Twelve must become eight in delayed Papua New Guinea NSL

FC Bougainville in training earlier today. They are one of twelve teams looking to secure a place in the eight-team NSL this season. Photo: FC Bougainville.

Details finally emerged this morning regarding the upcoming 2019/20 season of Papua New Guinea’s flagship competition, the National Soccer League, which will now start two weeks later than originally intended, on Saturday 30th November.

Several local fans had expressed their frustration on Facebook at the lack of transparency that the competition organisers had shown, with the original start date, this Saturday the 16th, just around the corner, and no word from the board as to which teams would be taking part.

There have been unconfirmed reports that the four semi-finalists from the previous season didn’t receive their prize money straight after the final (and may yet still require payment), and that the NSL board still hasn’t received the full payments from all the participating clubs from the 2019 season. This has led some commenters criticising those unknown, un-paying clubs as having been on a ‘joyride’ for the season.

However, despite a slight delay, these accusations don’t seem to have affected preparations for the upcoming season, with a report from the PNGFA website this morning revealing the new, deferred date, as well as the twelve teams who have registered their interest for the eight-team Premier Competition.

This means that it is likely that four teams will miss out on entering the competition, with the NSL secretariat confirming that teams had to jump through three hoops in order to be accepted: to submit an expression of interest (EOI), which all twelve teams have done; to submit a receipt of their initial payment, which five clubs have done; and to submit their final 30-player team list for the competition, which only two clubs have done.

While it is unclear as to which teams have done what, it was revealed which teams were in contention, and there are some familiar faces as well as some newcomers:

Eight-time champions Hekari United, coached by Solomon Islanders Jerry Allen, and reigning five-time champions Lae City FC, will surely contest the upper echelons of the league table if they get their documentation in on time, while there will be some stiff competition from veterans Morobe United and Eastern Stars should they make the final cut. Potential returning teams from last year include Gulf Komara FC, FC Bougainville, Morobe Wawens, Central United, Star Mountain and Tusbab Stallions, while there are two new clubs under consideration: Port Moresby Strikers, who may have some sort of affiliation with last season’s Southern Strikers, and Vitiaz United, who could well be under the same management as the club which just secured promotion to the top tier of football in Port Moresby.

Perhaps surprisingly, there doesn’t appear to be an entry from West Tribe FC, who have been making noises on their Facebook page about the upcoming season, and to the disappointment of many, it doesn’t look like Madang FC will be making a comeback any time soon. Furthermore, the under-20 side of Besta PNG United, which has taken part in the last ten seasons, is also nowhere to be seen.

As yet, there is no further news about the Conference Competition and the Women’s Competition.

Is Phoenix missing their key men?

After many seasons struggling, Wellington Phoenix could finally have a season to make their fans happy. The 2018/19 season of the A-League, the Australian top-tier where the New Zealand-based club play, saw the Phoenix to end inside the playoff zone in the 6th place. It is true they lost to Melbourne Victory in the first round by 3-1, but since the 2014/15 season the Nix did not took part of the decisive part of the A-League season.

The newly appointed coach Mark Rudan rebuilt the team from the goal to attack: Filip Kurto was the best goalkeeper of the league, the English defender Steven Taylor was crucial for the team, Sarpreet Singh was vital in the midfield while David Williams and Roy Krishna were lethal in the attack. Together the Fijian Flyer and Williams scored 32 goals for Wellington Phoenix.

Roy Krishna celebrates his goal against the Newcastle Jets, which made him the club's joint all-time leading scorer.
Krishna was the best player of A-League last season – Photosport

The season ended and the Rudan Revolution seemed to not really give a longer outcome: under polemics the coach announced he would be leaving Phoenix after the end of the season – not honouring his contract of two years. Alongside Rudan, former Phoenix captain Andrew Durante, the goalkeeper of the year Filip Kurto and the midfielder Max Burgess left to their new club: Western United, the debutants in the A-League. They already won three of their five starting matches in the campaign sitting second in the laddar, while Phoenix is at the bottom of the table.

