Football Federation Samoa released a statement inviting football players with Samoan roots to represent the country in the 2020 OFC Nations Cup.
The interested players must mail info.footballsamoa@gmail.com, smalo.ffs@gmail.com or msaofaiga.ffs@gmail.com and send videos for assessment.
OFC Nations Cup Preliminary round is expected to be played next month in Cook Islands.
Solomon Islands player Ali Mekawir won his first tournament in England. He helped Langney Wanderers U23 to win Sussex Under-23 Challenge Cup by scoring a goal in the 4-0 win against Horsham at Culver Road on Tuesday.
The Solomon Islands forward entered in the second half and scored in the 89th minute to seal Langney’s title. He arrived in England in August through Royals Academy and he joined Langney Wanderers some weeks after arriving in Europe.
Sussex Under-23 Challenge Cup is a cup held in Sussex County with local teams.
Galaxy FC will play the OFC Champions League for the first time ever. Despite being a debutant they count on a strong squad that must be very competitive in the tournament. However they have some tough challenges as they are grouped with current champions Hienghène Sport, Hekari United from Papua New Guinea and Eastern Suburbs from New Zealand.
They will count on some great players that are able to take Galaxy to the knockout stage including English player Terence Carter that came from Australia to play for the Ni-Vanuatu side in the most important club competition in Oceania. The 26-years old striker can be a game changer for Galaxy and he is ready for this challenge.
He talked to Oceania Football Center about the team’s preparation for the tournament. He knows that Galaxy will have difficult challenges but they are already aware of it – “We have briefly spoken about the teams knowing that they have all done well previously,” said Carter – “We will be as strong as we can be. We have worked hard on our fitness and tactics so all we can do is apply them once we start playing,” he added.
Carter also pointed good things about Galaxy’s coaching staff that includes two Oceanian legendary former players: Batram Suri and Moise Poida – “I like what they are trying to implement with the team“. The English striker seems to be well adapted to his new club as he has been scoring a good amount of goals in the friendly matches since he arrived in Vanuatu.
The Ni-Vanuatu side is currently having the final moments of its preparation for the tournament and some new things could be seen in Galaxy’s gameplan – “There are some ideas we have and we are looking for executing it. Both Poida and Suri have worked well on preparing the team,” he said.
Galaxy FC will debut in the continental tournament on Sunday against current OFC Champions League winners Hienghène Sport.
It was reported that some Lautoka players had an exaggerated celebration after beating Nadi by 6-0 in the second matchweek of 2020 Vodafone Premier League last Sunday.
According to reliable sources some players went on a drinking spree after the match and it lasted until the early hours of Monday. Lautoka’s management decided to solve this case after the Champions League in order to not disturb the team for the continental tournament.
Fines and suspensions might be on the cards. We do not have information about players’ names but it was reported that a good amount of Lautoka players were involved on it.
Lautoka will debut on Champions League on Saturday against Malampa Revivors at Luganville Soccer City Stadium in Vanuatu.
OFC Champions League is ready to begin and Oceania Football Center team is already making the best coverage possible of the tournament that starts this weekend. However we received an information that a new international club competition could be born in Oceania soon.
It was reported by Marshall Islands Football Association that there might be a new international club competition in Oceania involving some minor nations that are not associated to FIFA: the Pacific Islands Football Champions League.
The tournament would have football teams from some places like Palau, Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Marshall Islands and Tokelau and the first edition could happen this year. There is no further information about it currently but Oceania Football Center keeps investigating in order to bring accurate information to our followers.
We also stand our support to this idea and we hope that this tournament can become a reality soon.
The current title holders of OFC Champions League will not count on some important players of their squad to take on Hekari United, Eastern Suburbs and Galaxy FC in the Group A of the OFC Champions League 2020. The 18-men squad of Hienghène Sport from New Caledonia – the champions of Mobil Super Ligue, Coupe de Calédonie and OFC Champions League in 2019 – will not count with some key players that held their team in the dream season they had in 2019.
