UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) invited Vanuatu’s U16 Men’s National Team to play UEFA Assist Tournament in 2020 in Latvia.
The tournament is going to count on four teams: Latvia, Armenia, Vanuatu and a fourth nation that is not confirmed, but it is probably going to be Santa Lucia.
UEFA Assist Program will cover the costs for a delegation of twenty-eight people which includes twenty players and eight staff members.
After a weekend without any match, Telekom S-League is back with two midweek clashes that affected the middle of the league standings. Scroll down and check what happened in these two matches!
KOSSA 9-1 REAL KAKAMORA
Huge losses are not big news when it is about Real Kakamora. They were hammered again to remain in the last position with zero points. Harrison Mala was the topscorer of the match with four goals scored while some young players like Javin Wae (2), Adrian Mara (1) and Charlie Mani (1) also scored. Joachim Waroi netted the remaining goal. Kossa is now in the fourth position with 20 points.
MARIST 0-0 ISABEL UNITED
It ended as it has started, 0-0. A very bad result for both teams. This draw ended Isabel’s winning run as they now have Kossa just two points behind them. Marist remains in the sixth position with 17 points and they missed a huge opportunity to overtake Malaita Kings to stay in the fifth position.
Central Coast Mariners announced that they signed a two-year extension with 20 years old midfielder Gianni Stensness. He joined the team in August on a one-year contract and now he is attached to the club until 2022.
Stensness is being a regular starter in Central Coast Mariners, playing all Mariners’ seven matches in Hyundai A-League so far. He is also part of New Zealand U23 National Team. He represented New Zealand in OFC Olympic Qualfiers and helped his country to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Football has lessons to teach; sometimes more than we can even imagine. The sport was created by the British, spread rapidly worldwide and turned into a passion for billions of people. If you do not believe football is not that powerful, just imagine this sport started a war in Central America and was able to stop armed conflicts in Africa just to watch a single match – a sport that can create a variety of feelings will have one more chapter in the history of the greatness of football – 11th December of 2019 will mark for life the lifestories of a group of men that will make their country to wake up early to be stuck in front of TV. Hienghène Sport is living what football has as its best – living heaven on earth.
The New Caledonian side was founded in 1997 in the north of the country, exactly in the Hienghène province that has nearly 3000 inhabitants. Stade de Hienghène, the place where the football club of the province plays, can barely have an attendence of 1000 people. Hienghène Sport rapidly rised from the second tier of New Caledonian football to take part in the Mobil Super Ligue, the most important football league of the French overseas territory.
Hienghène had their first national glory in 2013 after lifting the Coupe de Calédonie title – the same glory they would retake in 2015 edition of the national cup. 2017 was the year the team in blue played their first OFC Champions League after winning for the first time the Mobil Super Ligue in New Caledonia – they were not succesful and left the tournament in the group stage that had New Zealanders of Team Wellington as group winners.
The rapid growth of Hienghène was enough to make everyone happy in the province, but something they never thought they could really achieve came in 2019. As runners-up of the national league, Hyehen took place in OFC Champions League of 2019 where they were grouped with Ni-Vanuatu national league runners-up Malampa Revivors, Tahitian Ligue 1 Vini champions AS Tefana and Papua New Guinean national league winners Lae City. Hienghène played at Stade Yoshida, Kone in New Caledonia the group phase – where they smashed Malampa Revivors with a 5-0 victory, won Tefana by 1-0 and draw against Lae City – this marked the first time the team from north of New Caledonia went through the group stage.
One of the most known teams of Oceania would be the challengers of Hienghène in the quarterfinal match of the Oceania Champions League: the Fijian powerhouse, Ba. Before suffering an early goal playing in Stade Yoshida, the one-legged qualifying match saw the idol Bertrand Kaï to equalize still in the first half. The game would be decided in the extra-time, where the midfielder Geordy Gony scored a header to put Hienghène Sport in the semifinals.
A good atmosphere for Hienghène was built: they would play a decisive match in New Caledonia, this time in Stade Numa-Daly in Nouméa, against the current title holders in that time Team Wellington. To play against a New Zealand side is always challenging for any Pacific Islands team – but Hienghène made history. Geordy Gony once again through a header put the New Caledonians upfront in the start of the second half and Jefferson Dahité sealed the victory for the New Caledonians to seal their sport in the grand final. Their national rivals, AS Magenta, were able to stun the powerhouse Auckland City in Nouméa to a 2-1 late win to seal their entry to the finals and make this the first ever final without a New Zealand club – with two sides of New Caledonia.
