It was previously reported that Galaxy FC from Vanuatu have signed with a Senegalese striker called Waliou Ndoye. However things changed and he is not going to play for Galaxy FC anymore. According to reliable sources, the striker changed his mind about playing in the Oceania Champions League.
Galaxy FC keep looking for a new striker for 2020 OFC Champions League. There are some rumours around the club, but nothing is still concrete.
One of the most promising young players of Solomon Islands is hoping to achieve bigger in his career and he feels his experiences in 2019 can be instrumental for the development of his game. Charles Mani captained Solomon Islands to qualify for the FIFA U17 World Cup – the first FIFA football tournament to be played by his country – as his team finished 2nd in the last OFC U16 Championship, losing against New Zealand in the grand final after penalty shootout.
The experience to play at world stage was huge for the 17-year old forward: “It was the first time for me and for my country to be in a competition like this. I feel more experienced now – I learned a lot of things in the U17 World Cup – it will help in my footballing career“. The player also added about the atmosphere to be in a nation with so much history in the sport: “The atmosphere in Brazil was great, they are crazy football fans as we are here in Solomon Islands as well“. Solomon Islands took place in a hard group against Italy, Paraguay and the runners-up in the competition Mexico.
The experience can be superb for the Solomon Islanders, but the team still could not get any positive result – losing all three games for a big margin: “We should have done a lot better. We used just one game plan in all three matches, I felt it needed some adjustments, but It depends entirely on our coach to choose what is more suitable for the players“, mentioned Mani. The player also complained about the preparation for the tournament, saying the team had lack of international exposure in order to prepare for the competition.
After impressing in OFC U16 Championship, the forward received a scolarship in New Zealand with the football club Glenfield Rovers. As he is still an U18 player coming from a foreign country, Mani could not play for their first team of Glenfield in New Zealand – as FIFA regulations for international transfers say – so he defended the colours of Long Bay College in the School Football tournaments in the country. Mani was awarded the Most Valuable Player of the Rex Dawkins Tournament, an important award in the youth level of football in the country. “To be in New Zealand, playing in the school team, helped me a lot to prepare for the U17 World Cup“, stated the young player. Charles Mani also mentioned he will be back to New Zealand in 2020 to continue his scolarship program.
In the school break, Mani get back to his home country to defend Kossa FC in the second round of the national top-tier Telekom S-League. Mani helped the team with three goals so far in the season and feels the experienced he had in New Zealand and especialy at U17 World Cup boosted their confidence to play in the national league: “After New Zealand and the U17 World Cup held in Brazil, I learned a lot of good things. It helped a lot to improve my game and now, playing for Kossa, I feel more experienced and confident with my game“, told Mani.
Mani has the talent to become the next superstar of football in his country, but he knows he has a long path to make it real – and give advices to his young generation: “For moving to the next stage I need a lot of commitment and sacrifices, so I will be able to step forward in the game – and these are advices I want to give to all young players in the country as well“.
The still 17-year old player already achieved important milestones in his career, the future will say if Charles Mani and the U17 World Cup generation will put his legacy in the pitch and put the Solomon Islands football in the next level.
The final match of 2019 year for Wellington Phoenix could really let the fans of the black and yellow side happy. Probrably the best game so far in the season for the side coached by Ufuk Talay, saw the club away from home reach the mark of 15 points in the table as they won Western United away from home. The game marked the debut goal of the youngster Callum McCowatt as Wellington Phoenix player.
It was a game to remember for many of the Phoenix fans as they beat the team coached by their former commander Mark Rudan. Rudan left Phoenix in the end of the previous season in a controversial manner, as he decided to depart from the club even having still one-year contract with the team from New Zealand. The coach said he had family commitments and needed to go back Australia – he did so, approached the spot as head coach of the newcomers in the league Western United as three ex-Wellington Phoenix players followed him to the team: Andrew Durante, Filip Kurto and Max Burgess.
