women's football

The Matildas will face the Republic of Ireland at Stadium Australia in Sydney on 20 July rather than the smaller Sydney Football Stadium.

Stadium Australia was due to host knockout matches only, but given the significant interest in tickets across the Tasman, FIFA decided to move Australia's first match to Sydney's largest stadium.

The Football Ferns will kick off the tournament on the same day in Auckland when Eden Park hosts the opening ceremony following New Zealand's game against Norway.

“That’s how football is,” he stated post-match, not knowing at the time that his team would be the one, from the nine competing, to be exiting at this stage of the competition.

The nature of the tournament’s group stage meant it was always going to be a tough exit for one nation, but nobody could have expected quite how intensely it would play out.

Before the start of play in Wednesday’s games, Tahiti v Vanuatu and New Caledonia v Solomon Islands, all four teams involved were in danger of elimination – as were Group A’s Tonga.

Head coach Jitka Klimková has recalled the likes of Grace Jale, Anna Green and Ally Green to the squad for the series.

Meanwhile, Fiji are also off to Australia. Head coach Lisa Cole will hope fixtures against first-time World Cup qualifiers the Philippines on April 7 and 11 in Sydney can inspire her side to future success.

Fiji, runners-up at the OFC Women’s Nations Cup 2018, will know a repeat of four years ago will give them a chance to enter the inter-confederation play-offs next February, with three World Cup spots up for grabs.

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and its member associations are grasping that opportunity with both hands to ensure a strong platform is built for future growth.

The latest country to reach a new milestone is Vanuatu, with the Melanesian nation this week completing the first edition of a national women’s competition. The geographical spread of nation’s archipelago - as is often the case in the Pacific - means organising such an event is no easy feat.

The call came following the women recent achievement in the OFC Women’s U-19 championship in Rarotonga where the Vanuatu women finished in fourth place.

Even though finishing fourth on the table they deserve to be recognized and honored for their effort especially when they are being scouted from school’s competition.

The showpiece of the night was a tough match between front-runners Vanuatu and Fiji that ended 0-0.

Vanuatu had been looking to build on their 5-0 opening win over Solomon Islands, while Fiji had recorded the same score over Tonga in their opener.

However this match proved a far closer contest. Both teams were very strong and had several chances.

The crowd cheered wildly with Fiji, as well as the home side, drawing strong support.

In the earlier match, Tonga defeated Solomon Islands 3-1 to the delight of Tonga’s excitable fans.

In order to address one of its key Sustainable Development Goals for the event, the Van2017 LOC has created Em Pawa, a counterpart to the Games’ official mascot Nasi.

Em Pawa will be an advocate for messages of equality and non-discrimination, non-violence, supporting of positive and healthy decisions, encouraging others to challenge gender stereotypes, and promote positive change in the home, workplace, community and country.

The withdrawal means Group A will now consist of just five teams rather than six, with Tahiti being reallocated into position five, previously held by Vanuatu.

This also means that Group A will now play just two matches per day, with one team sitting out with a bye, rather than the three matches previously scheduled.

Group B remains unchanged.

Samoa is hosting the event which is being held in Apia from 5-25 August. The defending champions are New Zealand, who won the OFC U-17 Women’s Championship held in the Cook Islands last year.

Held between 2 and 6 May at the Vanuatu Football Federation’s Teouma Academy, the course was attended by 18 female and six male coaches working with women’s teams.

The list of the participants included national team players as well as the assistant coaches of the Vanuatu U-20 and U-17 women's teams.