Fiji U-20 side ready for invitational tournament in Asia

Recently it was confirmed by Fiji Football Association that the Junior Bula Boys are leaving for the Southeast Asia country of Indonesia to play an invitational tournament in order to prepare for the U-20 World Cup that Fiji granted a spot in the last 2022 OFC U-19 Champioonship. The World Cup will also be played in Indonesia; the team coached by the Argentinian Rodolfo Zapata will have a chance to play the hosts and against strong opponents.

“The team has been in camp for the last three weeks under new coach Rodolfo Zapata and been preparing well for the tournament” said team manager Kartik Reddy to Fiji FA Media – “Some players will be excluded from this tour as they are awaiting their Fijian passports“, added Reddy.

Fiji team last year in Tahiti OFC U-19 Championship – Christophe Fotozz

The Fijians will meet the hosts Indonesia, the CONCACAF side of Guatemala and will also play against OFC U-19 Championship winners New Zealand; the first match will be on 17th Feb against Indonesia U-20 side, later Fiji will meet Guatemala and will finish the tournament against New Zealand.

Fiji’s team manager Reddy told Oceania Football Center that the team will be also travelling to Mexico – the Fijians will stay in the North American country from 3rd March to 17th March – then they will return to Fiji to play three friendly matches, against senior teams of Fiji, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.

Fijian fans want Christophe Gamel back in charge of the Bula Boys

Since the Fijian Football Association announced the Danish coach Flemming Serritslev departed from the position of head coach of the Fijian national team, many football fans used the social media to express their oppinions on the Serritslev’s era and what should be the next steps of Fijian football ahead.

The overall evaluation of Serritslev campaign in Fiji was not good for the fans as Fiji could not perform well in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers being knocked-out in the group stage after got beaten by Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

Arguably, the first name that came to mind of the Fijian fans is the French Christophe Gamel; the 50-year-old is now a free agent coach and could apply for the spot if he is interested. Gamel coached Fiji from 2016 to 2019 and according to many football fans in Fiji, he was one of the best ever coaches for the national team.

Gamel and Krishna in a press rekease – Fiji FA Media

Fiji FA expects to announce a new head coach before March, when the national team will have a series of matches against Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji U-20 side that is preparing for the U-20 FIFA World Cup to be held in Indonesia this year.

Gamel, after leaving Fiji national team, worked in Belgium, Algeria and Malaysia. He last coached Sri Pahang, a football club from the Malaysia Super League, club he left at the middle of the last year.

Under Gamel, Fiji played a total of 27 matches: 10 wins, 9 draws and 8 loses. Gamel managed to expose Fiji football as he played several friendly matches against nations from other football confederations; including a 1-0 win against Mauritius in 2019 and a draw away against Indonesia. Gamel also led Fiji to win bronze medal at 2019 Pacific Games after a 14-year-drought of medals in football competition in the games.

Fiji: Labasa celebrates first ever women’s Champion vs Champion title

Before Suva’s victory over Rewa to give the Whites their first ever ‘CVC’ title in Fiji, the Babasiga Lioness celebrated a historic moment for their district and as well for Fijian football as whole: Labasa won the first ever Champion vs Champion series of women’s football in the country as they surpassed Ba by 4-3 scoreline at HFC Bank Stadium in Suva.

Sofi Diyolowai scored the first goal for their in the 34th mark while striker Anasimeci Volitikoro scored two quick goals still in the first half in the 43rd and 45th minutes to extend Labasa’s lead before the break. Narieta Leba recuded the margin for Ba scoring a goal in the 52th minute, but it was cut short two minutes later when midfielder Shayal Sindhik restored the three-goal lead in favour of the Vanua Levu-based team.

Fijian international Cema Nasau scored a brace for Ba in the 62nd and 88th minutes to narrow the margin to 4-3, but it was too late for the Women in Black to find an equaliser: te final result brought joy to Labasa with their first title of the season.

Labasa players and staff celebrate their title – FBC News

Labasa walked away with $2500 in prizemoney for their achievement; Oceania Football Center congratulates Labasa and the runners-up Ba for the good entertaining match they presented and also praises Fiji Football Association for promoting women’s football in the South Pacific bringing the very important topic of gender equality in the sport.

Solomon Islands captain Micah Lea’alafa set to sign for Australian outfit

Solomon Islands’ national team captain Micah Lea’alafa is set to join National Premier League – South Australia side FK Beograd in Adelaide. Beograd is coached by former Vanuatu Football Federation technical director Joshua James – the team also counts on Vanuatu’s national team midfielder Jared Clark.

It was confirmed that Lea’alafa is set to sign for the 2023 NPL season for the club in Australia and the striker is going to travel to Adelaide very soon and announced officialy by the club.

Micah Lea’alafa captaining Solomon Islands

The celebrated 31-year-old player had the best moment of football career as Auckland City player, where he won OFC Champions League and also represented the club at FIFA Club World Cup. The player – that is a dual international for his country – also represented the Kurukuru, Solomon Islands national futsal team, at four FIFA Futsal World Cups – including the last one in 2021 held in Lithuania.

