The hot news from Papua New Guinea comes from Port Moresby at this start of week: the Kapuls international Michael Foster made his way from Solomon Islands to reinforce the current runners-up of PNG National Soccer League Hekari United.
It was already reported by Oceania Football Center that Foster was not going to be back for Lae City for this season in his home country, but his future was still uncertain. The 34-year old midfielder has played 25 times for his national team scoring six times. He was the captain of the Kapuls in the latest Pacific Games held in Samoa where his side ended the competition in the 4th place.
Michael Foster with his nation colours – OFC Media
Foster is one of the most celebrated footballers of Papua New Guinea history and will now join national football idols as David Muta in the most known football club of Papua New Guinea.
Foster already played his club football in Solomon Islands and Australia and recently he was at Telekom S-League – the top tier of football in Solomon Islands, defending Malaita Kings. Michael was instrumental for the team in the league scoring five goals.
Foster when played of Toti City – OFC Media
Foster helped Lae City to win the last edition of PNG National Soccer League where his former club beat in the penalty shooutout his new side, Hekari United. Foster also represented Lae in the 2019 OFC Champions League where the team played the current winners of the continental tournament Hienghène Sport and were knocked-out of the competition after a 4-0 defeat in New Zealand against powerhouse Auckland City.
The midfielder will be facing again Hienghène Sport as Hekari United is grouped alongside the New Caledonians in the 2020 OFC Champions League edition, that marks the comeback of Hekari at international stage.
Foster might be already available for Hekari United in their second game in the competition that will be played next Saturday against FC Bougainville.
Wellington Phoenix could not keep their good run in Australian top tier – the Hyundai A-League – despite facing a Melbourne Victory in a bad moment in the league. Cameron Devlin took place as starter in the midfield, for the first time in the season the young Australian started for his new side due an injury for the regular Alex Rufer in the position.
Phoenix had won their previous three matches in the competition, against Brisbane Roar, Adelaide United and Western Sydney Wanderers. The New Zealand side travelled to Melbourne to face Victory that won just two matches in the league so far. The first half saw Phoenix having full control, forcing the goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas to make various stops, as in the lob finish of the prolific midfielder Ulises Davila.
Devlin impressed and was select for the ‘Team of the Week’ of A-League – Phoenix Media
The most important chances were created by Phoenix, but Melbourne was also dangerous in the first half. Stefan Marinovic made a fantastic defense to deny Victory a goal in one of their rare goal scoring opportunities. The Austrian playmaker Kristjian Dobras found the bottom right-corner of Marinovic in the ending of the first-half but the ball hit the post, unfortunately for Dobras and Victory.
The referee Stephen Lucas yellow-carded many players during the game and the same Dobras who hit the post of Marinovic was sent off after a harsh challenge with Cam Devlin. The VAR did not call the attention for Lucas to possible review the play and the Austrian let his team with 10-men for more than 20 minutes in the second half.
The introduction of offensive players as Ben Waine, Callum McCowatt and Gary Hooper was not enough for Phoenix to find a goal. The closest they got was in hearder of the defender Luke DeVere that hit the bar and kicked in the goal line.
The highlights of the match
Despite wasting an opportunity to have their fourth straight win in the season, Phoenix is now five matches without a defeat – having a much better run in the league than their starting matches in the season. The team sits now inside the qualifying playoff-zone with 11 points – 6th in the ladder.
Phoenix will be back to Wellington next Sunday to play the current leaders of the standings that just lost once in the season – Sydney FC.
Virginia Cavaliers was beaten by Georgetown Hoyas in the shootout in NCAA Men’s Soccer College Cup. Despite ending the tournament as runners-up, an Oceanian player wrote his name in Cavaliers’ history: Joe Bell.
Bell was a key player for Cavs during the whole season and he was also an important player in the final against Hoyas by scoring the opening goal of the match to give Cavaliers the 1-0 lead.
Bell opened the scoreboard with a right footed shot
However, Georgetown Hoyas managed to net twice to take the 2-1 advantage to the dressing room in the halftime. Virginia’s draw came later when Daniel Steedman scored in the middle of the second half. The two goals scored by Cavaliers were not enough – Hoyas scored a third goal in the 80th minute but Daryl Dikepushed hard to score for Cavs in the 85th minute to tie the match at three and take the final to the Extra Time.
Players celebrating Cavaliers’ third goal
The tie remained throughout the extra time full of emotions so the NCAA College Cup final was decided in the shootout. After several shots, Hoyas won by 7-6 in the Penalty Kicks to win the NCAA College Cup for the first time ever.
Bell scored seven goals and delievered four assists throughout the season. He is on of the three finalists for 2019 MAC Hermann Trophy, an award given to the best player of NCAA Division I men’s soccer season. The winner of Hermann Trophy will be announced on January 3rd.
