Oceania Football Center

OFC Champions League kicks-off as Lae face Henderson Eels

The first match of the group stage of the OFC Champions League 2020 will take place in Soccer City Stadium in Luganville, Vanuatu for the Group B of the tournament.

The current PNG National Soccer League Lae City FC will take on the Telekom S-League runners-up Henderson Eels in the group and league opener for the current edition.

Lae will look for a good start in the competition, counting with their star duo Raymond Gunemba and Nigel Dabinyaba upfront. The two new recruits of the team coached by Peter Gunemba might be also starting the game: the Ecuadorians Abdias Aguiree and Gustine Icaza Vergara are set to debut in the continental stage for the Lae-based side.

Image may contain: 4 people, people smiling, people standing, outdoor and nature — Lae City is ready for the clash – *Vanuatu Sport*

But the clash will certainly not be an easy fight the national champions of Papua New Guinea; the Solomon Islanders of Henderson Eels come with some power upfront, especially from the wonderkid Raphael Lea’i that scored 24 goals in only seven matches in the national league, where Eels finished in the 2nd place.

The also U17 Solomon Islands national team members – that played in the U17 World Cup in 2019 in Brazil – Derrick Taebo and Leon Kofana might be very important for Eels’ defense. The international goalkeeper Desmond Tutu and the defender Boni Pride might be crucial for the Solomon Islanders to deal with a player as Raymond Gunemba.

Raphael Lea’i is the star of Henderson Eels – *OFC Media*

Both sides have many players with international experience in the OFC Nations Cup and in previous editions of the OFC Champions League. The Lae City captain and top-striker Raymond Gunemba was in 2016 the top-goalscorer of the OFC Nations Cup, where his nation lost in the grand final for New Zealand.

Various players of Henderson Eels took part in the last Pacific Games in 2019 held in Samoa, as the dangerous front-man Tutizama Tanito and Joses Nawo – both playes Lae will need to really deal with if they want to come out with all points from this clash in the opener of Group B.

Three exciting matches in ISPS Handa Premiership weekend

A different weekend than usual in New Zealand football top-tier, with only three matches in the process. The OFC Champions League kick-off in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu this weekend, will split the commitments of the current title holders of the ISPS Handa Premiership Eastern Suburbs that will be playing in Papua New Guinea the Group A of the competition. Auckland City will also travel for Tahiti for their regional commitments, but their Group D will only start in March. The upcoming weekends will have their focus split between the national league and OFC Champions League.

Image may contain: 1 person, playing a sport and outdoor — Waitakere United is in great moment – *NZF Media*

The 1-0 win over Eastern Suburbs in the local derby put the sleeping giants back in the run. Waitakere now sits 3rd in the table and will hope to count with the superb performances of players as Sam Burfoot, Dane Schnell and Alex Connor-McClean to win once again, but this time away from Auckland when they take on Southern in Dunedin.

Southern got a hard-fought draw in Hamilton against the Wanderers, when their top-striker Garbhan Coughlan found the nets after a long period without a goal. The team from Dunedin is only 8th in the process after a very good start of the season, but unfortunately for the club they could not keep the good form for longer. A win against the good side of Waitakere at home might put them back in the fight for a spot in the top-four.

Image may contain: 5 people, outdoor — Hamilton suffered a late goal to see their win denied by Southern – *Wanderers Media*

Wanderers will need a win in their upcoming clash against Wellington Phoenix Reserves in Wellington if they want to get closer to the top-four placed teams in the table so far. The late penalty scored by Xavier Pratt against Southern was not enough for to grab all points from their previous clash, as an injury-time strike from Garbhan Coughlan gave the visitors a point from the match.

Wanderers will hope to see their super-duo Tommy Semmy and Derek Tieku back in form against the youth side of Wellington Phoenix when they enter the Eden Park, in Auckland for the clash. The match will serve as a curtain raiser for the Wellington Phoenix first team clash in the Australian A-League.

Wellington Phoenix Reserves gave a lot of fight for Auckland City in their previous encounter at Kiwitea Street, suffering a 3-2 defeat where the youngster Ben Waine scored a fantastic goal. Despite their efforts, the strong Navy Blues side kept the lead, keeping Phoenix only at 9th in the process.

Image may contain: 2 people, outdoor — Auckland City continues their fine form in the season – *NZF Media*

Canterbury United will have a big task if they want to leave the last place in the ladder – to win Auckland City is something any side did so far, especially playing at Kiwitea Street. Canterbury suffered several defeats in a row and will certainly need a strong defensive system if they want to avoid another loss against the Navy Blues.