Sarpreet Singh departed to the German powerhouse Bayern Munich and already played friendly matches for the first team. Singh was instrumental in the good campaign of Phoenix, but surely the big miss for the fans are the deadly duo Krishna and Williams. Both of the them are now playing their club football in the Indian Super League for the ATK club.

Krishna and Williams already scored three goals each in the first four matches of the team in the season. The duo seems to keep working very well, but now miles and miles away from Wellington.

Phoenix is still waiting for his biggest signing of season to get completely fit; Gary Hooper, despite already scoring for Wellington, missed most of the game time due injury concerns. The club just got one point from 15 in the start of the A-League 2019/20 and is already five points away from the playoff qualifying zone.

Nix needs to find their best form in their next matches if they want to recover from this very bad start of the season and they already may have in mind the firepower they had in the previous season will not be with them for this task. Despite of the bad results, the performances were not so bad – the goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic is showing his pedigree of European experience, but much of this comes from a fragile defensive system that already conceded nine goals. The Mexican import Ulises Davila scored three goals in the competiton so far and the promising forwards Ben Waine and Callum McCowatt are really impressing in their first matches defending Phoenix colours.

There is surely room for improvement, but Phoenix needs clearly need to forget the success of the past and focus on what Hooper, Davila, Ball and the team can bring for them.

After 525 days All Whites are back to action

It took several months but finally the New Zealand National Football Team will be back in action. They will travel to Europe to face Ireland and Lithuania playing in these respective countries. The last time New Zealand played an official match was in 7th June, 2018 – exactly 525 days space from this match and when they will enter the pitch to face Ireland – when they won India by 2-1 with goals from Andre de Jong and Moses Dyer. New Zealand made an alternative call-up for this friendly tournament played in India, where they won Chinese Taipei, India and lost to Kenya. Experienced players as Chris Wood, Marco Rojas and Michael Boxall did not play in the International Cup, as the competition was called.

Much things have changed from this date: Fritz Schimid, the Swiss coach of the All Whites, resigned from his position after coaching the national team for only four matches. The New Zealand federation took some time but decided to give the place to the former Leeds United, Walsall and All Whites defender Danny Hay. Hay was the coach of Eastern Suburbs that won the last edition of ISPS Handa Premiership, breaking the alternate dominance of Auckland City and Team Wellington.

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Danny Hay when appointed as new All Whites head coach – NZ Herald

Hay is having in his side the former Waitakere United partner and winner of OFC Champions League Neil Emblem. Emblem also had experience coaching the OlyWhites and will took part in an important role in New Zealand Football staff. Another important appointment is the former All Whites forward Rory Fallon as assistant coach. Fallon has plenty of experience of playing in Scottish and English football, also took part in the last World Cup appearance of New Zealand in 2010 – Fallon scored the winning goal against Bahrain that qualified the All Whites for their second time to a FIFA World Cup.

The squad called up for these friendly matches has seven possible debutants: Nando Pijnaker, Elliot Collier, Callum McCowatt, Max Mata, Elijah Just, Joe Bell and James McGarry. You can check the full squad of the All Whites here. The absence of the Sydney FC striker Kosta Barbarouses will be certainly the biggest miss for New Zealand – the player decided to focus in his matches in A-League since he signed recently for Sydney FC after departing Melbourne Victory.

The best news for New Zealand and Oceania football fans is that Winston Reid and Ryan Thomas are back to football. After very serious knee injuries, both of them were out of football for more than one year. Reid is not yet completely fit for first team football in his club West Ham, while Thomas already debut after injury in Eredivisie giants PSV.

