Oceania Football Center

Three matches in the weekend of football in ISPS Handa Premiership

The New Zealand top-tier football continues to have less matches than usual in the matchweek due the OFC Champions League start. One match of the this weekened in rescheduled: the Hamilton Wanderers vs Waitakere United that was interrupted due bad weather will be replayed at Porrit Stadium. In the other two matches of the weekend, Tasman United will receive Auckland City at Trafalgar Park, while Canterbury United will have a hard duty against Team Wellington playing in Christchurch.

The rescheduled match between Hamilton Wanderers and Waitakere United will take place on Porrit Stadium, Hamilton and both sides will hope to recover from their defeats in the previous weekend of football in ISPS Handa Premiership.

Waitakere suffered a 2-1 defeat away from home against Southern in Dunedin and will hope that the duo Sam Burfoot and Dane Schnell can be back to the scoresheet to help them to collect very important three points in the process – to keep pursuing in the top tabled Team Wellington and Auckland City.

Hamilton also suffered a very surprising defeat at Eden Park against Phoenix Reserves; the team coached by Kale Herbert also have a very important attacking duo – Tommy Semmy and Derek Tieku – that do not find the nets for a reasonable time. The home crowd will certainly expect a better performance from Wanderers in order to get closer to the top-four tabled sides in the league so far.

Emiliano Tade is back in style for Auckland City – *NZF Media*

Combining the previous and the current regular seasons of ISPS Handa Premiership, Auckland City is still to know what a defeat is. The Navy Blues continue their unbeaten run and will expect the club legend Emiliano Tade can continue his great form since rejoining the team when they take on Tasman United in Nelson. Another key figures for Auckland in this match can be certainly the All-Whites Logan Rogerson, Myer Bevan and Clayton Lewis.

Tasman will hope to keep close the top four teams in the table and for this the team will need to grab points againt the current premiers. The likes of Jesse Randall and Jean-Philippe Saïko can be very important for the team coached by Jess Ibrom to get an upset against Auckland City at Trafalgar Park.

https://oceaniafootballcenter.home.blog/2019-20-isps-handa-premiership/The current situation in the table for the Dragons is not really what the coach Lee Padmore expected at the starting of the season in this point of the league. Canterbury is the last-placed side with just nine points in the process and they will have another big challenge ahead: they will take on the 2nd placed Team Wellington on Sunday at English Park, Christchurch.

The team commanded by the experienced midfielder Aaron Clapham is still to find their best form in the league; they already suffered big defeats in the process and they are still to draw or win a match in 2020 – being their last win in the league in 20th December, 2019 against Tasman United.

Team Wellington will expect to take advantage on the bad situation Canterbury United is and collect all points from this away match. The likes of Jack Henry-Sinclair, Nathi Hailemarian and Sam Mason-Smith can be crucial for a good performance for the team coached by Scott Hales.

To check the full standings, results and top scorers of the season so far, just visit our session of the current season of the ISPS Handa Premiership.

Kennedy Watemae: we played hard until the final whistle blow

Henderson Eels made a historical comeback in their 3-2 win over Lautoka in Soccer City Stadium in Luganville, Vanuatu and a 22-year-old forward was very important for this achievement: Kennedy Watemae. The young player is at his first OFC Champions League appearence and scored the first goal after coming from the bench for his side – later on Raphael Lea’i and Joses Nawo added the another two to complete the comeback and send Eels for the second time in a row to the knock-out stage of the OFC Champions League.

“I’m trying my best for to score goals, I hate to lose and also I trust my teammates that together we can make it“, said the strong forward. Watemae started the previous matches of Henderson Eels, but this time he was used coming from the bench in place of Hudson Felani – and he had a quick impact: “The coach told me to stay high ann put more effort; this helped our team in the comeback”, stated Watemae.

Image may contain: 1 person, playing a sport and outdoor — Watemae (white) playing against Lae City – *OFC Media*

Watamae knows his goals was instrumental for the comeback and the qualification of Henderson Eels to the quarterfinals: “The first goal made our boys to come stronger, made their mind strong to put more effort on the field, so we played very hard until the final whistle blow off“, says the forward. “I was so happy when Joses Nawo scored the 3rd goal to make it a win. I was very happy because I know we were going to win the when I see Joses to put the ball in the nets“, added Watemae.

The competition continues for the Solomon Islanders after this fantastic win over the Fijian side of Lautoka and Watemae expects his first appearece at OFC Champions League keeps being historical: “It will be tough [the knock-out stage] and the coach will tell us which was our failures and we will work on. It will not be easy but we will fight for it“, explains the attacker.

In 2019 edition of the tournament, Henderson Eels was knocked-out at the quarterfinal stage after suffering a harsh defeat against the New Zealand powerhouse Team Wellington. Watamae and his teammates will hope the story will be different in 2020 OFC Champions League – keeping the dream alive.

Tommy Smith is back to English football

The New Zealand international Tommy Smith is back to Europe, exactly to the same country he reached the peak of his carrer: England. The central defender was born in England and lived his youth in New Zealand, holding dual citizenship and representing the All-Whites for 38 times so far.

