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.
The weekend of football is huge in Oceania in this mid-december, with the decisive clash of Solomon Warriors and Henderson Eels in the Solomon Islands, Auckland City facing the current New Zealand champions Eastern Suburbs and the so awaited kick-off of PNG National Soccer League – and much more.
The ISPS Handa Premiership, the top-tier of football in New Zealand will have Cantebury United facing the Wellington Phoenix reserves as the opening match of the weekend in the league. The current leaders of the table expect to continue their good run: Auckland City faces Eastern Suburbs in Kiwitea Street for the city derby. Eastern Suburbs comes with a harsh defeat against Team Welligton while Auckland City tops the table with the prolific goalscorer Myer Bevan in form.
Myer Bevan is the top-scorer of ISPS Handa Premiersip – ACFC Media
Hawke’s Bay United faces at home Waitakere United. Both sides hope to continue their impressive run in the competiton, while Team Wellington and Southern will also have a clash of two sides in very good form at David Farrington Park. The final clash of the matchweek will see two sides who currently battle in the bottom of the table in Nelson: Tasman United and Hamilton Wanderers. The team coached by Jess Ibrom hopes to find their way back to wins and Hamilton will expect to end their nightmare start of season.
In the A-League, Wellington Phoenix will travel to Melbourne to play for the second time in the season against Melbourne Victory. Phoenix comes from three wins in a row and expect to stop the Swedish prolific striker Ola Toivonen in order to achieve another good result. Ulises Dávila can turn himself into the first Phoenix player ever to score in five consecutive matches if he finds the nets once again at AAMI Park.
Four matches will make the weekend lively at Lawson Tama Stadium for the final rounds of Telekom S-League. The first match of the Saturday will be the most important of the weekend in Solomon Islands: Henderson Eels, the 2nd placed team, will battle for the top first spot against Solomon Warriors, the current title holders and leader of the standings. Eels will hope they will not miss the likes of Joses Nawo and Patrick Taroga for the match and expect a good run of the wonderkid Raphael Lea’i in order to grab a very important win. In the other side of the pitch, Solomon Warriors will count with the experience of players as Benjamin Totori, John Alick and Dennis Ifunaoa.
Solomon Warriors, the current leaders of S-League – SIFF Media
Laugu United will face the bottom ranked side Real Kakamora in the second match of the Saturday. The Sunday will have important matches for 3rd place battle of the ladder, Guadalcanal will play against Isabel United that comes with three matches in a row without a defeat and the final match of the weekend in the Solomon Islands top-tier will see Kossa playing against Malaita Kings.
The start of the new season in Tahiti comes strong and this weekened very important matches will entertaining the fans of the beautiful sport in the French overseas territory top-tier, the Ligue 1 Vini. The bottom ranked side Manu Ura will face at home the former national champions Central Sport, hoping their goalkeeper Jonathan Torohia can help to bounce back in the tournament.
Olympic Mahina suffered a very harsh defeat against Pirae in their last match and will hope to recover from a 11-1 defeat against the powerhouse Tefana in Mahina. The most important clash of the weekend will see the both Tahitian teams qualified for OFC Champions League 2020, AS Vénus and Tiare Tahiti – the strikers Teaonui Tehau and Sandro Tau, the two best goalscorers of the last season in Tahiti, will have a hard encounter to see who wins this important clash.
Teaonui Tehau scored 42 goals in the last season or AS Vénus – FTF Media
The round will be complete with the clashes between AS Dragon and AS Taravao and the Pirae of the Tehau brothers Alvin and Jonathan facing the Mickael Roche’s side AS Jeunes Tahitiens.
The so awaited kick-off of the season of PNG National Soccer League will take place this weekend – Oceania Football Center made a complete preview about the season. The league in Papua New Guinea will entertain fans all over the country – Port Moresby, Goroka, Morobe and Lae are represented in the competition.
The first matchday games will see the title holders Lae City playing against Tusbab Stallions in Laiwaden Oval, Madang while Hekari United faces Star Mountain in the first game of the season for the former OFC Champions League winners.