The decisive match, as the history tells, was decided not by the national hero Bertrand Kaï, nor even the Gony that scored in the previous two matches, but yes someone coming from the bench – Antoine Roine – that made something to put himself in history of Oceania forever.
Magenta pressed Hienghène – that did not play their best football of the tournament – but the magic of Roine was more than enough to make Hienghène win the OFC Champions League – something really no one in Oceania expected before the start of the tournament.
To finish the dream season of Hienghène, they have won the Coupe de Calédonie once again after beating AS Lössi in the grand final of the tournament and also claimed the trophy of Mobil Super Ligue for the second time in their history – just losing one match in the entire season in New Caledonia.
The club recently travelled to France to represent New Caledonia at Coupe de France – 7th round of the cup – and played against the 5th tier side AS Pierrots Vauban in Strasbourg, but could not create even more history in the season and ended up with a 3-1 defeat against the French side.
Hienghène will make history when they enter the pitch against Al-Sadd, the Qatar Stars League champions. Hienghène and no other team in New Caledonia is a full-professional club – currently there is not even a single club in the Oceania Football Confederation that holds a full-professional standard in football – and this makes the achievement of the New Caledonians even more important. Al-Sadd has a worldwide football idol as their head coach – the 2010 FIFA World Cup winners Xavi Hernández – something, certainly, not even the most optimistic Hyehen supporter expected to live.
The same tournament the amateur players of Hienghène will play is going to feature the UEFA Champions League winners Liverpool with their stars Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané. The South American champions Flamengo is one of the most traditional clubs in America and will count with the class of former Inter Milan and Brazil national team striker Gabriel Barbosa.
History is already written in the hearts and memories of the Oceania football fans, the result of the contest will only have numbers not properly the history as itself. Hienghène Sport players train everyweek – some days not even together – but all of them need to have their own normal jobs to have a life, something very different from any club taking part in the tournament.
The beauty of football is made by stories. The beauty of football is made of struggle, pain and passion. The beauty of football is made from those who feel football, who live football and write the stories as Hienghène is doing; that is why Oceania today is Hienghène, that is why today we will be all united shouting HYEHEN, KOI THEEN!
Football keeps its path of evolution in Oceania – the good news of the moment is the Henderson Eels and Solomon Islands national team member Joses Nawo is set to make an European move to turn into the first player to sign a professional country from Solomon Islands in Europe. According to Netherlands Oceania Support Foundation the forward is close to set all documents ready for a trip to the tiny European nation of Malta to undergo trials with first tier side Tarxien Rainbows. The Maltese side is currently doing a bad season in Malta Premier League losing all 12 matches of the season so far sitting in the bottom of the standings – It is expect Nawo can help the team to bounce back in the rankings in the fight against relegation.
Rainbows will have their last match of the year next 14th December and is expected Nawo will have trials with the club and if sucessfully will join the squad for the second part of the season that starts 10th January.
“Things change rapidly in Europe so there is no time to lose for Joses. Tarxien Rainbows FC is an ambitious club with great facilities. It is essential for any premier league club in Europe to know what to expect. The fact that Tarxien Rainbows FC invites Joses Nawo is already quite something. You can image that his profile competes with hundreds of applicants from all over the world dreaming to make it to Europe. So having his trial budget prepared should be a top priority for his funding side. As a foundation we have done our part so it is now up to a sponsor in Solomon Islands in getting him funded. A delayed arrival is not possible because the Maltese Premier League kicks off for the second half of the season at the 10th of January. Tarxien Rainbows FC needs time to examine Joses Nawo so he has to earn this contract with a successful trial“, said Paul Driessen, President of The Netherlands Oceania Support Foundation – the responsible for arranging the chance of trials for Nawo.
Paul Driessen stated that is a dream coming true for him and his organization to help a Pacific Islander to make his way to Europe and help the development of the football in the region.
Oceania Football Center thanks Netherlands Oceania Support Foundation for the assistance to Oceania Football and wishes the best for Joses Nawo in his new adventure in the sport and hopes his success opens the door for more Pacific Islanders in overseas full professional clubs.
New Zealand National Football Team central defender Tommy Smith future is currently uncertain. His contract with Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer expires on 1st January and he will become a free agent player. However there is still a chance of re-signing with Rapids to play one more season in MLS.
The 29 years old defender is currently training with Ipswich Town U23 squad too keep himself in shape. Smith is very identified with Ipswich. He played for the English between 2008 and 2018, playing 267 official matches.
