Les TIKI TOA ont jouè deux matchs amicales dans cette semaine face a les Etats Units. Ce sont de matchs de exhibition pour la Coupe du Monde de Beach Soccer qui vas se derouler en Paraguay de jeudi 21 novembre prochain.
Wellington Phoenix traveled to Australia to play against Melbourne City and lost by 3-2 in the fourth round of 2019-20 Hyundai A-League.
The first goal of the match was scored by Gary Hooper after a David Ball’s assist. It was the first goal scored by the former Celtic forward for Phoenix. Melbourne City managed to turnaruond the game to 2-1 in the first half after Connor Metcalfe and Scott Galloway netted for the Citizens. Galloway’s goal was a marvelous one with a freaking left-footed shot from out of the box.
Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay made some changes in the dressing room for the second time. Callum McCowatt and Jaushua Sotirio replaced Reno Piscopo and Gary Hooper respectively. In the middle second half a penalty was awarded for Melbourne City after the Video Assistant Referee upheld an incorrect hand ball decision. Craig Noone netted the penalty kick to increase City’s lead to 3-1. Louis Fenton got very angry with the referees once the ball cleared hit his chest and not his arm.
After suffering the third goal, Mr. Talay sacked Wynton Rufer’s nephew Alex Rufer and sent young forward Ben Waine to the pitch. Waine was one of the best players of OFC Olympic Qualifier held in Fiji recently and he showed why he won the Silver Boot in the U23 Qualifier by scoring a goal in the late second half for Nix, his first ever goal in A-League.
Ben Waine scored his first goal in A-League
But Waine’s goal was not enough for Wellington Phoenix that lost by 3-2. Nix remains in the last position in A-League with four losses in four matches.
The seventh round of Coupe de France has been drawn. This round marks the beginning of overseas territories teams journey in the biggest cup of the world. Oceania will be represented by two teams: AS Vènus from Tahiti and Hienghène Sport from New Caledonia.
Wellington Phoenix is the sole team in this Hyundai A-League still to draw or win a match – remaining without any points at the bottom of the table. The team coached by Ufuk Talay scored just two goals in the league this season, both coming from the Mexican midfielder Ulises Dávila. Phoenix hope to get a positive result against Melbourne City in AAMI Park after being defeated by Western United, Sydney FC and Perth Glory in first three games of this A-League season.
The Nix fans expect the English marquee striker Gary Hooper makes his debut starting the match after playing from bench only 15 minutes against Glory in their 2-1 defeat at home. In the other side City will be missing their key striker Jamie McLaren, the Australian international is injured and will take around one month to be back in action.
Gary Hooper is the biggest hope of Phoenix this season – Stuff
The expectations in the former Celtic and Norwich City player are certainly high: coming with a lot of potential for the Australian top-tier, the 31-year old striker already shown a bit of his quality in few minutes played in the last match of Wellington Phoenix – the striker suffered a penalty that was well taken by Ulises Dávila. The combinations with Davila, Ball and Callum McCowatt seems promising for the Phoenix, since they played a good football performance in their three matches but were not efficient in converting their goalscoring chances into the goals they needed – despite being fragiel defensively. Their defense also has seemed to be a problem, suffering already five in three matches.
Melbourne City currently stands 3rd in the A-League standings and a win for them against the New Zealanders is vital for staying battling for the top positions. Without Jamie McLaren, the expectations for the fans of the home side in the AAMI Park will be today on the Uruguyan midfielders Adrian Luna and Javier Cabrera and the young promising Australian prospect Lachlan Wales. The English Craig Noone is also a key figure for Melbourne City in their past campaigns in A-League.
Defensively Scott Jamieson is also important for City, alongisde the the Australian international Curtis Good. The former Wellington Phoenix player Scott Galloway will be playing agsainst his ex-club defending the colours of Melbourne after a very good last season when he was at Adelaide United.
The 19-year old Lachlan Wales can be a major threat with the absence of McLaren – FTBL
In the previous match of Phoenix against Glory, their defense allowed two easy goals by the visitors. Today, the central back and captain Steven Taylor needs to perform better and coordinate the defensive system of Phoenix. The Wellington-based club will be missing the young full back Liberato Cacace once again due suspension after being sent off in the match against Sydney FC and receiving a two-week ban of FFA Referee Commission.
