Lupe o le Soaga qualify to OCL Group Stage

Samoan team Lupe o le Soaga faced Tupapa Maraerenga from Cook Islands on this Tuesday and the match finished at a 0-0 draw. This result qualified Lupe to the group stage of 2020 OFC Champions League.

The Samoan side had a better performance than Tupapa Maraerenga but they could not find the net. You can check the match highlights by clicking here. Lupe will play OFC Champions League group stage for the fourth time. They first qualified for the main draw of the continental championship in 2014-15, 2017 and 2018.

Lupe o le Soaga and Tupapa Maraerenga draw at nil. Source: OFC Media

Tupapa will face Veitongo on Friday and they still have a chance to finish the preliminary round in the first position. They need to win by 3 or more goals to overtake Lupe o le Soaga.

The winner of the Qualifying Stage will join Group D in the Champions League which includes Auckland City FC (New Zealand), Ba FC (Fiji) and AS Venus (Tahiti). The runner-up will enter Group C featuring AS Magenta (New Caledonia), AS Tiare Tahiti (Tahiti) and the Solomon Warriors (Solomon Islands).

LIGUE 1 VINI – Deuxième journee de la Phase deux

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Nous sommes arrivĂ©s a le deuxième jour de la deuxième phade de La Ligue 1 Vini. Vendredi soir, les leaders du classement, l’AS Venus, ont facilement gagnĂ© contre l’AS JT avec un resultat de 4-0. Les marquers de l’equipe blanc-violet Ă©taient Yann-Pennequin-Le Bras, Tamatoa Tetauira, Ariiura Labaste et, bien sĂ»r, le capitaine Teanoui Tehau, qui a portĂ© son score saisonnier Ă  15 buts.

Teanoui Tehau (source FTF)

Vendredi Ă©galement, nous enregistrons la victoire de l’AS Manu Ura qui, avec un but Ă  la 6e minute de François Mu, a battu l’AS Tefana dans un dĂ©fi de bas rang.

AS Tefana vs AS Manu Ura (source FTF)

Samedi, trois matchs se sont dĂ©roulĂ©s au Stade Pater de Pirae. Dans le premier, Tiare Tahiti a remportĂ© une très large victoire 7-0 contre l’AS Olympic Mahina, de plus en plus en bas du classement. Comme si le rĂ©sultat n’Ă©tait pas suffisant pour dire cette victoire, je souligne que tous les buts sont arrivĂ©s en seconde pĂ©riode. Une fois le premier marquĂ©, tous les autres sont arrivĂ©s. Je me demande: n’est-ce pas que le problème de l’AS Olympic Mahina est un problème mental et non technique?

As Tiare Tahiti en maillot vert (source FTF)

Samedi, lors du deuxième match, se sont affrontĂ©s l’AS Tac et l’AS Central Sport. Le premier a gagnĂ© le match 3-2. C’est la sĂ©quence des buts: Marcel Tihoni pour AS Tac, Ă©galitĂ© de Jess Horoi pour AS Central Sport, but de Steve Horoi 2-1 pour AS Tac juste avant la fin de l’intervalle. Le TAC est allĂ© 3-1 grâce Ă  Jason Punuatua Papaura. RĂ©sultat final de 3-2 fixĂ© par le but du capitaine du Central, Fred Tissot.

AS Tac vs AS Central Sport (source FTF)

Le troisième et dernier match de cette deuxième journĂ©e de retour a vu l’AS Pirae et l’AS Dragon s’affronter, les Ă©quipes s’affrontant pour la troisième place. Les joueurs de Pirae ont eu le dessus sur leurs adversaires assez facilement pour que le match se termine 5-2 pour eux.

AS Pirae vs AS Dragon (source FTF)

AS Venus poursuit son chemin vers la victoire du titre en douceur. La victoire en reprise contre Pirae leur a Ă©galement permis de garder l’Ă©quilibre des affrontements directs de leur cĂ´tĂ© en cas d’Ă©galitĂ© de points face Ă  leurs rivaux habituels qui sont actuellement Ă  6 points derrière les leaders mais avec 2 matchs encore Ă  rĂ©cupĂ©rer. Reste l’AS Tiare Tahiti qui est sournois Ă  1 point du sommet et qui procède avec un calme Ă©gal. Ce qui est certain, c’est que le championnat de cette annĂ©e se dĂ©roulera jusqu’au bout.

