Oceania Football Center

Ba ready to strengthen their squad for 2020

The transfer window is open in Fiji. Current Vodafone Premier League champions Ba look for new players to strengthen their squad for 2020.

According to local sources Ba have applied the transfers of five players: Forward Samuela Drudru, Goalkeeper Beniamino Mateinaqara and Left Midfielder Shivam Naidu from Lautoka; Defensive Midfielder Antonio Tuivuna from Labasa and Central Back Laisenia Raura from Suva.

Samuela Drudru is one of the five players that might join Ba for 2020

It seems that Shivam Naidu’s transfer is the most difficult one. He was named as one of the five Fijian players that are supposed to play in Australia for Frankston Pines. There are some rumours that he received some other offers to play abroad as well.

Ba’s first official match of the season will take place on January 24 against Labasa in the 2019 Champion vs Champion.

Andrew Abba’s knee surgery scheduled

Solomon Islands international Andrew Abba suffered a knee injury in early December during a Waitakere United’s match against Hamilton Wanderers. After one month his surgery was finally scheduled.

Andrew Abba (in red and white) playing for Waitakere United. Source: NZFootball

Abba will undergo surgery to repair his knee’s damage (a torn meniscus) on January 24. He is not expected to play for Waitakere United this season due to the injury. However it is already confirmed that he will play the Winter League for Forrest Hill Milford.

Oceania Football Center wish a good surgery and a good recovery to him.

Junior Kurukuru win at their debut in Australia

Solomon Islands U14 National Futsal Team are playing the 2020 FFA National Futsal Championship in Canberra (Australia) from 13 to 17 January.

They made their debut today in a 4-3 win against NSW Metro Lighting. Grayham Aneka scored two goals for Junior Kurukuru while Junior Michael and Tony Anifiti scored one goal each.

Junior Kurukuru next match is against SA Blue tomorrow.

Suva’s new head coach announced

Suva FA have a new head coach for 2020 Fijian football season. Former head coach Kamal Swamy was not available to work full time so Suva management team signed Babs Khan for a work full time job.

Permanent Secretary for Youth and Sports Maritino Nemani accepted Suva’s offer to become the team’s technical advisor.

According to local sources the new head coach is going to lead his first training session on this Monday.

Islanders observer #02 – Maro Bonsu-Maro

Episode 01: David Browne

The second 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 a first episode talking about Papua New Guinean David Browne, this episode will talk about another islander that plays for Auckland City: Maro Bonsu-Maro.

Cook Islander Maro Bonsu-Maro finished the 2018-19 ISPS Handa Premiership regular season with a good record – four goals scored in the last three matches. However he is not receiving the same game time in 2019-20.

Bonsu-Maro playing for Auckland City. Source: NZF Media

The 22 years old forward played only five matches in the current season – all of them coming from the bench, totalizing 63 minutes plus stoppage times. He scored his first goal of the season in the last Auckland City’s match against Waitakere United – “It took me long enough” said Bonsu-Maro in a social media.

Bonsu-Maro keeps fighting for his space in Auckland City’s squad as 2020 OFC Champions League gets closer.

Islanders observer #01 – David Browne

The 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership first round is over and Oceania Football Center begin today a series to talk about the foreign Islanders that are currently playing in the New Zealand’s main football league and their performance in the first half of the season.

The first episode is about an Auckland City’s key player that may leave the club soon as he is on trial in Finland: David Browne.

David Browne playing for Auckland City. Source: NZF Media

Browne did not have a good start in 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership. He did not play the opening match against Hawke’s Bay United. He made his season debut coming from the bench against Team Wellington and he scored his first (and only) goal in the season in a 5-0 win against Hamilton Wanderers in the third matchweek. You can check his goal by clicking here (from 2:40 to 2:52).

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David Browne: Auckland City’s 2019 top scorer

He played his first match as a starter in the fourth matchweek against Wellington Phoenix Reserves. He did not score but he played really well and was named for the ISPS Handa Premiership “Team of The Week 4”.

He finished the first round of the season with one goal scored in seven matches (four as starter and three coming from the bench). He missed Navy Blues’ last match against Waitakere United because he was already in Finland for trials. It is not sure if he is going to stay in Europe or not but Auckland City fans will miss him if he leaves the club.

Adrian Mariappa: Fijian blood in the Premier League

Everyone knows that there are some Oceanian representants in the English Premier League like Chris Wood and Winston Reid from New Zealand. There are also some young players like Scott Wara (Fiji) and Terry Stephenson (Papua New Guinea) playing for second division youth teams.

However there is one football player with Fijian roots that has already played 158 matches in English top-tier: Adrian Mariappa from Watford FC. Mariappa was born in England and his father is from Fiji. The 33 years old central defender was named in an extended training squad for 2011 Pacific Games but he did not accept the call-up.

Mariappa’s mother is from Jamaica and he has chosen to represent the Caribbean country and he made his debut for Reggae Boyz in a friendly match against Guyana in 2012. Mariappa became an important player for Jamaica by being the team captain like he did in 2016 Copa América held in the United States.

Mariappa playing for Jamaica National Football Team

He explained his final decision at a ‘meet and greet’ gathering of the Jamaica Football Federation’s (JFF) office in New Kingston – “From the three countries, Fiji is not a big nation in football; Jamaica has a great heritage in football and has been to the World Cup before, and some great names have played for Jamaica, so it is definitely a more high-profile country”.

As it was told before he is an important player for Jamaica and he helped his National Team to reach the 2015 Gold Cup final against Mexico but they lost by 3-1. It was a pity that Mariappa did not choose to represent Fiji as he could increase the defensive quality of the Bula Boys with his huge experience in the English football.

ATK captain Roy Krishna’s goalless streak goes on

ATK received Kerala Blasters at home for the 12th matchweek of 2019-20 Indian Super League with huge expectations as ATK were the favourites to win this match to keep the first position in the league.

Fijian forward Roy Krishna was the team captain once again and he played all the 90 minutes. Despite having some opportunities he did not manage to score for the third straight match. Holicharan Narzary scored for Blasters to seal the 1-0 win. You can check the full highlights by clicking here.

It was a bad result for ATK that dropped the lead to stand in the third position in the league.

Tommy Semmy scores twice as Wanderers reach the fourth position in the league

Hamilton Wanderers visited Canterbury United at English Park for the ninth matchweek of 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership and come back home with three more points with an incredible setback.

With three goals scored in the last minutes – 83, 84 and 88, Hamilton Wanderers won by 3-1. Derek Tieku netted the first goal while Semmy scored twice to seal the win.

Wanderers is now in the fourth position with 12 points. You can check the current league table and the top scorers by clicking here.

Lea’alafa absent in Maritzburg draw

After being subbed in the first half and playing only 38 minutes in the last match of Maritzburg United in South Africa, the Solomon Islands international Micah Lea’alafa was not called up for the match against Chippa United for ABSA Premiership, the South Afrian football top-tier.

Image may contain: 2 people, people smiling, people standing and outdoor — Micah (right) during training – *Maritzburg Media*

The forward travelled with the team for the away game but was not even in the bench as option for the coach Erik Tinkler. The game ended in 0-0 draw and Maritzburg sits 6th in the table so far.

The New Zealanders Daniel Morgan and Jeremy Brockie were in the bench in the match with only Brockie coming from the bench in the second half.