After some rumours, Ni-Vanuatu side Malampa Revivors announced three new players to help them in the 2020 OFC Champions League. Bob Jeffery (Tafea), Azariah Soromon (Tupuji Imere) and Tom Loic (Ifira Black Bird) will join the team soon.
Bob Jeffery will play for Revivors for the second time in his career. He also played the 2019 OFC Champions League for the Luganville’s team. Azariah Soromon also has some experience in the competition as he playe 2018 OFC Champions League for Nalkutan.
Bob Jeffery with Malampa Revivors in 2019 OFC Champions League. Source: OFC Media
Revivors will play National League Championship later this month as part of their preparation for 2020 OFC Champions League. They will host OFC Champions League group B from 15 to 21 February.
The third episode of Islanders Observer arrived! Oceania Football Center keep talking about the foreign islanders that are playing in 2019-20 ISPS Handa Permiership, the top national football league in Oceania. After two episodes talking about Auckland City’s players now it is time to talk about a Fijian player that plays in a Navy Blues rival: Shuiab Khan.
Despite playing in New Zealand since 2015, that is the Khan’s first season at ISPS Handa Premiership. The 24 years old player from Fiji appeared on Waitakere United’s bench in the 5-2 loss against Southern United in the fifth matchweek.
Shuiab Khan (in red and white) fighting for a ball against Auckland City. Source: NZF Media
He made his debut in a 4-2 loss against Hawke’s Bay United in the seventh matchweek on December 15. He played the full match and he played all possible minutes for Waitakere since then. The Fijian player had the opportunity and he caught it and it does not seem that he is going back to the bench in the next matches.
Khan played 2015 FIFA U20 World Cup for Fiji but he has never been called for Fijian Senior Team. His good moment in New Zealand needs to be pointed and he really deserves a spot in the next call-ups.
Port Vila Premier League was off for holidays but there is no schedule date for its return. According to local sources there should be a meeting with Port Vila Football Association president on January 10 to discuss some important things like the league schedule.
PVFA logo
However this meeting did not happen and things are still unclear. There is no news about a new meeting and players, coaches and managers still do not know when the league restarts.
You can check the current standings and the top scorers by clicking here.
Liberato Cacace is a rising star. The 19 years old left back is having a wonderful season playing for Wellington Phoenix in Hyundai A-League by showing off his huge talent. He recently scored an astonishing goal against Western Sydney Wanderers that really exposed his offensive qualities.
His great performances are getting attention from European clubs. The Wellington Phoenix are officially in the radar since Sarpreet Singh joined Bayern and Cacace could easily join an European club soon.
Things are easier for Cacace as he holds Italian citizenship and he would not count as a foreign player in the European Union countries. According to Australian newspaper Herald Sun, there are some clubs from German first and second tier interested on signing the left back.
Cacace already played three friendly matches for New Zealand National Football Team. However he is still eligible to play for Italy because he did not play any official match for All Whites senior team.
In the last season, 2018-2019, the two neo-Caledonian teams Hienghène Sport and AS Magenta have beaten the competition of the others teams and for the first time in history they found themselves facing each other in the final of the OFC Champions League which was held the 11 May 2019 at the Numa Daly stadium in Nouméa, capital of New Caledonia, in front of 7,000 spectators. As we know, Hienghène got the better of the rivals with a formidable goal from midfield in a very tight game.
Hinghiène Sport players a the winner’s ceremony of the OFC Champions League 2019
Obviously both teams are presents themselves at the starting line of the 2020 edition with the aim of returning to play for the title. The OFC club competition, which kicks off on February 16 in Papua New Guinea, will see the two 2019 finalists play their first game on March the 1st. Certainly the New Zealand teams will want to make their supremacy clear over the rest of their opponents to establish once again that kiwi football is the most important that is played in Oceania. But the two cagous teams will certainly not let themselves beat so easily. Hienghiène Sport also had the honor of playing the 1st round of the FIFA Club World Cup and fought very well to try to get through the round, leaving only after extra time with the Al-Sadd Qatariots led in bench from the culé legend Xavi Hernandez. This meeting allowed us to confront the most advanced professional football world and is just another important step in the path of growth that everyone expects from the football movement of the French-speaking country. But let’s analyze in detail the two groups in which Hienghiène Sport and AS Magenta happened.
GROUP A: Hienghène Sport, ABM Galaxy Football Club, Estern Suburbs AFC, Petroleum Resources Hekari United
Group A will take place in Port-Moresby in Papua New Guinea. The start is soft enough because the team from the north of the country will face the 2018/2019 vice-champions of Vanuatu, the Galaxy Football Club, on February the 16th. A team that is definitely within reach for the reigning champions. So 3 days later, on February the 19th, considerable difficulties begin to arrive. Hekari United, host and reigning champion of Papua New Guinea, will be a tough nutshell for everyone and will have the support of their fans. The journey for Henghiène Sport will end in beauty against the champions of New Zealand, the Eastern Suburbs AFC, which is one of the favorites for the final victory. In short, there is no easy way to get 1 of the 2 places needed to go to the knockout quarterfinals. It would be tough.