Le’ai and Kofana to remain with Henderson Eels for OFC Champions League

Solomon Islands internationals Raphael Le’ai and Leon Kofana should fly back to New Zealand today to attend Scots College but according to Solomon Islands Football Federation media they did not take the flight for Wellington.

Both players decided to stay in Solomon Islands to play for Henderson Eels – “We want to stay with Henderson Eels for the OFC Champions League,” Le’ai said.

Henderson Eels is in the 2020 OFC Champions League Group B alongside with Malampa Revivors, Lautoka and Lae City.

Elliot Collier on trial with Chicago Fire

The Chicago Fire are currently working on their preparation for the next MLS season. They are in Tampa (Florida) for training and their 28-man squad was released on this Monday and there are some interesting news for the fans of Oceanian Football: New Zealander Elliot Collier was named for the preseason squad.

Elliot Collier playing for Chicago Fire in 2018

Collier played the 2019 season for Memphis 901 FC in the USL, a secondary football league in the United States. He is currently on trial with Chicago Fire and he has the possibility to come back to MLS if he have a good preseason with the team.

He is 24 years old and he already played for Fire in 2018 Major League Soccer. He made his debut for New Zealand National Football Team in November 2019 against Ireland.

Roy Krishna plays 90 minutes as ATK retain the Indian Super League’s lead

ATK played a home match against NorthEast United on this Monday in the 14th matchweek of 2019-20 Indian Super League. Fijian forward Roy Krishna was the team captain once again and he played the whole 90 minutes in the 1-0 win.

ATK had a difficult match and they could only find the net in the 95th minute with a goal scored by Balwant Singh after a corner kick taken by Javi Hernández. Krishna played well and had some opportunites but all of them were saved by NorthEast’s goalkeeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhary. You can check the highlights by clicking here.

Roy Krishna (right) against NorthEast United. Source: ISL Media

Krishna did not score this year. He last found the net when he scored twice on December 21 in the 2-2 draw against Hyderabad. ATK lead the 2019-20 Indian Super League with 27 points in 14 matches.

OCL Prelimary Round: Tupapa debuts as Lupe o le Soaga only needs a draw to proceed to group stage

The second match of the 2020 OFC Champions League, in its preliminary stage, will see the debut of the Cook Islands champions Tupapa Maraerenga against the Samoan representative Lupe o le Soaga – the Samoans won their debut match against Veitongo from Tonga to open the competiton in fashion, putting them close to the group stage of the current edition of OFC Champions League.

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The Samoan side celebrate their opening goal in the tournament – OFC Media

Two goals in the first half from Matthew Chant and Suivai Ataga were enough to make the 2-0 victory of the favourites in the clash against the Tongan champions. Despite controling the most part of the game, Veitongo make the things harder for Lupe in the second half and deserved at least to score once – what was not a good signal for the team coached by Paul Ualesi. “We need to jell our combinations and everything, we need to work on some of our weaknesses. We need to improve our passing and movement and finishing. Finishing is the main key“, said the coach Ualesi to OFC.

Tupapa, the team that is still to play in the competition, seems prepared for the challenge, couting with experienced players as the Cook Islands international Grover Harmon and Harlem Simiona and the Chilean midfielder AndrĂ© Estay. The player/coach Anthony Samuela said: “I think the team looks fit, looking at the shape of the boys, everybody’s good“, in his pre-match interview for OFC.

If the Samoans do not lose this game, they will play once again the group stage of the OFC Champions League as they did three times already. A draw will be enough to avoid Veitongo to reach them in table, as two of three teams will proceed to the next stage – the possible four-point Lupe will guarantee their spot as they could be reached by a 0-point Veitongo in the moment.

The match will be streamed by Oceania Football Confedaration channel in MyCujoo platform at the 4pm NZT, this Tuesday 28th January.

Brazilian duo set to make debut for Hekari in Goroka

Recently, in order to reinforce their team for the upcoming 2020 OFC Champions League, Hekari United announced the signings of two Brazilian players with experience in regional divisions in the South American country – get to know more about them here.