The All Whites main striker Chris Wood is just four goals away from the all-time top scorer of the national team: Vaughan Coveny scored 28 times for the country and Wood already scored 24. Chris has still plenty of time to surpass the record since he is still 27 years old. Currently he is tied in the second position of the records alongside former Wellington Phoenix, Sydney FC and Perth Glory striker Shane Smeltz – one goal he scores for his side will make him the undisputed 2nd all time top-scorer for his country.

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Chris Wood is four goals away the record – The Indepedent

The Burnley striker will be playing against three teammates when he enters the pitch in Dublin to face Ireland: Jeff Hendrick, Robbie Brady and Kevin Long. The Irish side is mainly composed by Premier League and Championship players – a very good test for this mixed of young and experienced players of the New Zealand side.

New Zealand will also feature some young promising players and one of them is rising star Sarpreet Singh, recently signed by Bayern FC coming from a very good season at Wellington Phoenix. Various players of the good generation that played this year at U20 World Cup were called up: the defenders Nando Pijnaker and Liberato Cacace, the goalkeeper Michael Woud, the midfielders Elijah Just and Joe Bell and the forwards Max Mata and Callum McCowatt.

The team also have players with more than 30 caps for the national team: the experienced defenders Tommy Smith and Michael Boxall, both playing today in MLS, the midfielder Marco Rojas who recently departed Netherlands to play in Danish Superligaen and the veteran Central Coast Mariners midfielder Michael McGlinchey that holds 53 caps for the national team.

The full back Louis Fenton had a shoulder injury when playing for Wellington Phoenix in A-League; he was replaced by his teammate Tim Payne in the call-up. This was the only injury miss of the team Danny Hay called for the two friendly matches.

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Sarpreet Singh will look to keep impressing – Bundesliga

Certainly it will be two important matches for New Zealand; especially for having a new coach in charge and after so much time without action. Ireland is without a doubt the most qualified team New Zealand will face in their tour to Europe. Lithuania comes from five defeats in a row in their last win was against Armenia in March, 2018 in a friendly. Despite these bad records, Lithuania played against World Cup teams as Serbia and Portugal – oppositions level New Zealand does not play against so often – and they can also be an interest test to measure the what this new team of Danny Hay can do when they are theorically favourites for a win.

New Zealand begins their new run next Friday – 15th November – against Ireland at 8:45am NZT. The match against Lithunia will kick-off at 3am NZT in the Monday – both matches being telecasted by SkySport.

Mohammad Rajani: Tonga football needs to grow

Mohammad Rajani is a born-Australian football player that represents Tonga at international level. The 20 years old winger is one of the many footballers with Tongan citizenship spread in other countries.

He was discovered by Tongan Football Association when he was 11 years old “The coach of my club in Sydney (APIA Leichhardt) went to Tonga to help Kilifi Uele and Lui Muavesi with some youth coaching programs. Around the same time, I went to Tonga to visit my family and so my coach introduced me to the TFA, and since then they have kept contact with us.” he said.

Currently playing in his homeland Australia, Rajani is one of the most exciting youth players that can represent Tonga National Team. He has not played for the main squad yet but he already played U19 and U23 OFC tournaments for Tonga.

Tonga is one of the bottom placed teams in FIFA World Ranking currently standing at the 204th position of 210 National Teams. The small country in the Pacific Ocean has a big tradition in Rugby – having played some Rugby World Cups – but in football they are still doing their first steps and they clearly need some help to develop. “I think Tongan football has so much potential. However I think that the current board needs a lot of help with organization of our national teams from other people/nations” he stated

Rajani (in red) playing against Vanuatu in 2019 OFC Olympic Qualifiers

Anyway Tonga is slowly developing. Despite losing most matches they are showing they can do something better specially at youth level. They won the qualifying stage for 2018 OFC U19 Championship after beating American Samoa and Cook Islands and drawing against Samoa. Rajani was a key player in this tournament scoring two goals and delievering two assists, participating in four of the six goals scored by Tonga in the tournament, which helped him to be named the Qualifying Stage’s MVP.

