they did not take the flight for Wellington.

Both players decided to stay in Solomon Islands to play for Henderson Eels – “We want to stay with Henderson Eels for the OFC Champions League,” Le’ai said.

Henderson Eels is in the 2020 OFC Champions League Group B alongside with Malampa Revivors, Lautoka and Lae City.

Elliot Collier on trial with Chicago Fire

The Chicago Fire are currently working on their preparation for the next MLS season. They are in Tampa (Florida) for training and their 28-man squad was released on this Monday and there are some interesting news for the fans of Oceanian Football: New Zealander Elliot Collier was named for the preseason squad.

Elliot Collier playing for Chicago Fire in 2018

Collier played the 2019 season for Memphis 901 FC in the USL, a secondary football league in the United States. He is currently on trial with Chicago Fire and he has the possibility to come back to MLS if he have a good preseason with the team.

He is 24 years old and he already played for Fire in 2018 Major League Soccer. He made his debut for New Zealand National Football Team in November 2019 against Ireland.

Roy Krishna plays 90 minutes as ATK retain the Indian Super League’s lead

ATK played a home match against NorthEast United on this Monday in the 14th matchweek of 2019-20 Indian Super League. Fijian forward Roy Krishna was the team captain once again and he played the whole 90 minutes in the 1-0 win.

ATK had a difficult match and they could only find the net in the 95th minute with a goal scored by Balwant Singh after a corner kick taken by Javi Hernández. Krishna played well and had some opportunites but all of them were saved by NorthEast’s goalkeeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhary. You can check the highlights by clicking here.

Roy Krishna (right) against NorthEast United. Source: ISL Media

Krishna did not score this year. He last found the net when he scored twice on December 21 in the 2-2 draw against Hyderabad. ATK lead the 2019-20 Indian Super League with 27 points in 14 matches.