The top-scorer Myer Bevan, the club legend Emiliano Tade and All-Whites member Clayton Lewis are in excellent form for Auckland, that needed to manage a last-minute pressure in their latest match against Wellington Phoenix Reserves to secure another win in the league.

You can check the full standings, top-goalscorers and full results of the season so far by visiting our session of the ISPS Handa Premiership current season.

Bong Kalo unavailable for Galaxy’s debut in OFC Champions League

Galaxy FC from Vanuatu is going to play the OFC Champions League for the first time ever. They count on a very strong squad for this tournament. However one of the most important players of the team wil miss Galaxy’s first two matches.

Bong Kalo played 2019 OFC Champions League for Lautoka from Fiji. He played all three matches for the Bluez in the tournament and he was red carded in Lautoka’s last match aginst AS Central Sport from Tahiti.

Bong Kalo (right) leaving the field after receiving the red card against AS Central Sport. Source: OFC Media

As Lautoka was eliminated and Bong Kalo did not play any official club international match, the Ni-Vanuatu player is suspended for two matches due to this red card which means that he is going to miss Galaxy’s debut against Hienghène Sport.

He is also going to miss the second match against Eastern Suburbs. He is going to be cleared to play Galaxy’s last meeting in the group stage against Hekari United.

Malampa Revivors spotlight local talent in OFC Champions League

Malampa Revivors are ready to host 2020 OFC Champions League group B and they now have a big opportunity to win an international official match for the first time ever. The team based in Luganville, Vanuatu, is going to count on a lot of young local players that already represented the country at international level.

Some of them must be spotlighted like Armando Ravo, Claude Aru, Jesse Kalopong, Azariah Soromon and Tasso Jeffery. All of them represented Vanuatu in the 2019 OFC Olympic Qualifiers held in Fiji and they are ready for the challenge. Aru, Jeffery and Ravo were already playing for Revivors while Soromon and Kalopong arrived to play the continental tournament.

Kalopong, Jeffery, Aru and Soromon at Vanuatu’s starting eleven against Papua New Guinea in the 2019 OFC Olympic Qualifier. Source: OFC Media

Malampa Revivors are going to debut at 2020 OFC Champions League today against Lautoka from Fiji.

George Konusi ready for one more season at Manukau United

Manukau United FC announced on their official Facebook page that George Konusi is returning to the team for one more season. The 30-year-old midfielder is very known by Manukau’s supporters and he is also called “The South Auckland Hulk”.

Konusi was born in New Zealand and he has Samoan and Fijian heritage. In 2019 he opted for representing Samoa at international level and he made his debut for Samoan National Football Teams in the Pacific Games.

Manukau is getting ready for New Zealand football’s winter season. They recently announced that they signed with three Fijian players: Mohammed Alzaar Alam, Kishan Sami and Malakai Rakula. Manukau finished 2019 Lotto NRFL Premier League in the seventh position and they expect better results this year.

Legendary Henry Fa’arodo joins Hamilton Wanderers

Hamilton Wanderers announced that they have signed with legendary Solomon Islands international Henry Fa’arodo. The 37-year-old midfielder/striker will join the ISPS Handa Premeirship squad and he will also represent Wanderers in the Lotto Northern Premier League in the winter.

Fa’arodo is a true legend in Oceanian football. He played more than 60 international matches for Solomon Islands National Football Team and he recently won 2019-20 Telekom S-League as Solomon Warriors’ head coach. It is going to be his fourth team in the top-tier of New Zealand football league system as he has already played for Canterbury United, Auckland City and Team Wellington.

Oceania Football Center wish good luck to him at his new club.

Benjamin Totori and three other players suspended from Solomon Islands National Football Team

Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) recently released a 31-men provisional squad for the Tri-Nation in March and the OFC Nations Cup in June with lots of good young players including some players that represented Solomon Islands in the U17 World Cup in Brazil last year like Raphael Lea’i, Leon Kofana and Javin Wae.

However the big news does not come from the called-up players. SIFF technical director Moses Toata announced that four players are suspended from the national teams due to a indiscipline case that happened last year right before the Pacific Games held in Samoa: Benjamin Totori, Dennis Ifunaoa, Joses Nawo and Michael Boso.

According to sources the indiscipline case was a drinking spree. Toata pointed that these players were very close to not travelling to Samoa with the team last year. However the disciplinary decision was finally taken – “When players do not respect the rules, they have no place in the team. It is simple”, said Toata.

It is not known the duration of their suspensions but Oceania Football Center will keep investigating in order to keep our followers updated about it.

You can check the 31-men squad by clicking here.

OFC Champions League – Groups A & B Guide

THE LONG WAIT IS OVER! OFC Champions League is back and the Groups A and B begin this weekend in two different venues: Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. Oceania Football Center releases this full guide about these two groups with everything you need to know about each team.