Young players are the Tonga’s hope to become a competitive side at continental level, or at least to not be smashed by their opponents. Mohammed Rajani, Mahe Malafu, Vai Lutu, Tuia Falepapalangi, Hemaloto Polovili, Soakai Vea, Laulea Taufa and some other players can be the basis of Tongan National Team in the upcoming years and it is surely a good basis for future to improve their standards. “Our national team can grow so much. This pool of players in my age group has a lot of talent, both domestically and internationally based and we can put a competitive team together” said Rajani.

Most of these players took part of U23 Olympic Qualifier held in Fiji this year. Despite losing all three matches, Tonga managed to score two goals – both scored by Hemaloto Polovili – and hold hosts Fiji to a 4-1 win. “Our U23 side overall performance was not very good compared to the rest of the region. Of course, we are the underdogs coming into these tournaments and no one expects much of us but I think we shocked a lot of people with how we carried ourselves though, especially in the first game (against Fiji).”

Rajani (first from left to right) in U23 Olympic Qualifier held in Fiji

Rajani knows that Tonga is still doing their first steps in football but he understands they can improve specially if they have some international help “Technical aspects will obviously play a huge part in how we prepare and play and I think that is where we need help […] The results speak for themselves and I think, with help, Tonga can grow so much and compete.” he stated.

As it was already said in the beginning of this text, there are many footballers with Tongan citizenship spread in other countries that could improve the National Team’s level but it seems they have not been discovered by TFA yet and it shows how they need urgent help to develop. “I think it comes down to our association’s ability to be able to scout, reach out and find these players”.

Tonga still faces some problems with football that do not come from lack of organization. Football popularity still needs to grow in the country once Rugby is the most important sport there. TFA could follow Tonga Rugby Union steps to become a better team in football. Iceland already proved that population is not a problem. The island with 300 thousand people managed to qualify for 2016 Euro and 2018 World Cup playing in European Qualifiers, the strongest continent in the world when it comes to football. Tonga’s rugby also proves that it is not impossible for them to have a competitive National Football Team. Seriousness and investments are necessary to make it. “I think maybe with help from sponsors, the league can grow, youth programs will grow bigger and players will be developed in a professional way so they can have opportunities to play at a high level, like other nations around the world.” said Rajani. Tonga is currently building a new stadium and it is a good initiative but as Rajani stated above they need more.

Currently playing in Australia, he is exploring some opportunities to play in other places “Playing 2020 OFC Champions League is definitely a goal of mine in the coming months, I think I have shown my ability in the international tournaments and I want to get on the field on that stage and compete against the best players playing in our region“. Talking about Tonga, Veitongo is currently leading the league and they will probably qualify for Champions League. Will we see Rajani playing for Veitongo in this tournament? Maybe. Anyway Oceania Football Center thanks to him for conceding this interview and wish him good luck in his career and life.

TBT #01 – The long wait is over!

Throwback Thursday (also known as TBT) is a popular internet trend used among social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Users will often post nostalgic pictures of their past accompanied by the hashtag #TBT or #ThrowbackThursday. It is used by people all over the world to share and relive their past experiences with anyone they want. The term throwback can be attributed to anything in the past.

Oceania Football Center also joined this trend and that is the first article of a series. These articles will be published on Thursdays remembering memorable moments in Oceanian Football. Scroll down and check the first story of the series.

After Australia’s exit from Oceania Football Confederation, there was a clear way for New Zealand to become the new Football Kings in the OFC region. These expectations really came true once All Whites win almost every 11-a-side football tournament in Oceania since then. It also increased the All Whites’ possibility to qualify for World Cups once they had played only one in 1982.

New Zealand did not last to show to the whole continent who is the new ruler of the rooster. They won 2008 OFC Nations Cup and qualified for 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. This title also gave All Whites the opportunity of playing 2010 FIFA World Cup Inter-Continental Play-offs against an Asian team because by that time OFC Nations Cup champion advanced directly to the World Cup play-offs.

