Oceania Football Center

Blake Weston: an iron defender

Ironman Triathlon is one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world, consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.22-mile (42.20 km) run, raced in that order. It is a very long challenge and the best Ironmen in the world complete it in about eight hours.

A Half Ironman – also called Ironman 70.3 – consists on 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run. Each distance of the swim, bike, and run segments is half the distance of that segment in an Ironman Triathlon. The sum of the distances – in miles – is equal to 70.3, that is why it is called Ironman 70.3.

Hamilton Wanderers defender Blake Weston completed a Half Ironman on December 8, a huge accomplishment for a football player that needs to train almost every day to play football in a professional level – “Training for the Half Ironman was a whole new experience for me although I definitely enjoyed it. I would have at least one aspect of triathlon training every day – whether it was swimming, biking or running, and then we would train three evenings a week with Hamilton Wanderers.” explained Weston.

Blake Weston joined Hamilton Wanderers in July and he is being an important part of the team throughout the matchweeks. He started to train for Half Ironman during the winter with a huge influence from his brother Ryan, that completed a full Ironman in March “I ended up doing a couple of training runs and bikes with him and got hooked on the training so I ended up registering for the December half Ironman!”

Blake Weston (left) and Ryan Weston (right) after completing the Half Ironman

With a life dedicated to sports, Weston still finds time to run his own business – the Weston Design, a company dedicated to improving sport one design at a time with extensive experience in branding and graphic design in the sports industry. They do unique and innovative design services to local clubs and franchises at affordable prices.

An example is the poster below that was made for Andrew Abba‘s birthday.

Andrew Abba’s poster made by Weston Design

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Managing so many tasks might be something difficult but Weston really enjoys it: “It helped me make sure I was managing my time well!”. A busy life is not a problem for him to keep playing in the ISPS Handa Premiership and he feels that training for Half Ironman really helped him to improve his fitness level to play football: “I have definitely found that the constant cardio training has helped with football. I’ve felt the fittest I ever have and coming into pre-season at Hamilton Wanderers I was feeling great […] I can play the full 90 and not worry about tiring or feeling fatigued in the latter stages of the match.”

Hamilton Wanderers is currently in the seventh position in 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership with nine points in seven matches. However they have one match less because the match against Waitakere United has been interrupted due to weather conditions. ISPS Handa Premiership is now off for holidays and it is scheduled to return on January 10.

Lae City to sign three foreigners

After Hekari United stated they would sign foreigners to improve their team, the champions of the last edition of the PNG National Soccer League, Lae City FC, also announced recently, after their last win in the new season of the national league, that they would be sign three foreign players in order to reinforce their team for the OFC Champions League 2020 edition. You can see the groups of both PNG representatives in the competition by clicking here.

According to the team media, the players are South Americans and come from Ecuador. Their profiles were not yet released by the club. The team is also expecting the arrival of the Papua New Guinea experienced internationals Nigel Dabinyaba and Emmanuel Simon to further strengthen the side.

The team captain Raymond Gunemba stated to Oceania Football Center he is also still to know about the new foreigners the club is bringing and the news is expected to be in media at the starting of the next month.

Lae City had a good start in the current edition of the PNG National Soccer League with two wins in two matches – against Tusbab Stallions and most recently against Gulf Komara in Port Moresby. See the full standings of the current season here.

Galaxy FC signs top-striker from Senegal

The newcomers in OFC Champions League – the winners of Port Vila Top Four – Galaxy FC from Vanuatu signed one more foreigner for their campaign in the OFC Champions League. The Ni-Vanuatu side club owned by influential Andrew Leong, signed the Senegalese striker Waliou Ndoye – a 28-year old strong player with plenty of professional experience.

Image result for MOHAMED WALIOU NDOYE — Ndoye (white) playing against African champions ES Tunis – *Mosaiquefm*

The 1,75cm tall striker played for important clubs in Africa as the Mali side Stade de Mbour, the Algerian MO Béjaïa and the Tunisian powerhouse CS Sfaxien. Recently Ndoye also had a stint in Saudi Arabian football and his last experience was in his home country league. You can check some highlights of the striker by clicking here.

According to Galaxy FC, the player will join Galaxy in the next 27th December and he will ready to take part in the new tournament created by VFF, the National League Championship. Ndoye will join the Brazilians Robersona and Diego Máximo and also the Solomon Islanders Nelson Sale, James Naka and Gagame Feni in the Galaxy squad that is taking shape for next OFC Champions League.