The best performer of the defense of Phoenix in their first three games was the All Whites number one goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic. An experienced player – that recently played for Vancouver Whitecaps in Major League Season – made fantastic stops in the previous games of his new club and could make their defeats sound better than it really could be.
Perth players celebrating their first goal in their 2-1 win against Phoenix – Glory Media
The Phoenix will battle for the points and their fans hope for a better performance of the team of Ufuk Talay even playing away from home. Despite some good signals in their first three matches, the reality of having no points still in the table is really worrying – while the teams are scoring points and going upfront Phoenix early in the season, the Nix still is locked with 0 points and this bad starting of the season can be crucial in the decisive moments of the season.
You can watching the match of Melbourne City against Wellington Phoenix in the SkySport or in My Football channel in YouTube.
The PVFA Premier League’s Week 4 is over. Four matches were played in Port Vila top division and Oceania Football Center brings a review of each match for you!
YATEL 1-1 IFIRA BLACK BIRD
After losing by 14-0 in the first round, Yatel brought some players and became a competitive side. Mansen Jacob scored Yatel’s goal while Jean Marie Manuriki netted for Ifira Black Bird. Yatel remains in 7th but Ifira BB is now in the second position.
Ifira Black Bird players
SIA-RAGA 1-0 GALAXY
The biggest shock of this weekend! Sia-Raga won Galaxy by 1-0 with a goal scored by Alick Donald to remain in the 5th position. Galaxy had an opportunity to score but the goal was canceled so they bitter their first loss in the championship. The loss is not the only bad news for Galaxy: Kensi Tangis got injured in this match and is expected to be out for three weeks. Hard luck for the Blues this weekend.
Sia-Raga starting eleven against Galaxy
TUPUJI IMERE 6-1 MAUWIA
Tupuji Imere finally scored and netted six at once to thrash Mauwia by 6-1. Elington Molivakarua led the team scoring a brace to sink their opponents. Mauwia stands in the last position with zero points and they will come back to First Division if they do not reinforce their squad.
Tupuji Imere starting eleven against Mauwia
TAFEA 1-1 ERAKOR GOLDEN STAR
In the biggest clash of the round Erakor held Tafea to a draw just like they did against Galaxy last weekend. Both teams remain unbeaten in the championship while Galaxy breathes a sigh of relief because Tafea did not win the match. The goals were scored by John Thomas (Tafea) and Kaltfer Kaltack (Erakor Golden Star). Erakor now has three draws in four matches while Tafea leads the league with ten points in four matches.
Erakor Golden Star starting eleven against Tafea
You can check the full table, results and topscorers by clicking here.
Solomon Islands retained their glory in Oceania Futsal and will represent the region once again in the FIFA Futsal World Cup. They won New Zealand in the final match that was by far the most entertaining game of the entire competition. New Zealand fought hard and almost won the match and trophy, but credit to Kurukuru who kept themselves in the match.
Micky Malivuk scored the first goal after an error of goalkeeper Anthony Talo – he was lobbed after clearing the ball directly to the New Zealand captain. Solomon Islands dominated the first half but it ended with the little advantage in favour of New Zealand.
The second half was to be the most exciting half of the entire tournament: in well-combined free-kick James Egeta finished to equalize the match.
The champions: Solomon Islands – OFC Media
New Zealand would get back to score again through the efforts of Micky Malivuk: the experienced player made a fantastic individual play and finished directly to the nets of Anthony Talo.
Not so later to go down in the scoreline, Alwin Hou could find an excellent shot to equal the match once again. The high speed of the match allowed the Futsal Whites to come strong and score their third goal after a fantastic pass by player/coach Marvin Eakins to Jordi Ditfort, the number 2 finished between the legs of the goalkeeper to give the advtange once again to the New Zealanders.
Solomon Islands, seeing the final whistle close, decided to put up the strategy of the 5th man – playing withouth a goalkeeper between the sticks. The strategy did not go so well since Josh Margetts approached a passing error os the Solomon Islanders to score their fourth goal. Less than two minutes to finish the game the title semeed to be almost decided in favour of the New Zealanders.