The players were not the only South American signed by a local Papua New Guinea side, as Lae City recently recruited two players from Ecuador. Both teams had problems to register the players with PNGFA in order to use them in the national league. But there are finally good news for the Hekari fans: the head coach Jerry Allen stated in an interview with local sources that both Brazilians – Erick and VinĂ­cius – are ready to play for Hekari in their next match in the PNG National Soccer League in Goroka, where they travel to play FC Kutubu next Saturday (2nd Feb).

VinĂ­ciuis Kryzozun (center) and Erick Joe (left) – PNGFA Media

See more:
Scandal in Hekari against Stallions match in National Soccer League;
Champions Lae suffer shock defeat as Hekari score late winner vs Stallions;
Vito Laloata has a good debut for Hekari United.

The players are the most important signings of the season for the current runners-up of Papua New Guinea national league. The Brazilian duo is full of expectation from the fans and they hope to watch their performances soon in the Oceanian country.

Jerry Allen: players need to improve

The Solomon Islander Jerry Allen that currently coaches the Papua New Guinean powerhouse Hekari United was not happy with his team performance in their last match against Tusbab Stallions where his side ended-up with a 2-1 win with a last minute goal of the captain Koriak Upaiga.

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Allen (center) coordinating his players – PNGFA Media

The coach said to The National, that “a win is a win and we take that but we didn’t play well today (Saturday 25th Jan), we were scruffy and not consistent,” Allen said, “we were lucky to get the win” he added.

The coach who guided Hekari to their continental title in 2010 also stated his concerns about the next OFC Champions League: “If they don’t change the way they play like what they did today (Saturday 25th Jan) then I will make changes. The Champions League is coming up and that is a totally different level of football with best of the best in Oceania. They have to step up because whoever that comes and play for Hekari plays for PNG“.

See more:
Vito Laloata has a good debut for Hekari United;
Scandal in Hekari against Stallions match in National Soccer League;
Koriak Upaiga winning goal against Tusbab Stallions.

Hekari will host the Group A at PNG Football Stadium – they are grouped with the current champions Hienghène Sport (NCL), the New Zealand champions Eastern Suburbs and the Ni-Vanuatu poewerhouse Galaxy.

Micah Lea’alafa: back from injury

Solomon Islands international Micah Lea’alafa missed the last three Maritzburg United’s matches in South Africa. There was no exact news about his absence and there were lots of speculation about his current situation.

Oceania Football Center got in touch with Lea’alafa to know what is happening exactly. He suffered an ankle injury but according to the player he is already recovered – “Just recovered from another injury […] now it was my ankle but that is fine,” he said.

It was his second injury since he arrived in South Africa. Lea’alafa has already played 11 matches for Maritzburg but he has not scored his first goal yet.

Maritzburg United will play their next match on Friday against Cape Town City in the 2019-20 ABSA Premiership, the top-tier of South African football. Lea’alafa might be called for this match after three weeks off.

Nigerian duo set to join Suva

The transfer window of Fijian football continues to be very active, since the start of the national league is nearing. After not being succesful in negotiations with Labasa star Siotame Kubu, Suva decided to invest in overseas players to strenghten their squad for the season. Suva signed two Nigerian players for the season: the defender Michael Oyesanya and the striker Jibola Afonja. The team from the capital hope to count with the professional experience of both players to have a good season.

Afonja and Oyesanya

Michael Oyesanya has experience of playing in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and his home country. He represented Nigeria at U17 level and play mainly as a right back, being also possible to be used as center-back.

Jibola Afonja also has a lot of experience in Asia, playing in Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. He is central striker with good goalscoring records. You can see some highlights of Afonja by clicking here.

Both Oyesanya and Afonja played recently the Samoa Premier League for Kiwi FC for a short period, then grabbed this opportunity to represent Suva in Vodafone Premier League and more local tournaments.

Suva also signed local players: Nasinu’s Semi Matalau, Jonetani Buksh (Rewa), Waisake Soga (Tavua), Ravneet Chand (Lami), Manasa Levaci (Lami), Kalistio Bonawai (Lami) Isikeli Ratucava (Nasinu) and Nacanieli Ratu (Tavua).