And there they were! New Zealand was two matches away from coming back to the world stage at senior level. Their opponent was Baharin, an asian country that never played a World Cup. So the All Whites were in a historical advantage because they played FIFA World Cup once.

After a 0-0 draw in Bahrain, the All Whites would decide the 2010 FIFA World Cup spot at home. More than 36 thousand people went to Westpac Stadium in Wellington to support the New Zealand’s squad.

All Whites’ squad against Bahrain
BEHIND: Tim Brown, Chris Killen, Shane Smeltz, Mark Paston, Tony Lochhead and Rory Fallon
IN FRONT: Ben Sigmund, Ryan Nelsen, Leo Bertos, Ivan Vicelich and Michael McGlinchey

Jorge Larrionda from Uruguay was the referee in a match that really promised to be exciting. And it really was!

New Zealand scored with forward Rory Fallon in the end of the first half and they managed to hold this score to clinch their spot in 2010 World Cup.

You can check the full highlights in the videos below:

1st half highlights

It was in 2009… 14th November. Today this memorable day for New Zealanders makes its 10th birthday. It was the last time that All Whites qualified for a FIFA World Cup. Will they qualify for 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar? We will find it out soon.

Isabel United stuns Malaita Kings in Nigel Dabinyaba debut

The midweek clash between Malaita Kings and Isabel United marked the debut of the brilliant Papua New Guinea international Nigel Dabinyaba. The club from Malaita hoped to grab all points of this match to get closer to the 2nd placed Henderson Eels in the table. Isabel United hoped to count with the prolific scorer Bently Kelobi to advance in the standings in this match that took place in Lawson Tama Stadium.

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Dabinyaba made his debut for Malaita Kings – S-League Media

It was not only the Papua New Guinean to make his debut in this clash: the U23 Solomon Islands international Tuita Maeobia also made his debut for Isabel United alongside two other players for his team. Maeobia scored a prolific goal against New Zealand in the last OFC Olympic Qualifiers tournament that took place in Fiji.

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Tuita Maeobia donning Solomon Islands colours in last OFC U19 championship – SIFF Media

A hard fought match see Maeobia and Isabel United to come with the best result. The young forward scored the goal that was the difference between two teams. The 1-0 victory was enough to secure a very important win for the club from Isabel province.

Malaita Kings now sees Henderson Eels seven points upfront in the second place and has its 3rd place in the table threatened by Kossa that draw in the weekend against the same Henderson Eels.

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Isabel United squad before the match – SIFF Media

Isabel United after this result advances in the table and sits 5th in the table with 12 points, overtaking Marist position in the standings.

Kensi Tangis: striking for history

Kensi Tangis is one of the most prolific strikers in the Pacific Islands nowadays and he is living a bright moment in his career scoring lots of goals. He was the 2018-19 Solomon Islands S-League with 23 goals scored and he is currently leading the Golden Boot race in 2019-20 Port Vila Premier League with a good margin from other contesters.

Even scoring lots of goals in both countries, he sees a clear difference between the football style of both countries: “Vanuatu’s football is more physical while Solomon Islands’ is more technical.“

Tangis playing for Solomon Warriors

With 29 years old, the Galaxy’s striker is currently recovering from an injury. He got injured in the loss against Sia-Raga and did not show up in the 0-0 draw against Tafea. His absence from the team coincided with a bad run of Galaxy in the league. Currently in the fourth place in the league table, they are looking forward for next matches while they aim to perform at a good level in the Galaxy’s first ever international experience in 2020 Oceania Champions League – “Preparation for OFC Champions League is going good but we need more technical training.” he stated.

Kensi Tangis after scoring four goals against Mauwia in 2019-20 Port Vila Premier League opening round

Tangis is a key player for Galaxy. With some great international experience – played in Solomon Islands, Tahiti and also capped 28 times for Vanuatu National Team – he is really ready for this continental challenge once he already played 25 matches and scored 11 goals in OFC Champions League history.

