Vanuatu took on Fiji in a showdown between Melanesian brothers, and once again the match lived up to the expected hype with both sides really going for it on the opening day of Group B action at the OFC U-19 Championship
The best chances in the first half seemed to fall predominantly in Fiji’s favour as their speed and physicality proved difficult for Vanuatu to contain. Speedster Ratu Dau along with Kishan Sami, Mohammed Khan and Tito Vodowaqa were a constant thorn in Vanuatu’s defensive line as they latched onto long balls and threatened the goal throughout the first half.
However Kaison Maki’s charges started to find their place in the match and were soon putting pressure of their own on Fiji, but it wasn’t enough to trouble them and Fiji hit them where it hurt just before the break.
Dau, who had been a constant threat up the left, beat Junior Bule in foot race to go 1v1 with keeper Joshua Willie who Dau chipped with ease to open the scoring.
The goal put Vanuatu at a disadvantage for the second half and they struggled to overcome allowing Fiji to control the game when they came out for the final 45 minutes.
Less than ten minutes after the restart and Fiji were increasing their lead as Mohammed Naizal put a low cross in across the face of the goal which Tito Vodowaqa placed past Willie.
Being two goals down seemed to inject some life into Vanuatu and they pushed to find something which would bring them back into the game. A couple of chances presented themselves but were off-target or blocked.
The break for Vanuatu came in the 78th minute when a foul in the penalty area had Campbell-Kirk Waugh pointing to the spot.
Jordy Tasip stepped up to convert from the penalty spot with ten minutes remaining and Vanuatu looked like a second might be coming two minutes later only for Mohammed Alam to boot the danger away.
With only added time remaining Waugh was once again pointing to the penalty spot, this time at the other end of the field, as Fiji were awarded a penalty.
Kishan Sami saw his first effort saved by Willie, but he kept his wits and made sure not to miss with his follow up attempt which saw Fiji take a 3-1 lead, which they held until the final whistle.
It wasn’t how Vanuatu coach Kaison Maki had envisioned starting the competition, but felt it was a performance which showed the difficulties the team had leading into the tournament.
“I think the issue of arriving late and all these things, our boys tried their best but they can’t do anything because it’s up here and physically, and they couldn’t respond today,” Maki said.
“We know Fiji, we know they prepared a lot and physically are strong.
“We were a bit slow today to attack them, we didn’t respond to them. The boys started getting into the game towards the end of the second half, but it was too late.”
On the other hand, Bal Reddy was very pleased with both the performance and result his boys got in today’s Group B encounter.
“I think this is a well-deserved victory for us,” he said, “especially starting the tournament and getting three points, I think that is the way forward for us.”
Reddy said the approach was to close down any channels Vanuatu might be looking to exploit, and not allow them to play the ball.
“We had compactness in our defence and as soon as we had the ball we tried to play possession. Rather than playing long balls, after looking at all the teams, we tried to play short passes and I think that worked really well for us.”
The OFC U-19 Championship takes a break tomorrow before Group A resumes on Wednesday 8 August (local) at Stade Pater in French Polynesia.