Smith made most of career in traditional Ipswich Town, mostly playing at English second-tier, but also represented teams as Stevenage and Brentford before moving to the Major League Soccer in 2018. The defender represented the Colorado Rapids in United States top football league for 60 times and scored seven times.

Image result for Tommy Smith sunderland — Tommy Smith in his new club outfit – *Chronicle Live*

Smith departed from MLS since the end of the previous season and now is disclosed the next step in the career of the 29-year-old player: he is back to England, this time to defend the also traditional Sunderland that is currently at Football League One, the third tier of English football.

The new club of Smith currently sits 5th in the table of the League One and their biggest goal for the season is to be back to the Championship, the second-tier in England. In recent years, Sunderland played for several season at the most important league of Europe, the English Premier League, but recently they were relegated twice – being now in the 3rd tier – and they hope the experience of Tommy Smith can help them to bounce back in the English league system.

Vodafone Premier League goes on with two interesting matches this weekend

The fourth matchweek of 2020 Vodafone Premier League is set to begin. There will be only two matches this weekend once Lautoka recently played the OFC Champions League and Ba is getting ready for their international challenge in the same competition.

After winning two matches in a row, Rewa has the chance to take the lead if they do not lose to Labasa at Subrail Park. On the other hand, Labasa needs to win again to climb some positions in the ladder. Young and talented Patrick Joseph is ready to show his talent alongside with many other good players from Rewa while Labasa will count on Siotame Kubu – that scored a brace last weekend – and his teammates.

Nadi will face Nasinu on Sunday at Prince Charles Park. After two losses, The Jetsetters need to recover against Nasinu that won in the 2020 Vodafone Premier League for the first time in the last weekend’s match against Labasa.

Saula Waqa is back to Ba

The Fiji international top-marksman Saula Waqa is back to Ba to play the ucopming OFC Champions League, that will kick-off for the Fijian powerhose coached by Ricki Herbert in March. The powerful striker is fully recovered from a serious injury that put him in the sidelines for more than six months.

The player is a very important to a team that already have the likes of Samuela Drudru, Micah Tommy, Benjamin Totori and Darold Kakasi upfront. The striker already represented Ba in the OFC Champions League and was the top goalscorer of 2017 Vodafone Premier League playing for the Men in Black.

Image result for Saula Waqa — Waqa in Ba outfit – *Ogol*

The 197cm tall striker had interest from another Fijian clubs during the transfer window – according to reliable sources – but was retained by Ba, the same team he plays since youth age groups. The 24-year-old player already scored 8 times in 10 matches for Fiji national team; he was also part of the Fiji U20 side that qualified for the 2015 FIFA U20 World Cup, where he played and scored in the historical 3-0 win over Honduras in the group stage.

Solid Wellington Phoenix beats Western United to climb spots in the table

The New-Zealand side Wellington Phoenix got their second win in a row in the Australian top-tier Hyundai A-League after beating at Sky Stadium Western United by 2-0. The victory was very importanto for the team coached by Ufuk Talay as they climbed two spots in the ladder to be ranked 3rd at the moment – Perth Glory is still to play in the round and can take the 5th place of Phoenix.

Phoenix used very different colours than the usual yellow, black and white: the team weared blue and green in support for the Mental Health Foundation from New Zealand – and their new outifits seemed to bring luck to the captained by Steven Taylor.

The first half was completely dominated by the home side; the former Wellington Phoenix players were booed all over the park when touching the ball, but the fans will have to assume the goalkeeper Filip Kurto made a fantastic game – being the responsible for avoiding a harsh defeat for his new side Western United. Ulises Dávila, Gary Hooper, David Ball and Reno Piscopo shots were denied by the Polish custodian, Phoenix were reaching Western United area very easily and it would be a pity for Ufuk Talay side to not score in their pressure. But their efforts paid off when Ulises Dávila found the wonderkid Liberato Cacace inside the box, with a classy finish the left-back put the ball in the back of the next of Kurto.

The New Zealand club continued to pursue their second goal while Western United could not create trouble for the defensive system led by Steven Taylor. The result at the break was a comfortable 1-0 lead for the hom side, but the story of the game would chance in the second half. The visitors put the ball forward looking for a equalizer and the likes of Connor Pain and Besart Berisha created some trouble for the Nix defense, forcing the New Zealand international goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic to make some decent stops.

The introduction of Callum McCowatt and Alex Rufer in place of Reno Piscopo and Cameron Devlin respectively put two more New Zealanders into action – the final sub of Ufuk Talay was in the final minutes of game, adding more speed to the team introducing Jaushua Sotirio in place of the Englishman Ufuk Talay.

Despite all efforts of Western United, Phoenix found the nets once again in the late stages of the match: a defensive mistake allowed the long ball of Stefan Marinovic to reach David Ball that made no mistake in an one-on-one situation with the opposition goalkeeper to give the final numbers to the match.

Image may contain: 2 people — David Ball celebrates the second of Phoenix against Western United – *Phoenix Media*

Phoenix continued their good form with an impressive performance, especially in defense having their fourth clean sheet in the season and the second in a row. Phoenix will be back to the pitch on Sunday when they play away from home the Central Coast Mariners at 6PM NZT.