The story was different: just after suffering the goal Alwin Hou could score his second goal in the match after a very-well combined play. James Egeta was used as the 5th player for the final minute and, this time, it worked very well: Arnold Maeluma received the ball and scored the equalizer with just 20 seconds remaining in the clock – they could save the match and send it to extra-time.
Alwin Hou scored two goals in the decisive match – OFC Media
Just after the beggining of the extra-time, the experienced Jeffery Bule put Solomon Islands ahead in the score for the first time in the entire match. It was the time for New Zealand to use the 5th strategy and it worked very rapidly for them since they could find the goal they needed with a powerful shot of Stephen Peckham.
The extra-time was not enough to separate the two teams: in a match with so many emotions, the decisive moment was to be in the penalty shootout. Unfortunately for New Zealand, Stephen Peckham did not find the target in his opportunity and Lucas Silva had his penalty saved by Anthony Talo – the decisive penalty that sealed the win for the Kurukuru. Both penalties taken by Solomon Islands – Elliot Ragomo and Jeffery Bule – were succesful.
The Kurukuru made their nation proud again – now they are heading for the FIFA Futsal World Cup to be played in Lithuania next year. This will be the fourth appearence of the nation in the world stage tournament.
The top goalscorers of the tournament were the Tahitian Olivier Hirihiri and the New Zealander Micky Malivuk, both with seven goals scored each. The 3rd/4th playoff match was won by Tahiti also in the penalty shootout to give them the Bronze Medal, while the hosts New Caledonia finished the tournament at the 4th position. In the first match of the day, Fiji won Vanuatu by 6-4.
New Zealand needed a win against Canada if they wanted to keep their chances alive in the U17 World Cup – and this is exactly what the Young All Whites have done. A superb performance of the goalkeeper Alex Paulsen and a fantastic goal scored by Matthew Garbett made the Oceania champions to win Canada by 1-0.
The match was very close; lots of tackles and battles for space, but the team from Jose Figueira knew exactly they needed to grab their first win in the competition – only the fourth in history for New Zealand football.
Canada was a threat with the pace of Kamron Habibullah at the flanks, as well the Toronto FC product Jayden Nelson in the other side were always a danger for the New Zealand defense.
The New Zealand team for this match; Figueira made some changes – FIFA
New Zealand was able to break the deadlock in the 27th minute of the game when the prolific Matthew Garbett scored with outstanding shot from long distance. Finally New Zealand was ahead in the scoreline for the first time in the U17 World Cup.
New Zealand put their lines back and started with a defensive approach to defend their lead. The Canadians created some chances to score, all denied by the goalkeeper Alex Paulsen.
Garbett’s goal celebration – FIFA
The second half was entirely dominated by the Canadians – the New Zealanders defended their lead and had few stints in attack. The Canadians had a brave Alex Paulsen in front them making several stops not allowing the Canucks to find an equalizer.
Although the Kiwi efforts to defend, Habibullah found Nelson free inside the box, the winger finished and found the nets. After lots of celebratios by the Canadians, the VAR analysed the play and dismissed the goal – Nelson was in an offside position.
Canada pressured the Oceania team until the end of the game and could not find an equalizer. Alex Paulsen made fantastic stops and he was the biggest responsible for the New Zealand win – their first in this edition of U17 World Cup.
After a hard fought win against Canada, New Zealand kept their chances to proceed to the Round of 16 alive. Now they need to wait what will happen in the remaining games of the other groups in the tournament to see if they are going to be one of the four best 3rd placed teams in the competition among the six groups of the U17 World Cup.
Futsal Nations Cup is approaching to its end and the final match begins in a few hours. Solomon Islands and New Zealand confirmed their favoritism and will decide the championship soon. The champion will play 2020 Futsal World Cup that will be held in Lithuania.