With a good retrospect at international level, he made it clear – “I really want to play abroad again”. His incredible capacity to score obviously allows him to play well in a good level as he already proved it.

Hienghène wins Mobil Super League; battle against relegation continues

The Mobil Super Ligue got to know their new champions in the previous saturday when Hienghène Sport finally complete the treble and won the national league. The club from the north of New Caledonia had three chances to seal their title – failling against their rivals AS Magenta, Tiga Sport but at the last round deciding their fate against Horizon Patho and winning away from home by 4-1.

AS Magenta once again sees their biggest rivals to win another trophy after their faillure in OFC Champions League and Coupe de Calédonie. The club from New Caledonia capital at least could confirm their presence in OFC Champions League ending 2nd in the table.

Bertrand Kai (right) was the top scorer of the league with 14 goals

Despite the decision of the champions of the spots in the continental club tournament, the Mobil Super Ligue still has one decisive match still to be played to give an end to the relegation battle between ES Wacaele and Trio Kedeigne. Both sides still fight to see which of them will directly relegated to the Promotion d’Honneur and which other will take place in the relegation-promotion playoff.

The catch-up match against AS Mont-Dore and Trio Kedeigne was decided by FCF Referee Commision to take place in the next weekend. Mont-Dore needs only a win to end the competition in the 3rd position and Trio Kedeigne needs a draw to avoid direct relegation and send to the send place in the stadings the newly promoted ES Wacaele.

ES Wacaele could score first against AS Lössi in their last encounter in Stade Numa Daly, but suffered four goals from Lössi – a brace from their number 9 and captain Fonzy Ranchain. Wacaele now hopes Trio can not avoid a defeat and suffer a direct relegation to the New Caledonian football second-tier.

The 18th round results and updated standings – MSL Media

Wacaele can keep their hopes alive: Trio Kedeigne suffered a harsh defeat – the biggest goal difference until now in the competition – against Magenta by 10-2 margin. Now they will be playing a do-or-die match against AS Mont-Dore to keep their chances alive to stay in the top-tier for next season.

AS Wetr did not keep their good form in the competition and suffered one more defeat against Tiga Sport. Highlight for one more goal in the season for Tiga Sport top scorer Lues Waya – the 18-year old striker keeps proving he can be one of the major players in the next seasons of Mobil Super Ligue.

In the other match of the round SC Ne Drehu could not confirm their 3rd place spot in the league when they draw 2-2 against AS Mont-Dore and gave the chance to them reach the third place if they win their remaining match against ES Wacaele.

In the title decisive match on Saturday, the new signing of Hienghène Sport, the Portuguese midfielder Pedro Sousa, opened early the account for the current OFC Champions League title holders. Antoine Roine scored the second goal still in the first half. In the final part of the game, Horizon Patho managed to reduce the scoreline to 2-1, but Miguel Kayara and Bertrand Kaï scored the final goals of the game sealing the third title of the season.

The captain and legend of Hieghène Sport, Bertrand Kaï ended the competition with 14 goals scored and is the top goalscorers of this edition of the national league.

Now the club from Hienghène province will be looking for their biggest challenges of the season, when they play AS Pierrots Vauban Strasbourg of the 5th tier of football in France for the Coupe de France 7th round and FIFA Clubs World Cup when they play in December against Qatari national champions Al-Sadd.

Benben United remains unbeaten in Women’s Opening Tournament

BY CHARLES HAKWA

Benben United have put themselves at the top of group A. Coming from a 7-0 and 6-0 victories over Pango Green Bird and Mauriki respectively, the girls demonstarted volcanic explosion in the field since the team is named after Mount Lombenben volcano where Lake Manaro is.