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is the 9th edition of the tournament and the first ever with 32 teams but the host nation is not decided yet. Brazil, Colombia and Japan are also interested on hosting the event.
New Zealand and Australia recently announced a partnership to launch a joint Women’s World Cup bid. The deadline for set a bid for hosting the World Cup is on Friday, 13 December.
The 2023 Women’s World Cup host nation will be released in May 2020.
Recently Oceania Football Center talked about Paul Scanlan leaving football to become a rugby player and it was said that he is not the first and he is not going to be the last one to do it in Oceania.
A big example comes from a Fijian player. Filipo Daugunu re-signed his contract with Queensland Reds until 2023. Daugunu left football in 2015 after being called up for Vodafone Fiji Under-20 rugby team to plays in the Australia National Championships.
Daugunu used to play as a goalkeeper for Labasa FC. He was also part of Fiji U23 National Team when he opted to become a rugby player.
Recentemente Charlton Totori, um jovem jogador das Ilhas Salomão, disse que Brian Kaltak era seu zagueiro favorito por sua visão de jogo e pelo fato de também ser melanésio – Ilhas Salomão e Vanuatu pertencem a região da Melanésia.
Certamente Kaltak é uma referência na região. O zagueiro de Vanuatu é um dos jogadores mais bem sucedidos da história de seu país e um dos principais jogadores provenientes das Ilhas do Pacífico desconsiderando a Nova Zelândia. Aos 26 anos, ele é peça importante do Auckland City, o maior clube de futebol da Oceania. Ele também é o capitão da seleção de Vanuatu e a principal referência de seu país no futebol.
“Isso é algo maravilhoso, para ser sincero. Usar a braçadeira de capitão da seleção é algo diferente que apenas algumas poucas pessoas merecem. Estou muito feliz por ser uma dessas pessoas.” disse ele.
Ele não só é uma inspiração dentro de campo como também é fora dos gramados. Kaltak é um homem humilde que não se esquece de suas raízes e está sempre disposto a ajudar. Ele possui uma forte ligação com o Erakor Golden Star, equipe de Vanuatu por onde ele jogou durante algum tempo. Recentemente ele esteve de férias no país e participou do Erakor Golden Star Youth Program compartilhando suas experiências com crianças de seu país natal.
O sucesso não é algo que vem da noite para o dia e Kaltak sabe que para ser bem sucedido no futebol é preciso trabalhar duro. Ele começou a jogar futebol seriamente na Teouma Academy, uma academia de futebol em Port Vila (capital de Vanuatu) administrada pela VFF (Vanuatu Football Federation) onde ele teve a oportunidade de ser treinado por grandes nomes do futebol local como Moise Poida, Etienne Mermer e Richard Iwai.
“Para chegar longe você precisa ser forte e aprender a se virar […] Todos nós temos momentos bons e ruins mas no futebol você precisa ser responsável por si mesmo porque ninguém pode sê-lo por você” disse Kaltak em uma entrevista a OFC (Confederação de Futebol da Oceania) em 2018.
Considerando que a Austrália não faz parte da Oceania futebolisticamente, pode-se afirmar que Brian Kaltak é um dos grandes jogadores do melhor e maior time da região oceânica. Vivendo um grande momento em sua carreira, ele aproveitou para deixar uma mensagem para aqueles que sonham em um dia se tornar jogador de futebol – “Trabalhe duro e nunca deixe de acreditar em si mesmo. O sucesso leva tempo para chegar, podendo levar muitos e muitos anos para que se concretize.” concluiu.
After weeks of waiting, the start dates of the 2019/20 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League, as well as the ten teams taking part in the competition, was finally confirmed in Port Moresby today.
The competition will kick-off on Saturday 14th December, with the draws set to be announced early tomorrow morning.
There will be five teams based in Port Moresby: eight-time champions Hekari United, former National Premier League champions Gulf Komara, last year’s debutants FC Bougainville and Star Mountain, as well as newcomers Vitiaz FC, of which not much is known as yet.
From the Northern Region, one team will come from Lae: reigning five-time champions Lae City. Two teams will come from Morobe: 2009/10 runners-up Morobe United and 2018 third-placed side Morobe Wawens, while Tusbab Stallions will represent Madang.
The only team outside the two major regions is Highlands side FC Kutubu, another debutant, who will be based in Goroka for the majority of the season.
Matches will take place in four locations: the PNG Football Stadium in Port Moresby, Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium in Lae, the Laiwaden Oval in Madang, and the National Sport Insitute in Goroka.
Before the weekend, we will be previewing the season in full, so watch this space!
Oceania Football Center