ROUND C: AS Magenta, AS Tiare Tahiti, 1 team from 2nd qualifying round, Solomon Islands Champion.
For Mister Alain Mozan’s men went much better. Meanwhile, they will have the opportunity to play the group at home and given the different environmental conditions that can be found in Ocenia, it is never bad to start with this advantage, then they will play their debut, on March 1st, against a team from the preliminaries. Soft start. The second game, on March 4, will be against AS Tiare Tahiti, the vice-champions of Tahiti, the best equipped team in the group in addition to AS Magenta. While the third and final game will be played on March 7 with the winning team of the Solomon Islands championship that has not yet ended. In short, it would seem an unhindered path that can lead the AS Magenta to the quarterfinals safely.
AS Magenta winners in OFC Champions League 2019 Semi-final
Subsequent rounds will be played with the following schedule:
Quarter-finals: 4/5 April 2020
Semi-final: 25/26 April 2020
Final: 9/10 May 2020
Before the start of the competition, the editorial team of Oceania Football Center will issue a comprehensive guide on the competition.
Lautoka rising star Shivam Naidu is ready to leave the Baby Blues. He is being linked to multiple teams from three different countries: Fiji, Australia and Singapore.
History tell us that football is all about competition, but certainly it is important to not forget the sportmanship. Football has developed from all over the past decades and now everyone wants to prove as the best in their position, in their game style and in the leagues they compete.
Competition is healthy: inside a football team if a player is always the starter and has no one that can replace him in the same quality it can turn into a problem – keeping the player as the unique option can turn him into accommodated individual. This is not the case of Hekari United competition for the spot between the sticks.
Ishmael Pole, a well-known goalkeeper in Papua New Guinea, played his entire football career in Hekari United – he is a local idol and member of the Kapuls. The signing of a foreign player – that will make Hekari use a foreign slot for OFC Champions League – is usually to add quality to first team, making it seems so as the new import will be introduced in the starting eleven – and it was like that in the previous match of Hekari United in the PNG National Soccer League.
Who is going to be the first choice goalkeeper in the Champions League matches is something still unclear, but if there is something that is of public knowledge is the friendship between the two players: “It is all up to the coach to see who is the best. The way people may see is different, but for me he is a brother from another country. He came to my country, so I treat him like my own countryman“, says Ishmael Pole.
Pole (left) and Talo (right) in Papua New Guinea
The friendship is there between the two teammates, but for sure they want to take the spot – and they know this is good for the team: “For me, I want challenges. Bringing a top goalkeeper from abroad, it makes me work hard for my spot“, adds Pole.
The same thinking comes from the Solomon Islands international, he said so when interviewed by local newspaper The National: “I have to work extra hard to earn a spot in the team. Competition is always healthy for a team. It makes you put in extra work and try to be consistent which is good for the team and as a player“, said Anthony Talo.
In Tahiti, the mid-season market window ended on Sunday 5 January. More than 150 contracts have been filed in the offices of the FTF (the Tahitian football federation). Let’s see which are the most important transfers that have been settled.
The standings of Ligue 1 Vini during winter holidays
First of all it is important to underline that the team that is currently at the top of the Ligue 1 Vini championship, AS Venus, has decided not to intervene on the market to change their team. The Mahina town team officials are convinced that with their actual players already under contract they can be competitive in bothe Ligue 1 Vini and OFC Champions League.
By their side, the AS Tiare Tahiti, second league force, has purchased 5 players, three from tahitians clubs, and two foreigners from Benin: Brison Avodage, from JAC FC, and Bio Odo Chabi, from Soleil FC in Cotonou. Then AS Dragon has secured one of its most interesting future prospects, seventeen-year-old central striker Denji Kaina. Author of 3 goals in 3 appearances in the Tahitian U17 up to now he played in the Olympique de Mahina.
The AS Tefana, who started playing well just before the Christmas break, bought two players from France Kevin Gill, from the Case Nice Football Senior amateur team of the capital of the Cote d’Azur, and Arthur Duval, from the Tour d ‘Auvergne of Rennes which is a Breton amateur team, and is also waiting for the international transfer to register the expert player Jim Katawa Ouka, who has played in the last season in the neo-Caledonian AS Magenta finalist of the last OFC Champions League. Ouka, who has played in the various youth selections of his country, is best known for his goal in the senior national team against Tahiti in the 2015 Pacific Games final.