Solomon Islands and New Zealand will meet in the final match for a spot in 2020 Futsal World Cup
Solomon Islands 4-1 New Zealand (2016 OFC Futsal Championship) New Zealand 7-3 Solomon Islands (2013 OFC Futsal Championship) Solomon Islands 8-4 New Zealand (2010 OFC Futsal Championship)
PREVIEW
Kurukuru has a very strong side coached by brazilian Vinicius Leite and they are looking for increasing their reign in Oceanian Futsal. On the other hand New Zealand wants to qualify for the Futsal World Cup for the first time ever.
Futsal Whites know that they have a difficult mission today but they are ready for this challenge. The two best teams in the continents reached the final and that is what New Zealanders have been waiting for so long.
“The Solomons want this, we want this and the Solomons are a great team. They are going to be tough to beat, they had a great preparation, they have a great coach, unbelievable players with experience at world cups over and over, so we have to rise to their level and then we have to show that we can beat them playing our style while try to manage how they play, so I’m looking forward to it” said Marvin Eakins (New Zealand player and head coach).
Kurukuru is already used to lift trophies and play World Cups so this experience can really make a difference in their favour but they know they need to stay focused on winning “As an experienced player, I am not underestimating any team in this competition […] I believe in the boys, specially what they have been through with Alex Argolo and the coach (Vinicius Leite). I really believe in them, we gonna do better” said Kurukuru’s player James Egeta.
New Zealand has the best defense in the competition with five goals conceded so far while Solomon Islands comes next with six suffered goals. The tough defense and the physical clashes can be decisive factors in difficult matches like this one might be.
Finals are always special and full of mysticism. Anyway, Solomon Islands has a stronger side and has some favouritism for today’s match.
The most important national league of Oceania starts a new season this weekend. Full of new players and stronger squads than the previous years, the 2019/20 season of ISPS Handa Premiership in New Zealand promises to be the best of the league in the history. You can see more information about the previous editions of the ISPS Handa Premiersip here.
The ISPS Handa Premiership trophy – NZF Media
The 7-time champions of New Zealand top tier Auckland City comes with a very strong squad this season – see the full squad here. The most known football team of Oceania continent failled to win a single title last season – after so many season – and this made them to have a clear change.
The important coach Ramon Tribulietx parted ways with Auckland after a very succesful stint. Now, the former Team Wellington and New Zealand U17 team coach Jose Figueira signed to be new the head coach of the Navy Blues. With him the former Team Wellington defender Adam Mitchell joined the team with a very important addition to the squad. Remembering the football style of Figueira, he may play with three central backs what lead us to imagine Mitchell will start alongside the captain Angel Berlanga and the Ni-Vanuatu international Brian Kaltak.
Another very important players signed for the team in blue: the Logan Rogerson, the captain of the succesful OlyWhites in the Qualifiers for Tokyo Olympics, joined the team after a stint in European football. Myer Bevan, the top scorer of the U23 Qualifiers for Olympics, also joined them after playing in Canada, United States and Sweden. Another well-known player is Andrew Blake, the full back comes to Auckland after experiencing the top-tier football in Scotland with Hibernian.
The team coached by Lee Padmore comes with a new squad for this season, but with some names very-well known by the public. The most known of them might the former All Whites and World Cup player Aaron Clapham. Clapham had a succesful stint with Team Wellington and even scored a goal in the last edition of FIFA Clubs World Cup before returning to Canterbury United. The experienced midfielder might the key for the club based in Christchurch.
Another important names of the teams are Cory Mitchell and Sean Liddicoat. Mitchel has shown good quality in the past years in the midfield for the Dragons and Liddicoat recently helped the OlyWhites to qualify for Tokyo Olympics playing in the Center Back position. Canterbury also invested to bring the canadian Calum Ferguson to the team who was recently playing for Valour FC in the Canadian Premier League. Ferguson is capped by the Canadian youth teams and already played his club football in Scotland.
Dragons despite bringing Clapham lost some important players as Aaron Spain. The Papua New Guinean player transfered before the starting of the season to Team Wellington.
The current champions of the ISPS Handa Premiership comes very different for this season – but still very strong. Their squad for this season comes with important players of their previous campaign as the defender Kelvin Kalua and the midfielder Michael Built.