The girls in Blue ended their latest game on Saturday with a 2-1 victory over Erakor Golden Star which counts on Celestine Kalopong and other U19 national players who recently returned from a fourth place finish in the Cook Islands.

Benben United girls after beating Pango Green Bird by 7-0 at Erakor field

Benben United have one pool game left against Ifira Black Bird on 23rd November at Korman Stadium since they have a bye this coming Saturday.

Benben United is a futsal team that currently leads Shefa Women’s Futsal League, however since the announcment of the re-establishment of a Women’s Football League in Vanuatu, the futsal girls decided to combine with the Sarabetu Churches of Christ youths and the Tavalavola girls after the Ambae Day celebrations to form this team to compete in the new Women’s Football League. They still play futsal after playing their football games.

Benben United also counts on Annie Rose Gere and Jane Alatoa who both joined the national squad in this years Pacific Games in Samoa.

Dennis Ifunaoa: the best is yet to come

Dennis Ifunaoa had an amazing season playing for Labasa in Fiji. The 27 years old player from Solomon Islands was a key player for Babasiga Lions in this unforgettable year in the history of the team. His international experience meant a lot for Labasa throughout the season specially in crunch times and big matches.

Ifunaoa played for some important clubs in the Pacific Islands like Hekari United (Papua New Guinea), Henderson Eels and Solomon Warriors (Solomon Islands) playing in OFC Champions League for many seasons – Playing for these teams brought more experience to my football career” he said. With this experience in many national leagues, he also pointed some differences between the football structure in these countries “In Fiji they have a National League and three other tournaments (Fiji FACT, Battle of the Giants and Inter-District Championship) while Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea only have the league. If these countries had more tournaments like in Fiji players could play for more times throughout the year. It would help them to develop more”.

He won two trophies for Labasa during the season: Battle of the Giants and Inter-District Championship. His biggest moment in Fiji took place in the Inter-District Championship when he scored an amazing goal at the extra time in the final against Suva to give Labasa the win and the trophy – “I have already scored in many finals but this one meant a lot to me because I promised myself I would score a goal in this final […] People always expect more from foreign players” he stated.

Dennis Ifunaoa after winning 2019 Inter-District Championship for Labasa. Source: FBC News

After a notorious season in Fiji, Dennis Ifunaoa was deservedly called up for Solomon Islands National Football team, scoring five goals in five matches so far. Despite living a good moment in his career he assures that the best is yet to come “I am so happy to join the National Team and I hope they can call me up again. I think it is not the best moment of my career yet. I still need to improve a lot, that is how I see“. When asked about the recent successes of Solomon Islands in Futsal, Beach Soccer and Football, he answered “It is because the trainings and hard work that each player and staff put day in day out. That is the reason of these recent successes […] I think they should build some good training places and good facilities so players can use it and improve more“.

Ifunaoa having fun with some kids in Netherlands during Solomon Islands tour in the European country

Infrastructure is clearly one of the biggest problems at the islands but it demands some time to be solved. However there are some issues that can be solved in easier ways like the strange calendars of football in some countries. Recently Oceania Football Center released an article talking about the bad schedule in Fijian tournaments. Ifunaoa played a year in Fiji and he could feel it himself “I think it is wrong playing day-by-day games because human body needs to rest before playing another match […] but it is always like that in Fiji when it comes to tournaments” he said.

Currently playing for Solomon Warriors in Telekom S-League, Ifunaoa has plans for the upcoming years but he is totally focused on his current team goals by now “I intend to return to Fiji. I have just arrived in Solomon Warriors and I will stay here if we go through Oceania Champions League”. He also knows that he still has some potential to improve and make the next level by going into a bigger league “I also would like to play in a bigger country like New Zealand again. I played for Nelson Suburbs in the beginning of this decade”.

Solomon Warriors is currently leading the Telekom S-League and they will probably qualify for Oceania Champions League. If it really happens everyone will have the opportunity to see Ifunaoa playing at the highest level of Oceanian football once again.