Jim Katawa Ouka in action with AS Magenta shirt
The AS Central Sport, 7th in the standings, has been very busy on this market window. They hired 2 Canadian players: Ospina Camilo Saenza, from Dynamo Québec who plays the PLSQ which is the third Canadian football category, and William Vandal, 19-year-old goalkeeper who comes from the Academy of the Impact of Montreal, who plays the US Major League Soccer. The AS Central Sport also has acquired some Tahitian players: Winifred Faatomo, Mikael Lenoir et Hervé, Manavarere et Navairua Tahioterai.
William Vandal playing in Montreal Impact Academy
At the bottom of the rankings Olympique Mahina, who deprived himself of his best forward Kaina, added Teinaore Seino, Tavae Guyon and Natan Decarriere in pink. AS Pirae, who occupies third place in the league but with 2 games less than 3 points to recover on AS Venus, has moved only 2 players who serve to shore up the squad but has not touched the 11 owner. In conclusion, taking a look at Ligue 2, the movements of AS Arue and AS Excelsior jump to the eye and are proposed to overwhelmingly climb Ligue 1 with 8 arrivals each.
The first ISPS Handa Premiership’s matchweek of 2020 had interesting matches, showing the best of what football has in the country. Auckland City won the Super City Derby against Waitakere United without any fight from the local side, Team Wellington smashed Hawke’s Bay United at David Farrington park and Tasman collected valuable three points at they beat the defending champions Eastern Suburbs.
WeeNix celebrate their goal – Phoenix Media
The warm up match for the Wellington Phoenix clash at SkyStadium saw the Reserves side to score first in the initial part of the game through a good Byron Heath’s efforts. The young side of Phoenix managed to control the match in the first half, but the visitors of Southern United could collect a away point as the young Andrew Cromb found the equalizer for the team form Dunedin.
Navy Blues celebrate one of their six goals – ACFC Media
The Super City Derby – the name of clash between Waitakere United and Auckland City FC – was completely dominated by the current top-placed side of the national league in New Zealand. Dylan Manickum was the top goalscorer of the encounter with a brace, as Maro Bonsu-Maro, Cameron Howieson, Clayton Lewis and the top goalscorer of the competition so far, now with 10 goals, Myer Bevan all adding one goal to the scoresheet. The Cook Islander Bonsu-Maro scored his first goal of the season.
To reduce the margin for the local side, the talented Dane Schnell scored for his side in the first half and in the final part of the game Rayhan Carlson-Du Toit scored his first goal in ISPS Handa Premiership to give final numbers to a very important victory of Auckland City: 6-2.
Tommy Semmy brace gave Wanderers a massive win
In Christchurch at English Park, Canterbury United received Hamilton Wanderers. After a goalless first half, George King found the nets for the home side to open the scoreline at the 68th minute of play.
What seemed to be more one more loss to the team coached by Kale Herbert ended up with a massive comeback. The Englishman Derek Tieku found the nets to put the game levelled already inside the 80th minute mark, but the brace of Tommy Semmy gave the win to the visitors in the final minutes of the clash. Hamilton, after a very bad start of season, is now in a fantastic streak with three wins a row, sitting 4th in the league.
Hamish Watson brace helped TeeDubs to win Hawke’s Bay – NZF Media
The strong striker Hamish Watson is back to his goalscoring days as he notched two against Hawke’s Bay United at David Farrington Park. Team Wellington kept the difference only in three points from Auckland City as both sides won in the round.
The Englishman Sam Mason-Smith, former HBU player, scored another for the home side as the winger Nati Hailemarian gave final numbers to the scoreboard in favour of Team Wellington. A strong performance for the team coached by Scott Hales – a 4-0 giving no chances to the good side from Napier.
Saïko goal helped Tasman to grab an important win – NZF Media
Tasman United were desperate to win after some frustrating defeats; they had a very hard challenge to play against the current champions of the league Eastern Suburbs. The Saxton Field saw the New Caledonian international Jean-Philippe Saïko to score his second goal of the season to open the scoreline in favour of the home side.
The young local forward Lachie Brooks finished the day for Tasman United scoring his first goal for the club and giving final numbers for the clash in Nelson: 2-0.
The bad moment of Eastern Suburbs continue as they did not win any of their last six matches in the season so far. The club will travel to Papua New Guinea in February to compete for the OFC Champions League group phase and will certainly need to improve their performances.
You can check the full results and table of ISPS Handa Premiership by clicking here.
The Solomon Islands international Atkin Kaua has already landed in Malta after the confirmation of his trials with the top-tier side Tarxien Rainbows.
The midfielder that last played for Laugu United in the Telekom S-League said the team trains everyday and he alredy took place in sessions with the first team that currently plays the most important football league in Malta.
Oceania Football Center 