Galaxy FC is getting ready for 2020 OFC Champions League. Currently in the third position in 2019-20 Port Vila Premier League, the Blues are strengthening their squad to play he continental championship with some new players like Solomon Islander Gagame Feni.
The group stage of OFC Champions League is scheduled to begin in February. However Galaxy is already deciding the final squad. The friendly match against Tafea on 18 December is going to be the last opportunity for new players to join the final squad that will travel to Papua New Guinea to play Group A against current ISPS Handa Premiership champions Eastern Suburbs, hosts Hekari United and current Champions League winners Hienghène Sport from New Caledonia.
Source: MG Tafea FC Media
This friendly is being called “Champion vs Champions” because current PVFA Premier League champions Tafea is going to face current PVFA Top Four champions Galaxy FC. It is expected that six players will have an opportunity to fight for places in the final squad: Gagame Feni that recently arrived from Suva, Alphonse Lency (Ifira Black Bird), Franck Reuben (Yatel), Malakai Makito (Yatel), Roger Marcel (Erakor Golden Star) and Edisson Stephens (Tafea).
Galaxy FC squad to face Tafea on Wednesday. Source: Galaxy FC Media
The game is scheduled to be played at Korman Stadium on Wednesday 18 December at 4pm.
There were no shortage of surprises in the opening weekend of the Papua New Guinea National Soccer League this weekend, despite the two former champions Hekari United and Lae City getting their campaigns started with victories. But it was the brand new sides that sprung the shocks this week, with FC Kutubu and Vitiaz United both showing they’ll be no pushovers.
Hekari United’s David Muta fends off a challenge from Star Mountain during Saturday’s fixture in Port Moresby. Photo: PNGFA Media
The most goals were scored in the first fixture of the day between Gulf Komara and FC Bougainville. With a slightly earlier kick-off time of 1pm on Saturday, all focus was on these two sides to produce a pulsating opening fixture of the 2019/20 season. And they did not disappoint.
With the match taking place in the PNG Football Stadium in Port Moresby, the match was technically a home game for both sides. However, Gulf Komara were drawn as the home team against FC Bougainville, but it was the Bougainvilleans who got off to the perfect start, opening up a two-goal advantage through Jonathan Allen and Daniel Vetali.
Komara pulled one back just before half-time thanks to Pala Paul, but Bougainville continued to press after the break, with their relentless pressure eventually leading to a mistake by Komara’s Kila Gapi, who sent the ball into his own net on 55 minutes. Bougainville were able to hold on to their two-goal lead until the dying minutes, when Kenneth Arah put in a consolation goal for the home side, but it wasn’t enough to deny FC Bougainville an opening-day victory.
The remaining four fixtures all kicked off at 3pm in four different cities, so it was excellent to have football taking place at the highest level in Papua New Guinea once again. In Port Moresby, Hekari United hosted Star Mountain, and the visitors did nothing to suggest they wouldn’t struggle in a highly competitive league this season. Goals from Daniel Joe, Kolu Kepo and Vanya Malagian saw the eight-time champions soar to the top of the league table, condemning Star Mountain to the very bottom.
At the Laiwaden Oval in Madang, reigning champions Lae City took the short trip to take on Tusbab Stallions in what looked on paper to be something of a mismatch: the last time these two sides met, Lae won 6-0. However, the Stallions, bolstered by the arrival of newly-elected captain Nigel Malagian, fought bravely, and only succumbed when Stahl Gubag handled the ball in the penalty area in the last five minutes of the game, and Lae’s Mosie Milubwa stepped up to dispatch the resulting spot-kick.
FC Kutubu, one of the two debuting sides, enjoyed a home draw this weekend, and welcomed Morobe Wawens, a side with OFC Champions League experience, to the National Sports Institute in Goroka. In a closely-fought contest, a single goal from Kutubu’s Andrew Apo separated the two sides, gifting Kutubu the perfect start to their debut season, while underlining the work that Morobe Wawens still have to do in order to reach the levels they achieved when they finished second in 2018.
And at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium in Morobe, debutants Vitiaz United pulled off perhaps the shock of the weekend with a stunning 2-1 victory at veterans Morobe United. However, given the wealth of talent at the new franchise that came directly from Morobe United, perhaps a victory was not so much of a shock. The likes of Eliud Fugre, Russell Nirik, Max Efale, Yagi Yasasa and Joshua Talau have all made the move over to Vitiaz United for this season. A goal from captain Fugre and a Nirik finish was enough for the visitors to pick up a priceless victory, while Giwi Simon scored a consolation for Morobe United.