Phoenix controlled the game since the initial minutes creating good opportunities to score. Chances wasted by Reno Piscopo and Ulises Davila gave the signals Ufuk Talay’s team was close to find the first goal of the match. It came in the final minutes of the first half as a fantastic play by the Mexican star Ulises Davila ended in a superb assist to the Englishman David Ball to just tap the ball to the nets of Filip Kurto to put Phoenix ahead.
The first half ended with a 1-0 advantage for the Nix, but just in the starting of the final part of the game the veteran striker Besart Berisha forced the Phoenix stopper Marinovic to make a sensational save to deny the home side an equalizer. Despite creating some chances, Western United could not take advantage of the quality of players as Alessandro Diamanti to level the game. The youngster Callum McCowatt – after a superb assist of Reno Piscopo – battled inside the area and could finish to the right bottom of Filip Kurto to double the advantage of Phoenix and score his first goal for the club.
The introduction of the experienced striker Gary Hooper in place of Reno Piscopo gave Phoenix more firepower upfront. The striker provided a great pass to the Mexican midfielder Ulises Davila, that apporached the penalty box free of marking and just netted the left bottom of the opposition goalkeeper to make it three for the visitors.
The chance to clain a clean sheet for Phoenix was reduced to zero when Valentino Yuel finished and the captain Steven Taylor blocked the ball with his arm, allowing a penalty kick for the home in a bizarre way. Diamanti made no mistake and scored the consolation goal for the green and black side with no chance of defense for Marinovic.
Gary Hooper also scored through a fantastic header after a lapse of concentration of Western United defense, but the goal did not count as the VAR shown the striker was in an offside position. The final numbers of the game saw Phoenix keep their good momentun extending their unbeaten run to seven as they beat by 3-1 away from home Western United.
Wellington Phoenix will be back to the pitch in the next Saturday, as they return to Wellington to face Central Coast Mariners at 7PM NZT.
Loyalty International Football Open Under 15, also known as LIFOU U15 was played in Stade de Hnassé in Lifou, New Caledonia between 15 and 21 December. Four teams fought for the trophy in a tournament focused on developing youth soccer in OFC region.
According to early information, Vanuatu U15 was supposed to play this tournament. However they did not play and they were replaced by “Islands U15”, a team made of players that are not from the main New Caledonian island.
Melbourne Victory were the champion and Wellington Phoenix from New Zealand ended with the silver medal. New Caledonian teams ended in the last two positions.
You can check all results and final standings by clicking here.
It was reported by Tahitian sources that AS Vénus legend Glenn Aitamai passed away. He was 54 years old. Formed at the AS Vénus, he was champion of Tahiti in the early 1990s before becoming captain and assistant coach of AS Vénus.
The management of the football section of as Venus also issued a press release: “Glenn was a very great AS Venus player and an exemplary captain. He won everything with the club: championship, cups… He was then a fervent supporter and a faithful friend that we will regret”
Glenn is Ricky Aitamai’s uncle. Ricky played 2013 Confederations Cup for Tahitian National Team.
After a very good start of season for Southern United scoring six goals in the ISPS Handa Premiership, the New Zealander Joel Stevens is set to leave Southern in order to approach opportunities to play in Sweden – where Stevens already played in the past season.
The 24-year old winger represented New Zealand at U20 FIFA World Cup in 2015 and also achieve continental glory with his former club Team Wellington, before departing to Sweden to pursue the development of his career. According to Southern media, the player wants to the top-tier of football in Sweden and he might be receiving trial opportunities in the upcoming transfer window to open in January, 2020.
Stevens played in Sweden for the third-tier side Husqvarna FF and already played three times for the All Whites. The player wishes to rejoin the national team, this one of the biggest reasons the winger is looking for opportunities in Europe – in order to impress the All Whites new coach Danny Hay. Stevens was named the player of the Week 5 of the ISPS Handa Premiership this season after scoring a hattrick.
Stevens thanked Southern the chance to comeback to his homeland and improve his game and now expected his good performances in New Zealand can make the path for finding a new club this time in a full-professional European league.
