New Caledonia vs PNG
From the first center kick, New Caledonia was hot in pursuit of an early goal in their match against Papua New Guinea in Suva yesterday afternoon.
While PNG Goalkeeper Ronald Warisan was valiant in protecting his goal mouth, the New Caledonian attackers mounted immense pressure.
Papua New Guinea’s defensive line ultimately broke in the 20th minute when New Caledonia Captain Cesar Zeoula and Georges Gope-Fenepej combined to dribble up the center square. The PNG defenders panicked and a penalty was awarded to New Caledonia.
Joseph Athale successfully slotted the penalty goal for New Caledonia
PNG fought to stay in the game. Tommy Semmy was brilliant on both ends of the field. He made few close attempts at goal.
Captain Alwin Komolong worked hard all game leading the PNG men.
But the eventual Player of the Match, Gope Fenepj scored another goal for New Caledonia just before the half time break.
PNG fought hard in the second half and finally scored in the 77th minute with an awesome header from Tommy Semmy.
The final goal of the match was from New Caledonia replacement player, Germain Haewegene.
Final score NCL 3 – 1 PNG.
Speaking after the match, Georges Gope-Fenepej noted: “This is very important for us because we go back to New Caledonia with a 3 points victory. And to begin this tournament it is very important to win the first game because after this we have another game in PNG. I’m very happy and proud of my players because they have learnt all the plans from the coach. We are very happy too because our fans really support us. We do it for the people back home.”
Fiji v Solomon Islands
In the second game yesterday, a small crowd showed up at HFC stadium to support their home team.
An mistake from Solomon Islands provided an opportunity for Fiji’s Golden boy Roy Krishna to deliver very early in the game, scoring hard from his favored right boot in the 12th minute.
However Solomon Islands came back strongly to exert pressure on Fiji.
Moments later referee Norbert Hauata gave Fiji’s Aporosa Yada a red card for an illegal tackle. This meant Fiji had to play with a man down for the remainder of the game.
Captain Micah Lea’alafa, William Komasi and Rafa Le’ai led the charge for Solomon Islands but were unable to score.
Fiji Goalkeeper, Jerome Narayan was excellent in defence.
Krishna and Leroy Jennings had a few more close attempts at goal but were unsuccessful.
In the end Fiji played cleverly with some delay tactics as the clock ticked down.
The final score remained Fiji 1 – 0 Solomon Islands.
Fiji Coach Robert Sherman says, “It was incredibly hard earned. I’m really proud of the lads. They fought with ten men for 60 minutes or so,…incredible. We had to change formations but basically, character showed, heart showed and they’ve done Fiji very proud. A couple of bounces near the goal mouth did not go our way, but I’m really pleased with the performance.”
Source link : https://islandsbusiness.com/news-break/new-caledonia-fiji-win-at-oceania-world-cup-qualifiers-in-suva/
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Publish date : 2024-10-10 20:16:36
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