Lae City and Hekari made the grand final last season – PNGFA Media
The other three clashes of the weekend in Papua New Guinea will see Gulf Komara playing against Bougainville in the first game of the entire season in Port Moresby, while Morobe United play at Sir Ignatius Kilage against the newcomers Vitiaz United. In Goroka, the first timers in the league Kutubu will receive Morobe Wawens to complete the round.
With the Papua New Guinea National Soccer League set to kick off in just two days’ time, we’ve put together a full preview of the ten teams involved, including their previous achievements, current squad news, and a prediction as to where they might finish.
Lae City FC won the previous five editions of the PNG National Soccer League
Thanks to the great social media team that FC Bougainville have put together, we know a great deal about FC Bougainville, and we think their chances this season look good. The side is the semi-pro parent club of Mungkas, a side which won the 2019 National Club Championship, and has won three of the last four Port Moresby Premier Divisions, and while being based in Port Moresby, the side consists predominantly of players hailing from the autonomous island of Bougainville (which, by the way, voted for independence in a landslide result this week). The squad looks good: led by David Passam, the defence is marshalled by Abel Redenut, Basil Jofari dictates the midfield like clockwork, while Gabriel Yanum and Timothy Mali impressed so much last season that they earned call-ups to the Olympic Qualifiers U-23 squad earlier this year. The club have also brought in 19-year-old striker Jonathan Allen, a bright young prospect who may well lead their attack. Expect this side to be one of the better teams behind the big two.
Prediction: 3rd
As the outgoing champions of the FFPNG-sanctioned breakaway National Premier League in 2018, having beaten Hekari United en route to the final, Gulf Komara, rebranded from Erema Gulf at the start of last season, ought to have had high hopes going into last season’s Southern Conference. However, a fairly under-the-radar performance throughout the season saw them finish just sixth out of eight teams in the conference. Coached by former PNG international goalkeeper David Aua, the make-up of this season’s squad is for the most part unknown: the side have only recently relaunched their social media presence ahead of the kick-off this weekend, so they’re a bit of an unknown entity. They will, however, boast former Tusbab Stallions captain Max Sengum, which is something of a scalp for the club. With Aua at the helm, they should keep things fairly tight, and given that this is their fifth consecutive season of competing at the national level, their experience should hold them in good stead.
Prediction: 4th
For how much longer can Hekari United rely on the likes of long-time captain David Muta and Solomon Islander coach Jerry Allen to bring back the glory days of that triumphant OFC Champions League title in 2010? That was almost ten years ago now, but Muta and Allen are still around. That said, the squad remains packed with international talent: Koriak Upaiga is one of the best defenders in the country, while Ishmael Pole is establishing himself as a very competent goalkeeper. The identity of their regular striker this season is, however, thus far unknown, with previous talisman Tommy Semmy having left for Hamilton Wanderers in New Zealand. Can Hekari win back the crown they have surrendered to Lae City for the past five seasons? They will need to have strengthened their squad, but they will certainly not be lacking in desire.
Prediction: 1st
While FC Kutubu is technically a ‘new’ franchise, they’re actually a new parent club of Aporo Mai FC, a debuting club from last season’s competition. Mathew Witu, formerly the assistant coach of Hekari United, coaches both sides, so the home and away fixtures against former boss Jerry Allen will be fascinating to watch. Witu will be keen to retain some of the more impressive players from the Aporo Mai side of last season, but according to the latest reports, he only has two players with any sort of previous NSL experience: last year’s talisman Samuel Kini, a former international, and Andrew Apo, who played for Blue Kumuls last season. Given that Aporo Mai only managed to finish 4th in the Highlands Conference last season, we think it’ll be difficult for FC Kutubu to make a real impact on the competition, but keep an eye on their home games – as the only side in the Highlands, they’ll benefit from tired opponents more so than other clubs, so that might help them out more than you’d think.
Prediction: 7th
The reigning five-time champions have everything to lose and not much to gain: last year they won their fifth consecutive title after a tense and goalless Grand Final against Hekari before eventually triumphing on penalties. They were carried to the final by some of the biggest names in PNG football – including Nigel Dabinyaba, Raymond Gunemba and Emmanuel Simon. Retaining the services of these players will be essential to both their domestic campaign and their OFC Champions League hopes: Simon and Dabinyaba are currently in the Solomon Islands playing for Malaita Kings, while there are rumours Gunemba is looking for a full-time contract outside of the Pacific Islands, having spent three months with Geelong Soccer Club in Australia. All three may yet return in time for the opening weekend, but if they continue to impress, how long will they stick around before they’re poached by bigger and better sides? Coach Peter Gunemba will, as always, play a key role in retaining these men and training up a team to fit alongside them, and while their long-term future may be uncertain, expect Lae City to be right up there once again.
