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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Papua New Guinea National Soccer League reigning champions Lae City FC found their scoring boots this weekend in Madang after putting five past Morobe Wawens to go joint top of the league, while young guns Tusbab Stallions made history in Port Moresby.
Lae City, bolstered by the return of Nigel Dabinyaba and Emmanuel Simon from the Solomon Islands, took a while to find the breakthrough against 2018 runners-up Morobe Wawens, but when it came, it sparked a spell of five minutes either side of the break which gave Wawens absolutely no way back into the match.
The catalyst came through perhaps an unlikely source – Alu Awi, who was signed from Morobe Wawens by Lae City this summer, was making his first start for his new club when he slotted away the opener three minutes before half-time. Awi, who is capped three times at U-20 level for the national team, then put in a second goal just before half time to send the champions into the dressing room with a somewhat unexpected two-goal lead.
Immediately after the break this lead was further extended by a well-known figure in Lae City colours: Nigel Dabinyaba got off the mark for the season in the 47th minute to put the champions three up, before late goals from defender Philip Steven and substitute Emmanuel Airem put the game well beyond doubt. Wawens had to settle for a late consolation goal scored by 19-year-old starlet Barthy Kerobin.
Lae’s big win meant that they drew level at the top of the league with exactly the same points, goals scored and goals conceded as arch-rivals Hekari United, who posted a professional 2-0 victory over Gulf Komara in the 3pm kick-off in Port Moresby. Goals from brothers Ati and Freddy Kepo were enough to see Hekari pick up their third straight victory, and condemn Komara to their third straight defeat.
In the early kick-off in POM, Star Mountain and Morobe United picked up their first points of the season in a well-fought 2-2 draw. Both teams will be delighted to get off the mark for the season, with Star Mountain posting goals from Patterson Elijah and Daniel Orim, while Morobe responded with strikes by Emmanuel Simongi and Gabby Yanum.
Over in Goroka at the National Sports Institute, FC Kutubu lost for the first time at home against in-form Vitiaz United, with most of the action coming in the opening five minutes. Russell Nirik scored his third goal of the season in the second minute to put himself temporarily at the top of the goalscoring charts – a position he would share with three other players by the end of the day. However, Kutubu pegged the visitors back almost immediately, with veteran Samuel Kini burying the ball in the back of the net just two minutes later. A tentative clash followed, which was eventually settled by Eliud Fugre’s third of the season, coming in the 70th minute. Vitiaz, alongside Lae and Hekari, have also won three out of three so far, and are becoming somewhat of a dark horse.
It was the late kick-off which cast most of the magic on a great weekend of football. The young and talented Tusbab Stallions side, the only side hailing from Madang this season, took their first ever away trip to Port Moresby, and it was a day to remember, as they headed home with a priceless 2-1 victory over FC Bougainville.
Some of the players in the side are so fresh that for many of the players, it was their first ever trip to Port Moresby in their lifetimes, having lived and grown up in and around Madang for all of their lives. With Bougainville boasting seasoned veterans such as centre midfielder Basil Jofari and solid centre back Abel Redenut, you might have forgiven the Tusbab youngsters for succumbing to a more experienced side.
Yet although brothers Ricky and Jason Wadunah are just 19 and 16 years old respectively, they already make up the heart of the Stallions midfield, and in today’s game they showed that what they lack in physical presence, they make up for in sheer energy, passion and tenacity.
However, it was the performance from 20-year-old Stahl Gubag which really caught the eye today, the midfielder scoring a first half brace amidst a flawless performance to give the Stallions a two-goal cushion at the break.
Bougainville, playing at home, did come back stronger in the second half, however, as the tired legs of the Stallions started to show. Jonathan Allen scored his third goal of the season to pull a goal back, and the side representing the Autonomous Region put huge pressure on the Stallions backline in the dying moments. However, the youngsters held firm and came away with a memorable victory.
Next week sees the top three all having ‘away’ games, with Hekari travelling to Lae to face Wawens, while Lae will take on Morobe United in Lae and Vitiaz will be hosted by FC Bougainville in POM – technically home games for all four of the latter sides. Stallions host Gulf Komara in Madang, while FC Kutubu will travel to the capital to play Star Mountain.
For the current league standings, click here.
Anthony Talo made his debut for Hekari United. The 24 years old goalkeeper from Solomon Islands played 90 minutes and kept a clean sheet in the 2-0 win against Gulf Komara.
Hekari United are currently leading PNG National Soccer League with nine points in three matches. You can check the full standings by clicking here.
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