Full Results
Gulf Komara 2-3 FC Bougainville Tusbab Stallions 0-1 Lae City Morobe United 1-2 Vitiaz United FC Kutubu 1-0 Morobe Wawens Hekari United 3-0 Star Mountain
ATK traveled more than 2000km to face FC Goa in the 8th matchweek of Indian Super League. It was an important clash for both teams because this match could change the first positions in the league, and it changed.
ATK knew that it should be a very difficult match so they adopted a cautious strategy, playing a reactive football with a five-men deep defensive line – it is clear to check once they had only 36% of ball possession. The midfielder’s line was made by three players while Roy Krishna and David Williams played together in the attack.
ATK defensive behavior in first half
They had many difficulties in the offensive transition, the midfield players struggled to keep the ball possession so Krishna and Williams were not so participative in the match. The defenders tried lots of long throws for them but they were not successful.
FC Goa opened the scoreboard with a goal scored by Mourtada Fall in the 60th minute. Michael Soosairaj from ATK got injured in the 63rd minute and was replaced by Jobby Justin who needed less than a minute to score for ATK and tie the match.
The goal netted by Justin was not enough and FC Goa managed to find the net once again to win the match by 2-1. According to Sofascore, Roy Krishna played 90 minutes and had a 6.1/10 rate – the worst hate of all players in the match. You can check the highlights by clicking here.
Krishna had no opportunities against FC Goa
FC Goa is currently leading the league with fifteen points while ATK is now in the second position with fourteen points.
Maritzburg United faced Mamelodi Sundowns in the South African League Cup final. They opened the scoreboard with a goal scored by Judas Moseamedi in the first half. However Mauricio Affonso scored a brace for Mamelodi in the second half to give them the win and the title.
Mamelodi Sundowns players celebrating a goal
Solomon Islander Micah Lea’alafa was on the bench while New Zealander Daniel Morgan played 90 minutes. Jeremy Brockie, another Oceanian player from Maritzburg United, was not in the squad for this clash. You can check the highlights by clicking here.
Maritzburg head coach, Eric Tinkler, talked to the media after the match: “We started the game extremely well. We were disciplined, frustrated them and we caught them. In the second-half with the quality that Sundowns have they punished us.”
Maritzburg United head coach Eric Tinkler
“I can’t fault the players. They worked their socks off. We worked very hard to get there. I feel for the players and the club. We almost got there […] Life goes on. We have a massive game in 6 days against Kaizer Chiefs at home. We have to reflect and move on” he complemented.
After staying on the bench against Tottenham in the UEFA Champions League midweek clash, Sapreet Singh was on Bayern’s bench again this weekend against Werder Bremen in the 15th Bundesliga’s matchweek.
Bayern won Werder Bremen by 6-1. Singh entered in the 82th minute to replace Philippe Coutinho who scored a hat-trick in the match.
Singh replaces Coutinho
Singh had the opportunity to play around ten minutes for Bayern’s main team to achieve a 6.6/10 rate in Sofascore. He showed his happiness for debuting for Bayern in his account on Twitter – “Dream come true to make my Bundesliga debut for this great club”.
Bayern is currently in the fourth position with 27 points in Bundesliga.
Virgina Cavaliers faced Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the NCAA College Cup semifinals, the main football (soccer) league at College level in United States. There was one player from New Zealand in pitch: Joe Bell for Virginia Cavaliers.
Cavaliers won by 2-1 with two goals scored by Daryl Dike. Bell played 90 minutes for Cavs. Matthew Warbrick is another New Zealander in Cavaliers squad but he did not play.
Joe Bell playing for Virginia Cavaliers
Harris is also named a finalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy, which is given to the top play in Division I men’s college soccer. Virginia is going to face Georgetown Hoyas in the grand final on Sunday (Monday in Oceania).
Hienghène Sport is back to New Caledonia after taking part of 2019 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar. Despite losing to hosts Al-Sadd by 3-1 at extra time they were welcomed back as heroes in their homeland.
They were welcomed with applause, tears, hugs and shouts of joy. People dressed in blue, gave voice to cheer on their champions. “It is a pride for us that a team from here, from the East Coast is present for the club champions cup, it is important to be there and to thank them because it is a pride” assured a supporter.
Hienghène Sport supporters
One of the references in Hienghène Sport, forward Bertrand Kaï said he is satisfied with team’s performance. “It was a great experience, we had a good game, we did what we could. We could have deserved better but with a professional team opposite we can be happy with our match. We suffered from start to finish but stayed standing. I think everyone will be happy with us and we, the group, are pretty happy with our last game of the year.”
It is important to remeber that football in New Caledonia is completely amateur so holding Al-Sadd to a 1-1 draw during the 90 minutes was an incredible feat for Hienghène Sport. Oceania Football Center congratulates all players and staff members for pushing Oceanian football pride to the top.
Oceania Football Center 