Royals Academy played a friendly against the second team of Sussex FC. Sussex is a team that plays the English main futsal league. The Solomon Islanders won the match by 12-4.
Royals squad for the friendly
Royals Academy keep their good job in England by training at Stars Academy – “The target now is to get these boys into the pro futsal clubs here in Europe. Also we hope that these young gunners will give more competition to the current national senior futsal squad in selecting the final squad for the 2023 Pacific Games.” said Royals’ management their social media.
It does not matter if it was a second team. Royals are doing a great job in English and they are having the opportunity to get some exposure in Europe, the main continent of the world. It will surely provide a huge experience for these young players.
Papua New Guinean forward Tommy Semmy was named ISPS Handa Premiership Player of the Week 9. He played an important role in Hamilton Wanderers’ reaction to beat Canterbury United by 3-1 by scoring a brace.
Tommy Semmy is the Player of the Week 9 in 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership. Source: NZF Media
As he won the Player of the Week award he was obviously named for the Team of the Week for the second straight week. His countryman Aaron Spain made the Team of the Week for the third time in the season while Auckland City’s defender Brian Kaltak was the other foreign player from the Pacific Islands to take part of the squad.
Semmy scored four goals in the league so far. You can check all the named players for both awards by clicking here and here.
The Solomon Islands U14 National Futsal Team face South Australia Red in the 2020 FFA National Futsal Championship quarterfinal. The Junior Kurukurus won by 5-2 to qualify for the semifinals.
Tony Maefiti being (in green) being pressed by an Australian player. Source: FFA Media
They will face Football Victoria in the semifinal.
The Ni-Vanuatu international Jacky Ruben will represent the Luganville-based side Malampa Revivors in the 2020 OFC Champions League. The midfielder recently left the Fijian club Suva FC in order to strenghten the squad of the current Vanuatu national champions.
Jacky Ruben when player of Erakor GS – OFC Media
The 23-year old player represented Erakor Golden Star in the previous edition of the regional tournament and is keen to once again take part in the competition.
Ruben talked to Oceania Football Center regarding his expectations for the tournament and his previous experiences in Oceania Champions League:
What do you expect for the next edition of OFC Champions League? I expect good results for the team I will play for and good challenges for the other clubs we will play as well.
Malampa Revivors will play at home, excited to play at home crowd as you did last year when playing for Erakor Golden Star? I will be excited to play at home, I like the home crowd. I also experienced it last year and that was awesome, not only the clubs but national team as well, so yes I really enjoyed it.
Do you think Malampa Revivors can qualify for the knockout stage? I will say it is very important to qualified for the knockout stage, but is all about the team work, team spirit, discipline, work hard so that we can reach the second stage.
Malampa Revivors will host the Group B of the tournament in Luganville at the Soccer City Stadium. The team is grouped with Papua New Guinea champions Lae City, the Solomon Islands runners-up Henderson Eels and the and Fijian second placed side in their national league Lautoka FC.
Ruben will be a very important addition due to his experiece overseas and his good football capabilities. The attacking midfielder already represented Vanuatu seven times scoring one goal.
The unique professional football club of Oceania, Wellington Phoenix, is doing a fine season in the current edition of the Hyundai A-League. To remember the past years of the club, the social media department of the Nix decided to raise a public pool to choose the ‘Team of the Decade’ for the club – the best eleven players by position that represented the club in the last 10 years.
The Fijian international Roy Krishna is among those selected by the fans; the forward is the all time top goalscorer of the club and won the Johnny Warren medal in the previous season – the prize awarded to the best player of A-League season. Krishna also won the golden boot of the 2018/19 season of the most important football league in Australia.
Krishna when player of Wellington Phoenix
Other five Oceanian players were chosen by the fans to be part of the best team of the decade of the club, one of them is still currently at the club: Liberato Cacace. The 19-year old left back is one of the most promising players in New Zealand and already caught the attention from European clubs that are scouting the his talents.
Another young talented player is among the eleven players; the now Bayern Munich midfielder Sarpreet Singh. Singh is a product of Phoenix Academy – as Cacace is – and made a stellar season in 2018/19 for the club, that helped Phoenix to be back to the A-League playoffs after several years.
