Courtesy: Fiji Times


Narrow win for New Zealand

Thursday, August 12, 2010

NEW Zealand earned its first win in the 2010 Oceania Futsal Championships when they defeated Vanuatu 3-2 at the Vodafone Arena on Tuesday night.

The win has kept the Kiwi's hopes alive in the competition after a poor start that saw them lose 8-4 to favorites Solomon Islands on the opening day of the tournament.

NZ Captain Marvin Eakins was on target with two very important goals in each half to help the side take home the three points on offer.

Vanuatu's Ben Hungai opened scoring in the first half he managed to slip in an easy shot through NZ goalkeeper Elias Billeh to give them an early 1-0 lead. But Futsal All Whites skipper Eakins leveled scores after he was allowed space to shoot near the Vanuatu goalmouth.

The teams went to the halftime break level 1-1.

It was New Zealand's Lucas Silva who managed to break the deadlock when a powerful left shot from outside the penalty area saw the retake the lead 2-1.

Vanuatu hit straight back to again level scores 2-2 a minute later through Hungai who took his tournament tally to five.

The game became increasingly physical in the latter stages with Matt Chandler's men receiving two yellow cards in the last five minutes to match Vanuatu's earlier cautions.

But Eakins saved the day for New Zealand with less than two minutes to go when he finished off a well executed set play to seal the game for the Kiwis.


Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com