Prediction: 2nd
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride: Morobe United have finished in third place in the National Soccer League on four different occasions, including last season, having made the Grand Final only once, back in the 2009/10 season. That year, they lost 5-0 to a dominant Hekari United side, while last time out, they impressed in the Northern Conference, taking points off eventual winners Lae and qualifying for the playoffs ahead of a resurgent Besta PNG United. This year, they will once again be attempting to break up the domination of the nation’s two top teams, but the squad just doesn’t have the same star quality as the clubs they’re chasing. The side will be captained by ex-Hekari man Jeremy Yasasa, while Alex Kamen was part of the full-strength Pacific Games national team from earlier this year. However, coach Jonathan Jack admitted earlier today that the bulk of his players were new, and that many of last season’s squad had joined new side Vitiaz United. Can Jack lead this side to the playoffs in spite of this exodus?
Prediction: 6th
One thing is clear: Morobe Wawens will want to forget last season. Having earned an impressive qualification for the OFC Champions League in 2018, the club capitulated on the continent, and domestically didn’t do much better, becoming embroiled in the controversy regarding the death of Laiwaden FC goalkeeper Mikes Gewa and finishing just 7th in last year’s Northern Conference. However, it appears we are all change: PNG national team coach Bob Morris is now on board as first team coach alongside manager Jossie Kava, which is a big surprise, while it appears the club also has a new president, Andrew Namuesh, with former president Peter Seske now acting as vice-president. Three of this year’s squad have Champions League experience: defender Ferdallas Namuesh, utility player Kenneth Pilailo, and goalkeeper Jason Bendi, while much of the rest of the squad has come from local trials. The club stated that the previous two seasons have seen them compete without a first team coach – how much of a difference is the addition of Bob Morris going to make?
Prediction: 5th
Several readers may be surprised that Star Mountain are involved in this year’s competition, given their pretty dreadful debut season last time around. The side finished seventh in the Southern Conference, and there may well be a case that others, such as Eastern Stars or Central United, deserved the spot in this year’s league ahead of Star Mountain. However, it’s about which clubs pay the fees, and not about which club has the more illustrious history, so here we are. Not much, if anything, is known about the side, with no social media presence to speak of and very little local media coverage of their squad. In this case, we can only really base our prediction on last season’s performance, and it doesn’t look good.
Prediction: 10th
As we saw last year, just because a club has an excellent social media presence and great branding, that doesn’t mean results will reflect that outward professionalism. Stallions finished dead last in the Northern Conference last season, although signs have been encouraging since then: the club’s feeder side, Tusbab Blue Kumuls, won the Madang Soccer Association competition in September, and several of the players in this season’s NSL squad have been promoted from that title-winning side. The squad actually looks pretty good: newly-elected captain Nigel Malagian has come from Eastern Stars, while young midfielder Stahl Gubag has already represented the country at full international level. The club is well managed and well organised; I’d like to see them do well.
Prediction: 8th
An interesting new inclusion to the NSL, Vitiaz United is a side that has just been promoted to the top division of football in the Port Moresby Soccer Association, having won Division One earlier this year. With the majority of their players having joined from Morobe United, the club could enjoy a decent season despite being newcomers, especially given that several of their players will have previous NSL experience under their belts. However, with not much else known about the side, it’s difficult to see them making much of an impact, at east for the time being.
Henderson Eels player Patrick Taroga is currently out of the team squad due to a lie. Taroga asked for a time far from the team because his mother was sick at his local village. However the team managemend found out that his mother was not sick and he went home to play a local football tournament.
Taroga (number 6) playing for Solomon Islands
Eels’ head coach Eddie Marahare is very angry with the situation and he intends to not count on Taroga anymore but the final decision comes from the team’s owner.
Henderson Eels is currently in the second position in 2019 Telekom S-League just three points behind league leaders Solomon Warriors.