Erick Joe cleared for decisive clash against Galaxy

The Brazilian top-defender Erick Joe of Hekari United received a greenlight to play against Galaxy FC from Vanuatu in the final and decisive match of the group A held in Port Moresby. Hekari United neeeds a win for the biggest possible goal margin to seal their spot in the knock-out of the OFC Champions League 2020 – a simple win will not guarantee a spot for the Papua New Guinean powerhouse in the decisive phase of the competition.

Image may contain: 1 person, outdoor — Erick Joe celebrates his goal against Hienghène – *OFC Media*

The tall Brazilian is impressing with his performances, being a rock in the defensive system of Hekari United. He scored one goal against Hienghène Sport in their 2-2 draw in the second group match. In this same match, the central defender needed to make way for Otto Kusunan after colliding with the goalkeeper Ishmael Pole. The player left the pitch coughing and also with blurred vision, giving signs he could not be fit to play against Galaxy in the final group match.

The good news for Hekari United fans is that the important defender recovered himself from the injuries and will be able to defend Hekari in one of their most important matches of the season so far.

Joseph Athalé: Hienghène is still alive

The current title holders of the OFC Champions League Hienghène Sport are in a hard situation in the group A of the current edition of the regional tournament; the New Caledonians lost by 4-1 against Galaxy FC from Vanuatu and draw in the late stages of the match against the hosts of Hekari United from Papua New Guinea. Hyehen goes for their final group match against the New Zealand side of Eastern Suburbs needing a strong performance to beat them by the biggest margin possible of goals to keep their chances to proceed alive in the tournament.

The key man of Hienghène, the midfielder and New Caledonian international Joseph Athalé, told Oceania Fotoball Center what happened to the current champions in the first two matches of the competition: “We lost some goal chances against Hekari United, but we were much better than in our match against Galaxy. In our debut, we were not organized as usual and did not play with our hearts – we were not warriors“, stated Athalé.

The industrious midfielder, that also can play as central defender and right-back, scored two goals for his side in the competition from the penalty spot. The mentally strong Athalé, kept focused to beat the goalkeeper Ishmael Pole of Hekari United to equalise the game already inside the 80th minute mark – the goal kept the chances of Hienghène still alive for the final matchday in Port Moresby.

“We have nothing to lose. We are going to give everything and we will see afterwards”, stated the New Caledonian international. Athalé also mentioned he feels the team will improve on their last game against Hekari United when they take on Eastern Suburbs, playing ‘as warriors’ – one strong characteristic of the champions Hienghène that went missing in the starting matches: “Against Eastern Suburbs we will fight even harder, we have to put everyting in this game“, mentioned the player.

The champions are down; but they still have a chance to raise in order to defender its crown – only the final whistle will seal the destiny of the brave and historical Hienghène Sport of Joseph Athalé.

Malampa Revivors make history

Malampa Revivors qualified for 2020 OFC Champions League knockout stage by beating Lae City from Papua New Guinea by 3-0 in the last matchday of Group B. The Ni-Vanuatu side finished the group stage unbeaten as they won one match and drew the other two.

That is the third Revivors’ appearence in the continental tournament. They made their debut in 2017 and played one more time in 2019 so it is their second straight season in the Champions League. Despite having played the tournament twice they arrived to this year’s edition with the mission of winning their first match in Champions League’s history as Revivors finished the 2017 edition with zero points in three matches while in 2019 they drew one match and lost the other two.

Malampa Revivors starting eleven against Hienghène Sport in 2019 OFC Champions League. Source: OFC Media

After two draws in the first two gamedays of 2020 OFC Champions League being the Group B hosts, people thought that the match against Lae City would be Malampa’s dead end and they would finish one more year without winning in the competiton.

However the Ni-Vanuatu side had an outstanding performance as they beat Lae by 3-0 to keep their unbeaten run in the current tournament. Andre Batick’s hat-trick will never be forgotten by the supporters. The striker did not last the previous match because he was suspended due as he saw the red card in the opening match against Lautoka.

Andre Batick scored a hat-trick to qualify Malampa Revivors to the quarterfinals. Source: OFC Media

Revivors’ qualification to the knockout stage is something remarkable specially for some players that represented the team in all participations in the Champions League as Andre Batick, Jeffery Tasso and Edwin Bai. Midfielder Claude Aru is another player that must be highlighted once he had very important role in the group stage. He was surely one of the best players from Group B this year.

Now it is time to get down to training and wait for their opponent in the quarterfinals.

Solomon Warriors announce their new head coach for OFC Champions League

Solomon Warriors announce their new hed coach for OFC Champions League. It was released that Selson Molea will manage the 2019-20 Telekom S-League winners in the continental tournament.

Sport: Tupapa Maraerenga withdraw from OFC Champions League | RNZ News — Selson Molea – *RNZ*

Molea takes up the role as former Warriors head coach Henry Fa’arodo was announced as the newest player of Hamilton Wanderers from New Zealand.

The Warriors are going to debut in the 2020 OFC Champions League on March 1st against AS Tiare Tahiti.