Lea’alafa had a professional stint in South Africa’s outfit Maritzburg that did not end up well, after that period Lea’alafa had a break from competitive football and later returned to play for his boyhood club Solomon Warriors in Telekom S-League. He also played for Waneagu United in the last edition of the Solomon Islands’ national league; later he represented his country at FIFA World Cup OFC Qualifying tournament held in Doha, Qatar where he captained Solomon Islands to the final match against New Zealand as they ended up beaten by the All Whites to lost a potential place at the FIFA World Cup Intercontinental Play-offs.

After representing his country, the striker joined Australia’s outfit Wynnum Wolves where he achieved impressive numbers – watch his performance at Wolves by clicking here. Certainly, the quality shown by the player was crucial to grant him another stint in Australia football – this time at the highest level of National Premier League.

Solomon Warriors celebrates 7th Telekom S-League title after thrilling match

There’s a lot of joy for Solomon Warriors and its fan base in Honiara! The team finally returned to its gold moments and celebrate their seventh title of Solomon Islands national league, the Telekom S-League. The team coached by Franco Ne’e just needed a draw against Waneagu United this Sunday (Feb 12th) and they did so, a famous recovery match for the Warriors as they were trailing by two goals and managed to equalise in a last minute penalty scored by the veteran Emmanuel Poila.

Waneagu was decided to make things hard for Warriors; the striker Bobby Lesley scored for his team in the early stages of the match – at the 3rd minute. Dennis Ifunaoa scored the equaliser for his side at the 30th minute, but the talented Francis Paul added another to his team tally just three minutes later to put Waneagu in front once again.

Things became even worse in the early stage of the second half for Warriors: the former Marist striker Bobby Lesly scored his second of the match, the third for Waneagu, at the 47th minute play. Warriors were in desparate need to its experience players to step up to make a comeback.

Solomon Warriors line up before the match – TSL Media

The comeback started at the 76th minute thanks to a goal scored by the Ni-Vanuatu international John Alick – that just returned to Honiara from his country to play its decisive match. Warriors were still in need of one more goal to clinch the title and it only happened when Emmanuel Poila had the chance to score a penalty kick at the 90th minute of play. The match ended in a 3-3 draw – the point earned for Solomon Warriors was enough to make them earn their seventh national title.

After the match, the players were emotional and celebrated their achivement. Franco Ne’e, Warriors coach, gave an inspiring interview to TSL Media just after the final whistle. Dennis Ifanuaoa, one of the most important team members of the Warriors, told Oceania Football he was feeling very good and glad for finally turn themselves into champions again.

Now, after the Warriors’ title confirmation, Kossa, Henderson Eels and Central Coast FC are battling for the second place in the table – the team that eventually finishes as runners-up will take part of the national round of the OFC Champions League against Warriors to decide which of the two sides will represent Solomon Islands in the regional tournament.

Fiji: Suva lifts ‘CVC’ trophy after beating Rewa

The first trophy of the 2023 football season in Fiji goes for the Capital City Boys; playing at home in Suva, the team coached by Babs Khan managed to cool down Rewa’s strong offensive system in the late stages of the game and defend their narrow lead.

After a match that was interrupted in the last weekend, the decisive match took place in Suva. Despite the addition of two Solomon Islands’ national team players, Atkin Kaua and Alvin Hou, the Delta Tigers could not get the Champion vs Champion series title: two quick goals in the first half scored by Fijian internationals Dave Radrigai and Remueru Tekiate gave Suva an important lead.

Suva players celebrate one of their goals – FBC News

Still in the first half of the game, Abbu Zahid scored a crucial goal for Rewa to keep them alive in the match. In the second half the team coached by Marika Rodu tried to equalise the match at all costs, but Suva defensive system led by Remueru Tekiate managed to keep the danger away from the goal defended by the experienced goalkeeper Akuila Mateisuva and confirmed their 2-1 victory to clinch the 2023 ‘CVC’. You can watch the highlights of the match by clicking here.

This was the first title ever won by Suva; a lot of celebration for the management, players and staff took place in the pitch for this achievement in the starting of the season. The two teams are set to face each other in one more two-leg series this month in order to determine which of the two sides will represent Fiji at the OFC Champions League.

Solomon Warriors very close to retake Telekom S-League title

One of the Solomon Islands powerhouse football clubs is set to return to its glory days this Sunday (Feb 12th) at Lawson Tama Stadium; the Solomon Warriors just need a draw against the struggling Waneagu United to confirm its Telekom S-League title of the 2022 national league season.

After impressive results in the past matches including wins over Honiara City and Real Kakamora, the most succesful club of the country is set confirm its favouritism and retake the trophy of the Telekom S-League. – the last time the team won the national league was back in the 2019-20 season. The closest team to Warriors in the table currently is Kossa FC and wasted a chance to keep in contention of the title as they suffered a heavy defeat against the strong team of Henderson Eels by 6-0 – Adrian Mara scored a hattrick for Eels in this encounter.