Hienghène will not count on the usual starters and New Caledonian internationals Geordy Gony, Anthony Kaï and Miguel Kayara, players with important roles in their road to the continental glory in the last edition of the competition. The midfielder Geordy Gony was crucial for Hyehen as he scored two important goals in knock-out stage against Ba from Fiji and Team Wellington from New Zealand. Giani Kayara, Joris Gorendiawe and Yewene Yewene will be also missing the tournament. According to reliable sources, the players will not be travelling to Port Moresby due job commitments, as they were not being released to take part in the competition – also remembering Hienghène Sport works as an amateur/semi-professional team despite their recent sucess.
Despite missing some important members of the squad, Oceania Football Center talked to midfielder Joseph Athalé and he seemed very positive about the competition: “We expect to advance to the knock-out stage,” stated the player that got worldwide recognition for his performance against Al-Sadd in their 3-1 defeat in the last FIFA Clubs World Cup.
Hienghène’s squad is still full of important players even missing the likes of Gony and Miguel Kayara; the legendary Bertrand Kaï, the two-time OFC Champions League champion Roy Kayara, the goalkeeper Rocky Nyikeine and the asset forward Amy Antoine Roine – that scored in the grand final in 2019 and also in the FIFA Clubs World Cup – are all travelling with the team to Port Moresby to feature in the Group A of the OFC Champions League edition of 2020.
Roberson Felipe dos Santos Ribeiro is a 28-year-old midfielder from Brazil that is playing for Galaxy FC from Vanuatu since 2019. He arrived in the country in August alongside with two other Brazilian players: Gabriel Santana (that has already left the team) and Diego Máximo that was just returning to Vanuatu after spending his vacations in Brazil.
He had his first opportunity to play for Galaxy in the 2019 Opening Cup and he scored three goals in the group stage. According to local sources, Roberson impressed the supporters with his abilities and quality. He kept the good level in the 2019-20 PVFA Premier League helping his team with six goals and creating many chances for his teammates.
Now it is time to prove himself in the most important competition of Galaxy’s history: The 2020 OFC Champions League. Roberson is surely an important part of the team and he is ready to do great things in OFC Champions League.
Oceania Football Center recently reported that Vanuatu internationals Raoul and Michel Coulon were very close to sign with Lautoka from Fiji to play 2020 OFC Champions League.
Lautoka recently released their official squad for the tournament and the Coulon brothers are not in the list which means that they have not signed with the club. Alex Saniel, Jason Thomas, Liam Anderson and Jack Counter are the foreign players that will represent the Bluez in the Champions League.
Raoul and Michel would not be available to play 2020 Vodafone Premier League – the top-tier of Fijian football, because the transfer window is closed in Fiji. However they still have opportunity to join the club this year in the next transfer window in the mid of the year.
The 2020 OFC Champions League begins this weekend with four matches from two groups. Current Telekom S-League runners-up Henderson Eels will face Lae City from Papua New Guinea in the opening match of the group stage at Luganville Soccer City Stadium in Vanuatu.
Eels count on some experienced forwards like Joses Nawo and Tuti Zama Tanito. However the biggest hopes are being placed on Raphael Le’ai. The young forward is one of the rising stars in Oceania and he has already proved his quality at senior level by scoring 24 goals in 2019-20 Telekom S-League. He finished the Golden Boot race in the first position but he has not received the award yet because there is one match being investigated and it could change the Golden Boot winner.
There are lots of expectations on Le’ai and there will be many people looking at him during the Champions League once he is one of the most talented players in the OFC region. A good performance in this tournament can be decisive for him to make the next level in football.
The All-White midfielder Moses Dyer is set to a move to the Canadian Premier League, the player who most recently played for Norwegian side Florö SK is close to a move to North America.
The 22-year-old player is set to sign for Valour FC in the league according to reliable sources. The player already featured 11 times for the New Zealand national team scoring one goal. He also took part in two U20 FIFA World Cups representing the Oceanian powerhouse.
The Canadian Premier League is a new league structured to be the top-tier of football in Canada and had its first season in 2019. The deal seems to be an important move for Dyer since the league has a growing interest in media and the player would be in evidence – much more than staying at Norwegian 3rd tier league. The player is expected to be announced soon in his new club in Canada.
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