They need to make a complete new squad keeping just the duo mentioned before. Some important players were signed: the outstanding Uruguayan striker Martin Bueno, the Auckland City FC academy product Reid Drake, the former U20 New Zealand international Leon van de Hoven and the former Canterbury United attacking midfielder Stephen Hoyle, who was playing in Canada recently. Eastern Suburbs will also count with the U17 New Zealand World Cup member Campbell Strong in their squad for this season.
Another important miss for the Lilywhites is their now former coach Danny Hay: after winning the ISPS Handa Premiership title, he departed from the team for a big duty: to coach the New Zealand National Footbal Team. Eastern Suburbs will now have as their head coach Tony Readings.
The Hamilton Wanderers come with a very interesting squad for this season – counting with their key man Tommy Semmy that almost left the team for Wellington Phoenix.
Despite losing their striker for Eastern Suburbs – Martin Bueno – the cluba managed to sign the captain of US Virgin Islands National Team JC Mack. The forward played in United States and was recently playing in Iceland. Another important signing as the Brazilian defender Rodrigo Morais and the well-know Augustin Contratti can help the Hamilton-based team in the league.
The team coached by the legend Ricki Herbert will also count with the experience of the midfielders Jake Butler and Brad Whitworth in a season they are hoping to reach the top four for the first time since joining the league.
The team based in Napier will count with many players of the winning team of the previous Chatham Cup – Napier City Rovers – and promisses to come strong for the season. You can see their full squad here.
HBU will have two co-coaches this season, Chris Greatholder and Bill Robertson – which also will play as a center back for his team. Hawke’s Bay hopes to have a better season than the previous one so they brought some interesting players for the team, as the United States striker Ahinga Selemani. The Canadian midfielder Dylan Sacramento promises to be one of their key man in the competition as well.
Napier City Rovers success in the New Zealand winter season caught the attention of Hawke’s Bay that brought in various of those players, as utilty Liam Schofield, the young midfielder Karan Mandair and the Japanese Sho Goto.
Southern made their best campaign ever in the previous edition of the ISPS Handa Premiership and comes full of hopes for new season, hoping to keep their hunt of the top four spot. Their squad comes very strong with the maintenance of their top scorer in the last season Garbhan Coughlan and the good central back and captain Connor O’Keefe.
Surely the addition of the former Team Wellington winger Joel Stevens is the key signing of the season for the team based coached by Paul O’Reilly. The additions in the midfield of the Norwegian Chris Wingate and the Finnish Santeri Kuivalainen also can be very important for the team from Otago.
Tasman United looks to have a better season in the 2019/20 edition of ISPS Handa Premiership. The club brought a new coach, the very experienced Jess Ibrom, that managed to keep important players from the previous season and improve their squad for the season – see the full squad here.
Important players as the defender Fox Slotemaker and the midfielder Matt Tod-Smith kept with the squad. The addition of Alex Varela might be crucial in the midfield, the Chilean has more than 70 matches of experience in the ISPS Handa Premiership.
Surely the most exciting adition for the team from Nelson is the forward Jama Boss that made a superb season with Manukau United in the NRFL Lotto Premier League. The striker from New Caledonia Jean-Philippe Saiko is also a very interesting signing – the player has already scored nine times for his national team and has experience of playing in French football.
Team Wellington had a very interesting season in the previous edition of the league, falling for Eastern Suburbs in the grand final just before beating their biggest rivals Auckland City away home to proceed to the final. After the departure of their former coach Jose Figueira, the board decided to bring Scott Hales for the head coach position.
The Team Wellington squad for this year will miss some important names as Ross Allen and Mario Ilich. Despite this, the club signed some interesting imports as the North Ireland defender Rory McKeown and the Montenegro defender Stevan Markovic.
Some important names from their previous succesful seasons as Scott Basalaj, Justin Gulley, Hamish Watson and Jack-Henry Sinclair are retained for this season. The English striker Sam Mason-Smith who had a fantastic season for Hawke’s Bay United is also another important part of the TeeDubs attack.
Waitakere United can be seem as a sleeping giant in New Zealand; the club used to rival with Auckland City and even already won the OFC Champions League. The golden days when Roy Krishna shown his quality at the team are gone and they are now looking to improve their recent frustrating records in the ISPS Handa Premiership.