Solomon Warriors players before a TSL match – Theodore Inomae

As recently mentioned in an interview to Oceania Football Center, one of the most important players of Warriors, Dennis Ifunaoa, the biggest goals of the season for the team are to confirm the S-League title and take a spot in the OFC Champions League group stage.

The battle for the second place – that’s currently hot between Kossa and Henderson Eels that separated by just one point in the table – is set to decide which team will take on Warriors in the OFC Champions League national play-offs in order to determine which team will represent Solomon Islands in the regional tournament. Currently, the Warriors just rely on themselves to achieve the title, although a second-place in the league is already confirm – thus an entry to the O-League play-offs as well.

Top-class goal by Roy Krishna gives Bengaluru crucial win in Indian Super League

Roy Krishna is definitely back to his normal form; the Fijian football star scored a marvelous goal in the 1-0 win of his side Bengaluru against Kerala Blasters for the Indian Super League. As the league is getting close to its crunch time, the experienced striker is returning to show his class after a long period of drought of goals.

Krishna scored the winner for his side still in the first half, after a brilliant solo effort play as he passed one defender, let the goalkeeper in the ground and placed the ball calmly into the nets. You can watch the goal by clicking here.

Krishna celebrates his goal – Focus Sports

Bengaluru is now ranked 5th in the table of the most important Indian football league; the club is battling for a spot in the play-offs as Goa FC and Odisha are just behind them in the rankings – just one points separate the three sides. The best six teams proceed to the play-offs.

This is the sixth win in a row for Krishna’s side; the striker scored his fifth goal of the campaign – and certainly the most beautiful of those so far. The Fijian is returning to his good football days as he’s been an important part of the recovery of the team coached by Englishman Simon Grayson.

Tiga beats Hienghène in first leg of OFC Champions League play-offs in New Caledonia

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The national round of the OFC Champions League started this weekend; in Papua New Guinea Hekari United pulled ahead of Lae City and in New Caledonia the national champions Tiga Sport emerged victorious over former OFC Champions League winner Hienghène Sport.

The team coached by Leonardo Lopez took the field of Stade Numa Daly in NoumĂ©a as the current Super Ligue champions of New Caledonia, but they had a tough opponent ahead; with the likes of Roy Kayara, Bertrand KaĂŻ and Cedrick Sansot, Hyehen was ready to make things difficult for the Tokanod – that could not count on the top-scorer Lues Waya that recently signed for Laval in France.

Tiga players celebrate one of their goals – Allain Vartane

Already at the 5th minute of play, Jean-Jacques Bearuné took the lead for Tiga as he received the ball in the box and with a placed-finish went past Rocky Nyikeine to score the first for the red-and-white side. But Hienghène Sport managed to equalise early: after a corner, the defence of Tiga managed to clear the ball, but another cross was made to the box: the tall Cedrick Sansot tried to reach ball, fell, but still in the ground the ball offered itself for the midfield that managed to get a volley direct to the nets of Tiga Sport.

The striker Jimmy Welepane put Tiga ahead once again; still in the 18th minute mark the striker was found free in the penalty box, after poor marking of Hienghène defensive system. The striker made no mistake in front of the nets and put his upfront in the race.

Hienghène pushed for another equaliser, but it was Tiga who found the nets once again through David Bearuné; in another defensive blunder of Hienghène, the players waited for an offside call, but as it did not happen, Bearuné took the ball, passed two defenders and with a clinical finish put the ball at the top corner of Nyikeine to add another and give final numbers to the match in favour of the Tiga Island-based side: 3-1. You can watch the highlights of the game by clicking here.

The team coached by FĂ©lix Tagawa will need to produce much better football in the second leg of the round if they want once again to take part of the group stage of the OFC Champions League – tournament they won back in 2019. Tiga Sport is heading for their first ever appearance in the group stage if they manage to defend their advantage taken in the first leg.

OFC Champions League: Hekari United takes advantage on Lae City FC

The first matches of the national play-offs round of OFC Champions League started this weekend; in Papua New Guinea the current national champions Lae City FC could not take advantage of the home crowd and suffered a 2-1 defeat of Hekari United.

The current champions, that earned their 7th title in a row last weekend, even started the game upfront after a goal scored by Albert Morgan Jr – the striker was found free in the penalty box and just tapped-it home to the nets of Dave Tomare.

But in the second half the story of the game changed: the young striker Joseph Joe received the ball after a corner-kick and was able to control, turn it and slash a powerful shot that found the top corner of Lae City’s goalkeeper.

Hekari United celebrates the winning goal – Hekari United Media

At the 60th minute, just ten minutes later of Joe’s equaliser, it was the turn of the talented midfielder Yagi Yasasa to just tap-it it to the nets of Ronald Warisan; the player was free in the penalty box after a solo effort play by Rex Naime. The rebound offered itself after being saved by Warisan to Yasasa and he made no mistake to put the former OFC Champions League champions ahead of Hekari at Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium.

The Port Moresby-based side managed to control Lae until the final whistle and grabbed a very important win away from home – you can watch the highlights of the match by clicking here. Lae City will need to step-up at Sir John Guise Stadium in PNG’s capital city if they want to once again take part of the group stage of the Champions League.