It is important to remember that Groups C and D will be played in March so we will release another guide for these groups soon.

The Group A must be the toughest one in the Champions League. Current winners Hienghène Sport will have some hard challenges against Eastern Suburbs, Galaxy and pool hosts Hekari United. Hekari is back to the tournament after missing the last edition while Suburbs and Galaxy are debuting in the tournament.

Malampa Revivors will be hosting group B at Luganville Soccer City Stadium in Vanuatu and they will have the necessary support from local fans to face three good teams that are going to fight hard for two spots in the quarterfinals: Henderson Eels, Lae City and Lautoka.

Oceania Football Center wishes good luck to all teams. You can check the full texts by clicking in the banners below:

GROUP A

GROUP B

Ishmael Pole: we are excited and ready

The countdown is almost over and the OFC Champions League is ready to begin. After not playing 2019 OFC Champions League, Hekari United is back to the most important club competition in Oceania.

Hekari has a difficult mission in the Group A as they are grouped with current OFC Champions League winners Hienghène Sport from New Caledonia, Eastern Suburbs from New Zealand and Galaxy from Vanuatu. They will count on four foreign players that have the mission to help the team in the tournament: Erick Joe and Vinícius came from Brazil while Vito Laloata (Samoa) and Junior David (Solomon Islands) are also in the squad.

Hekari United’s goalkeeper Ishmael Pole talked about the importance of these players for the team – “They are a big boost for the team, specially the two Brazilians […] Erick Joe organizes the defense very well and Vinicius is very talented. We love his footworks“.

The Papua New Guinean club has the opportunity to play the group stage in their homeland and Pole is very excited about it – “Playing in front of our home crowd is special to me. It is a big challenge for us“. The supporters might be the necessary extra-strenght for Hekari to qualify for the knockout stage.

Ishmael Pole (left) is ready for the battle

Currently leading the 2019-20 Papua New Guinean National Soccer League with seven wins in seven matches, the team managed by Jerry Allen is ready for the battle – “We are excited and ready […] Everyone understands Jerry Allen very well,” said Pole. The 27-year-old goalkeeper shows confidence but he points that they need to be cautious – “We are not overconfident. We are in a death pool and every game is our grand final match but we trust each other”.

Hekari will debut on Sunday against Eastern Suburbs.

Nova competição de clubes na Oceania pode surgir este ano

O futebol é um esporte jogado em todo o planeta, sendo este uma linguagem universal. Surgido na Inglaterra, o futebol se espalhou e hoje é o esporte mais popular no mundo, desde as grandes potências europeias até pequenos países e micronações.

Em termos futebolísticos, certamente o futebol da Oceania é o que há de mais obscuro no planeta bola devido a distância e a falta de um grande fluxo de informações a respeito das competições locais. De qualquer forma, esta lacuna vem sendo preenchida com o surgimento de novas tecnologias e novas mídias como a Oceania Football Center.

Já é de conhecimento geral que a Liga dos Campeões da Oceania começará neste final de semana e que dezesseis times disputarão a fase de grupos. Entretanto, se o futebol oceânico já é algo obscuro, nós podemos estar realmente muito próximos de mergulhar em definitivo na Deep Web futebolística.

A Oceania Football Center entrou em contato com a Associação de Futebol das Ilhas Marshall, uma pequena nação localizada no Oceano Pacífico e que não é filiada a nenhum órgão internacional de futebol – nem OFC, nem FIFA e nem CONIFA.

Logo da Marshall Islands Football Association

De acordo com a MIFA (Marshall Islands Football Association), eles estão encabeçando a ideia da criação de uma nova competição de clubes na Oceania: a Liga dos Campeões das Ilhas do Pacífico. A competição contaria com equipes de Palau, Micronésia, Kiribati, Ilhas Marshall, Tokelau e Nauru, ou seja, apenas times de nações não filiadas a FIFA disputariam o torneio. Ainda não há nenhuma confirmação oficial sobre a criação do torneio, mas a primeira edição pode acontecer ainda este ano.

Outras nações não filiadas a FIFA como Niue também poderão ser convidadas para participar do torneio. Entretanto a Associação de Futebol das Ilhas Marshall ainda não conseguiu fazer contato com Niue.

O grande problema para a criação do campeonato é logístico, uma vez que o futebol nestas nações é totalmente amador e as federações/associações locais não dispõem de muito aporte financeiro. A ideia inicial consiste em um torneio de curta duração, que deverá ser disputado em uma ou duas semanas.

A Oceania Football Center está em contato constante com a MIFA para trazer todas as informações possíveis relacionadas a Liga dos Campeões das Ilhas do Pacífico.