Soccer

With 24 days to go before the kickoff, head coach Bob Morris wants his players to get the little things right and understand their role in the game.

As days count down to the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa, which is set to start on July 7^th, the PNG men’s soccer squad is hard at training.

Head Coach Bob Morris said players arrived in the camp on Sunday and are all excited.

With less preparation time left, they are betting on confidence and teamwork.

At the beginning of the proceeding, it was confirmed to the congress that all 18 PNGFA member associations were entitled to vote following an MOU signed between John Wesley Gonjuan, John Kapi Natto and FIFA.

Kapi Natto picked up 10 votes to defeat his closest rival John Wesley Gonjuan with 8 votes.

Kapi Natto brings with him a wealth of experience in corporate leadership and sports administration, given that his leadership will be the key to success in soccer going forward.

Hamilton Wanderers are preparing for the upcoming national league football season, drawing on coach Ricki Herbert’s past connections.

Patrick Aisa left for New Zealand last Monday, joining countryman Tommy Semmy, who are both on board with Wanderers for the 2017-18 ISPS Handa Premiership.

The 23-year-old, who has made six impressive appearances for the PNG national team, caught the eye of Herbert during his coaching stint with the PNG Under-23 team in 2015.

City had to come from behind three times to earn the draw, with the home side's Moussa Dembele scoring at the start of each half and Raheem Sterling netting a first-half own goal for the Scottish champions.

Celtic were unrecognizable from the side that was humbled 7-0 at Barcelona in their opening game.

But City simply refused to be subdued, responding with strikes from Fernandinho, the excellent Sterling and Nolito and coming close to a late winner that would have equalled Tottenham Hotspur's 11 straight wins in 1960-61 as the best start to a season by any English club.

Joining the two sides in Group A will be Papua New Guinea club Lae City Dwellers, a side making their regional debut, as well as the yet-to-be-determined Solomon Islands S-League winners.

Auckland City FC coach Ramon Tribulietx witnessed the draw live, sharing a smile with captain Ivan Vicelich after learning their team would once again be taking on Amicale FC, a side they met twice in 2014 including the home-and-away final, and again in 2015.

“We are playing Amicale again, we’ve played them quite a few times in the past few years and that means we know them pretty well.”

The match schedule for the 2016 OFC U-17 Women’s Championship in the Cook Islands has been readjusted following the withdrawal of the Solomon Islands from the competition.                        

That sees Group A – which was originally set to include the Solomon Islands and four other sides – commence with the four remaining teams of New Caledonia, Tonga, Samoa and defending champions New Zealand.

The match schedule for Group A was re-drawn at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.

The Melanesians were thumped 12-0 when the sides met last year in the regional competition.

New Zealand have been lethal, racking up 41 goals in big wins against Tonga and New Caledonia, so far in Nuku'alofa.

Vanuatu beat New Caledonia 4-0 in their opening match and coach Joel Rarua says they will need to step it up again.

Key local players in the likes of Fenedy Masauvakalo, Alphonse Bongnaim, Silas Namatak including the usual local cast were present on day one of the training session.

Daily Sport noted the presence and return of the Fijian contingent to the Red Roosters outfit that include Osea Vakatalesau and Ilaitia Tuilau, who would no doubt be vying to reclaim their positions as striker and defender respectively.

PNG took a 1-0 lead after the 8th minute of play when Patrick Aisa powered a kick into the nets.

PNG held on to the lead going into half time.

Fiji came out stronger in the second half and dominated possession early on in the game.

This resulted in the equalizer in the 53rd minute through Tony Tuivuna.

The game looked to be going towards a draw with three minutes extra time given.

That was the tale of the tape at the new Sir Hubert Murray stadium tonight as tears were shed on one side of the field and singing and dancing broke at the other side. The win tonight also won Fiji gold at the Pacific Games.

In normal time, Vanuatu looked the side to score first having a mountain of opportunities in both the first and second half.

Vanuatu’s Bill Nicholls and captain Brian Kaltack came nail bitingly close to scoring but had no luck finding the back of the net as their shots sailed wide or above the bar.