Andrew Durante, the recordist of the matches for Phoenix and also the player who most played A-League matches in history, is also in the team. The 37-year old central defender parted ways with the club in the last season to play for Western United, but continues as an absolute legend for the history of the club. Durante also got New Zealand citizenship in 2013 and represented New Zealand 24 times internationally, including one FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017.
The goalkeeper of the decade is the former All-White member Glen Moss, that is currently still in A-League defending the colours of Newcastle Jets. The 36-year old player has played 140 matches for Wellington Phoenix and represented his country in 29 international matches. Moss played for seven years for Phoenix and made his debut for the national team in 2006.
From the five New Zealanders chosen by the fans only one is already retired: the former defender Ben Sigmund. The player has 181 A-League games for Wellington Phoenix and also scored seven goals. Sigmund also took part in the last appearece of an OFC member in the FIFA World Cup, when New Zealand played the most important football tournament of the world back in 2010 – Sigmund was member of the All-Whites for 14 years.
You can check the full team selected by Phoenix supporters by clicking here.
The Galaxy FC are ready to play their last friendly match before the 2020 National League Championship’s beginning. They will face Erakor Golden Star on January 18 at Korman Stadium.
Galaxy FC
Galaxy recently played against Port Vila squad and won by 5-0. All these friendlies and the 2020 National League Championship are part of their preparation for 2020 OFC Champions League.
The Solomon Islands U14 National Futsal Team played two matches today in the 2020 FFA National Futsal Championship. The Junior Kurukurus won Capital Football by 4-1 and West Black Swans by 6-2.
Solomon Islands finished the group stage in the first position with four wins in four matches. They are qualified for the next stage.
Junior Kurukuru will face South Australia Red in the quarter-finals. The match will be played on this Thursday.
The hero of the Battle of Giants title in favour of Labasa is close to leave the club. The forward Siotame Kubu is in talks with Suva according to local source FBC.
Labasa made a fantastic season in 2019 winning the IDC and BOG tournaments and making all fans very proud of what the team had done. Kubu is one of the key factors of the success of Labasa and the local fans urged Fiji FA to give a chance for the player in the Bula Boys squad.
Kubu (right) in Labasa colours – The Fiji Times
The 25-year old player is in discussions with the team from the Fijian capital. The new head coach of Suva stated that the club is not only looking for Siotame Kubu in the transfer window, as they already aplayed for Nasinu defender Manasa Levaci and former Fiji U20 player Ravnit Chand is also expected to join the team. Despite the advanced talks with Kubu, is not still sure wheter the player will leave Labasa or not in this stage of the negatiations.
Oceania Football Center recently made an interview with Siotame Kubu, check more by clicking here.
The New Zealand forward Ryan de Vries, former Auckland City FC player is currently undergoing trials in Australia top-league side Western United. The 28-year old player made history with the Navy Blues and also had a succesful stint in Waitakere United when in New Zealand.
After achieving success in the country, the player went to NPL side club in Australia Bentleigh Greens in 2014 on loan from Auckland City. In 2018 the player parted ways with the local powerhouse to pursue a professional career in Japan.
De Vries as FC Gifu player
De Vries was born in South Africa but lived several years in New Zealand – which made him available for the New Zealand National. The player has only one cap for the All Whites, a friendly match against South Korea. De Vries was in the Auckland City side that earned the bronze medal in the 2014 FIFA Clubs World Cup.
In Japan, the forward represented the J2 side Gifu, wearing the number 10, scoring eight goals in 51 appearences for the club.
The 2019-20 Telekom S-League runners-up will debut in the 2020 OFC Champions League on February 15 at Luganville Soccer City Stadium, Vanuatu. It is already known that Solomon Warriors and Henderson Eels are qualified but the current season of Telekom S-League has not finish yet.
The Solomon Warriors are the current league leaders with 38 points while the Henderson Eels stand in the second position with 35 points. Both teams still have one match to play. You can check the current standings and the top scorers by clicking here.