Their squad is mostly composed by young players – some of them already proved himself playing for the Junior All Whites. The team coached by Paul Hobson can count with the defender Dane Schnell that might be one of the most important players of the team, Schnell played the U20 World Cup, the Pacific Games and also the Olympic Qualifiers for his country. Alongside him the midfielders Jake Porter and Lachlan McIsaaac could also represent New Zealand in some of these tournaments – the defender Robert Tipelu also had the same chances as those.
Sam Burfoot – former Auckland City midfielder – is their key man in the midfield for the Waitakere side. The Spanish import Gerrard Gibert promises to be also one important figure to them team. In the offensive are, Alex Connor-McClean is one of their hottest prospects and the experience Solomon Islands international Andrew Abba can be threat due his pace.
The reserve squad of the professional outifit Wellington Phoenix has the biggest aim to provide game time and develop the young generation of its team. Their squad is mainly composed by very young players, including some that are starring in Brazil at U17 World Cup.
The WeeNix also can count with some first team players that are not unused by in the Hyundai A-League match days, but this is really something that does not happen so often.
The coached by Paul Temple will have the likes of very promissing players as the goalkeepr Alex Paulsen, the defenders Kris Naicker and Adam Hillis and the midfielders Henry Hamilton and Benjamin Old – all of them named by Jose Figueira in the U17 World Cup squad. Another very important players upfront might Oskar van Hattum, Adam Hewson and Ahmed Othman.
The MatchWeek 1 of ISPS Handa Premiership – NZF Media
ISPS Handa Premiership is surely the best league in OFC at the present moment, where most of the Pacific Islanders can have a go to develop their game. This season seems to be one of the best of the league history and It is a must for all Oceania football fans to keep following the development of this that can be one of the best football tournaments of the year in the entire region.
The Young All Whites still have some chances to qualify for the Round of 16 of this edition of FIFA U17 World Cup. To keep their chances alive they need to win their final group match against Canada – to be played in Estádio BezerrĂŁo, in Brazilian capital city.
Both sides lost their two first matches of the tournament and to keep dreaming to proceed to the next stage they really will need a win. New Zealand suffered a very frustrating defeat against Angola and were outclassed by a 10-men Brazil U17 team in the last round. Suffering already 5 goals in the competition and having their sole goal scored by the Eastern Suburbs academy player Matthew Garbett.
Garbett scored the only New Zealand goal in the tournament so far – FIFA
The Canucks played their first match in the tournament and suffered a big defeat against the hosts by 4-1. The surprising Angolan team also were able to win the North Americans by 2-1 margin with a goal in the injury time. The Canada team just have one player out of the academies of the MLS Canadian teams – Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps – the goalkeeper Marc Kouadio that is currently at Montverde Academy in United States.
Both goals scored by the Canadians came from the Toronto FC’s academy product Jacen Russel-Rowe. Another important players of the team are the forward Kamron Habibullah, the captain and central defender Gianfranco Facchineri – both from Vancouver Whitecaps academy – and the winger of Toronto FC academy Jayden Nelson.
Jacen Russel-Rowe scored both goals of Canada in the tournamet – FIFA
The New Zealand squad will need to bounce back from their lost against Brazil. Despite a promissing performance by the Oceania champions, the New Zealanders were not able to beat a strong side of Brazil – giving away two late goals in two defensive mistakes.
The captain Alex Paulsen needs to recover from his previous mistake against Brazil; he is a very important player for the Young All Whites and they will surely need him in this match. Marko Stamenic is surely one of the hottest prospects of New Zealand football, the number 10 has played well against Brazil and needs to keep creating opportunities for the front men. Matthew Garbett is impressing by his speed and hardworking character and it is very important a good game for him for the expectations of the young team from Oceania.
New Zealand will need to win to keep their chances alive in the U17 World Cup – FIFA
Altough a win does not mean New Zealand is qualified for the next stage – they depend on the results coming from the other five groups in the competition – certainly to end up a group stage with a win is always a good moment. It is important to remember this is a youth tournamet and the biggest aim is to keep the development of the young tallents.
The match will kick-off at 8pm (Friday) BRT and 12am (Saturday) NZT.
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Oceania Football Center 