Wing-Kai Orr Matthew Elliot, or simply Matt Orr is a 22 years old footballer born in Auckland (New Zealand) that also holds a Hongkonger citizenship.
He started his career in Hong Kong playing for Kitchee, the biggest football club in the territory. In 2016 he received a scholarship to play for San Francisco Dons (University of San Francisco) in NCAA. After a two and a half year stint in San Francisco he crossed the United States to play for Syracuse Orange that also plays NCAA.
Orr recently finished his journey in the United States and he is back to Hong Kong to play for Kitchee in 2019-20 Hong Kong Premier League. He is still available to represent New Zealand National Teams.
The only full-professional football club from Oceania will be back to the pitch to face various of their former players when they take on Western United away from home. Western United is coached by former Wellington Phoenix coach Mark Rudan, that left the club in a very controversial way – many players of Phoenix as the long-time serving captain Andrew Durante and the goalkeeper Filip Kurto followed Rudan steps to the new club in the Australian top tier.
Western United, currently ranked 3rd in the league standings, is having a very good debut season in A-League. Besart Berisha, the famous A-League striker, got back for the league to play the newcomers and already netted six so far for the black and green side.
Both sides already faced each other in the league so far, the first match of the season for them, where Wellington Phoenix suffered a 1-0 defeat at home with a Berisha goal. The former Italian international Alessandro Diamanti might be key for Western United alongside the Greek midfielder Panagiotis Kone.
Despite facing a very hard opponent, Phoenix comes from a six-unbeaten games run and in their past game draw at home against the top-tabbled team Sydney FC. The club hopes to continue their good run in the season and will hope to see more from the English marksman Gary Hooper. The striker is still to have a real impact in his new club starting just one match so far in the season. Hooper recently featured in the Reserves squad in ISPS Handa Premiership looking for more game time and getting fit from his previous injury – the fans as keen to see more of the striker, but the coach Ufuk Talay did not give any sign that Hooper may start against Western United.
Ulises Davila is being the best player for Phoenix so far in the season; the Mexican already scored seven for Phoenix and is having a major role for the team. Cameron Devlin, taking the place of Alex Rufer in the midfield, impressed in the last both matches he started and might be having another go against Western United.
A new rivalry was created in A-League due the departures of Wellington players – and the coach Rudan – to Western United, the New Zealand fans are hopeful to correct the result from their last match in WestPac Stadium and the recent good records of the Kiwi side prove they can grab an upset playing in the opposition stadium.
The match will be telecasted by SkySport and will be livestreamed by MyFootball channel in YouTube for all countries that does not have a TV channel with the rights of telecasting the league.
As it was previously reported, Lae City was ready to sign with three players from Ecuador. In a report released earlier today, Oceania Football Center brought the name of two players: Abdias Antonio Aguirre Aguirre and Gustine Icaza Vergara but the third player’s name was unknown.
This third player’s name finally came up with bad news: 18 years old midfielder Victor Hugo Carvajal Briones would join Lae City just like his two fellow countrymen. However he will not play for Lae City because he suffered a car accident and he is still recovering from it.
According to Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol, Briones plays for Club Deportivo e Formativo 7 de Febrero since 2017.
It was previously reported that Lae City has signed with three players from Ecuador to play 2020 OFC Champions League but people have not known them yet. Oceania Football Center had access to some important information and found the name of two players that are coming from Ecuador.
Abdias Antonio Aguirre Aguirre – Defensive Midfielder – 20 Years Old
Abdias is a young defensive midfielder that played for some teams in Ecuadorian lower leagues. He played the Ecuadorian second tier for América de Quito in 2017 and he last played for Fiorentina FC in Ecuadorian third tier. He played for U19 Ecuador National Futsal Team in the 2017 South American Futsal League.
Gustine Icaza Vergara – Winger – 19 years old
Another young player coming from Ecuador, Vergara is a right-footed player that can play as a forward and as an attacking midfielder specially in the left side of the pitch. He last played for América de Ambato, in Ecuadorian third tier.
The third player signed by Lae City is still unknown. Oceania Football Center keeps investigating to bring accurate information.
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