Ndoye is a high-profile player for the next edition of OFC Champions League and is one of the players to watch in the region.

Galaxy is grouped with the Papua New Guinea powerhouse Hekari United, the current champions of Champions League Hienghène Sport and the New Zealand champions Eastern Suburbs, group to played in Port Moresby. You can see full details here.

Ni-Vanuatu John Alick scores and puts Warriors close to national title

Solomon Warriors is very close to back-to-back titles in the Solomon Islands: the current winners of Telekom S-League are very close to seal their second title in a row thanks to the goal scored by Vanuatu international John Alick in their latest match against Laugu United.

Image may contain: 2 people, people playing sports and outdoor — Kakasi (black) fights for the ball with Alick (red) – *S-League Media*

Despite the 19 goals scored in the second for his countrymen Tony Kaltack, it was another Ni-Vanuatu that stepped up to confirm the favouritism of Warriors and let them just one point away to confirm the title in the run against Henderson Eels. Alick scored very early in the first minute of the game, goal that proved to be the winner for his side in a match that ended in a 1-0 victory – it was his sixth goal in the S-League season for his team.

You can check the full standings of S-League 2019/20 season by clicking here.

Sarpreet Singh is red-carded in Bayern II match

After being on bench of Bayern first team for the third time in a row – in which of these opportunites the New Zealander made his debut – Singh was once again a starter for the B team of Bayern Munich that currently plays in the third tier of football in Germany. As Sarpreet was not used in the previous match of Bayern, the club decided to use his quality for their second team.

But there are not good news for Singh: the player received the first red card for his professional career. The player fouled one opponent from behind and the referee decided to send him off. Despite the call of the referee, fans and Singh teammates were not happy with the decision and the play proved to be very controversial. The foul seemed to be only tactical – to stop a counter-attack – but the referees felt the play was too harsh from the New Zealand international. Singh left the pitch early in the 41th minute of play.

Sarpreet Singh is shown a red card by referee Patrick Alt. — Singh sees thre red – *Stuff*

Despite having only 10-men in the pitch, the young side of Bayern could score first in the match, but conceded later an equalizer. The team sits in the 15th position in the 3. Liga in Germany with 23 points in the standings.

Lea’alafa comes from bench in Maritzburg draw

In the last game of the year for the South African top-tier side Maritzburg United, the team of the Solomon Islander Micah Lea’alafa and the New Zealanders Dan Morgan and Jeremy Brockie, the club could not grab a win against the powerhouse Kaizer Chiefs. The New Zealanders started the game, but both of them were replaced in the second half.

Image may contain: 1 person, playing a sport and outdoor — Micah Lea’alafa in Maritbuzg colours – *Maritzburg United Media*

Brockie was replaced by Lea’alafa at the 55th minute of the game with an alreday 1-1 scoreline. Maritzburg had a penalty kick to seal their win, but the South African forward Dylon Claasen missed the opportunity for his side. Morgan was also replaced in the second part of the game at the 79th minute of play by Yusuf Jappie.

Lea’alafa had a goalscoring chance at the 83th minute of the game, when he missed an opportunity from inside the penalty the box with his left foot – putting the ball wide the goal post of Chiefs.

Maritzburg United stands 8th in the standings of ABSA Premiership in South Africa with 18 points, 10 points away from the 2nd placed Mamelodi Sundowns – that won Maritzburg in the Telkom League Cup final – in the qualification zone for CAF Champions League.

S-League title is in the bag for Warriors

Solomon Warriors faced Laugu United on Sunday in their penultimate match of 2019-20 S-League season.

Vanuatu international midfielder John Alick scored in the first minute to give three more points to Warriors. Laugu had some good opportunities to score but an Warriors managed to hold them. With this win Warriors reaches 38 points in fifteen matches and the title is in the bag for them.

Alick (in red) fighting for the ball against Darold Kakasi (in black)

Warriors is three points ahead Henderson Eels with one match remaining. You can check the league standings and top scorers by clicking here.

Hekari, Lae and Vitiaz win again as Tusbab Stallions hit five

Hekari United, Lae City and newcomers Vitiaz United won for the second time in Papua New Guinea National Soccer League action this weekend, maintaining their 100% record at the top of the ten-team division. Meanwhile, Tusbab Stallions responded after last week’s opening defeat with a 5-0 hammering of FC Kutubu in Madang.

Lae City’s Raymond Gunemba points to the heavens after slotting away a penalty in the 12th minute against Gulf Komara. It was the only goal of the game. Photo: PNGFA

Port Moresby was the place to be on Saturday afternoon, with three back-to-back fixtures at the PNG Football Stadium in the country’s capital. At 1pm, Star Mountain took on newcomers Vitiaz United, with the former looking to recover from their opening-day defeat to Hekari United, and the latter looking to build on their shock 2-1 victory over Morobe United last weekend.

Mountain got off to the perfect start, with a goal in the third minute from Bisakim Alfred putting them in front. However, their swift start began to slowly unravel, with Eliud Fugre scoring his second goal of the season to equalise for Vitiaz United in the 28th minute. Fugre, 30, has never been capped at full international level despite earning a call-up for some international friendlies in 2014, but earned 4 caps for the U23s side at the 2012 OFC Olympic Qualifying tournament.

With the scores tied at half-time, Vitiaz came out firing in the second half, with pressure on the Star Mountain goal eventually leading to a 55th-minute own goal from Mountain’s Nowe Simon. Russell Nirik put the game to bed in the 68th minute with his second of the season. Nirik, who had been playing for Morobe United as far back as 2011, moved to Vitiaz United this season and scored against his former club on the opening day.

At 3pm, eight-time champions Hekari United took on FC Bougainville in the main game of the day. Both sides had won their opening fixtures, with Bougainville in particular looking to prove they might be able to challenge the big boys this season. It was a slow start for the home side, however, with Hekari’s Kolu Kepo picking up his second goal of the season in the 6th minute. Kepo, who has 4 goals in 6 caps for the senior national team, looks to be a key player in Hekari’s attacking force this season. However, Bougainville responded through 19-year-old Jonathan Allen in the 34th minute, taking the match to half-time all tied up. Allen, who earned his senior international debut in July 2019 against Tonga at the Pacific Games, now has two goals in two league games and looks to be one for the future.

As expected, Hekari came out strongly in the second half, and a mistake in the Bougainville defence led to a Hekari penalty, which was coolly dispatched by Daniel Joe in the 66th minute. Hekari held on for the victory, allowing them to remain top of the table, ahead of Vitiaz United on goal difference.

At 5pm, Gulf Komara hosted Lae City, and a solitary penalty from Raymond Gunemba was enough to seal victory for the reigning champions. After the game, Lae coach Peter Gunemba said that the side need to ‘polish up their attack’, but at this early stage, he will be happy that the side have managed to put together two victories, however narrow they were. As is cliché in football, true champions always find a way to win, even if their football is a little underwhelming.

In Madang, Tusbab Stallions played host to FC Kutubu at 3pm, with both sides having had differing fates on the opening day: Stallions fell to a single goal against Lae, while Kutubu won with the sole goal against Wawens. On Saturday, however, there was a clear gulf in the two sides, with Stallions eventually running out 5-0 victors, thanks to goals from Ricky Wadunah, Stahl Gubag, Morris Devi, and two from Papalau Awele. Awele, 24, has been capped at U23, U20 and U17 level, but has yet to make his full international debut. An impressive season from him at Stallions this year could change that.

In Lae, a huge derby between Morobe Wawens and Morobe United took place, with Wawens triumphing 2-0 thanks to goals from Sombo Goro and Joshua Paget. Morobe United seem to be struggling after the loss of several of their players to Vitiaz, and seem to be well off the pace they usually set for themselves at this early stage.

Full Results

Current Standings:

Former footballer and head coach passes away in Vanuatu

It was reported on social media that former Nalkutan player and head coach Joe Iati passed away. He was an important person for football in Tafea Province.

He coached Nalkutan Tafea Football Association for many years, helping Nalkutan to qualify for 2018 OFC Champions League. Oceania Football Center sends condolences to his friends and relatives.

Samoan Federation appoints new CEO

According to local sources, Seve Folototo Seve is the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Football Federation Samoa and he is going to replace former CEO Faumuina Michael Kapisi soon.

Seve has a PhD in Financial Accounting and Master of Commerce from the Australian National University. He also has a Bachelor degree of Commerce and Arts from the National University of Samoa (NUS).

Seve served in the Ministry of Revenue for one year. He has been working at NUS since 2004, also being the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Entrepreneurship between 2016 and 2019.