The best three teams of the
OFC Tournament in course in Canberra won their respective matches.
Australia keep on beeing unbeatable, until now nobody was able to score a goal against the
Scott Gilligan's team: will Vanuatu manage to do that tomorrow, during the last day of games?
New Zealand and
Vanuatu defeated Fiji and Solomon Islands: now all is ready for the deciding match between Australia and Vanuatu.
All you need to know about Canberra 2004 is here!New Zealand - Fiji
4-2 (2-1)In a game that was expected to have the same intensity and tightness as the Australia/New Zealand derby two nights ago, the crowd was not disappointed. New Zealand went in leading 2-1, as close as could be expected, and both sides came out in the second half at the same pace. Fiji pegged one back in the 25th minute to make the score equal, but then had a major setback with goalscorer Ronald Ram being sentoff after a second yellow card in the 29th minute. To get back into the game Fiji started with a tactic of pumping high balls from the back to the target but to no avail. New Zealand scored two late goals on the counter attack to finish 4-2 credible winners, with captain Nathan Robertson scoring another hattrick).
Scorers:
9' Bakr Al Saudi (1-0)
10' Nathan Robertson (2-0)
10' Michael Lee (2-1)
25' Ronald Ram (2-2)
35' Nathan Robertson (3-2)
39' Nathan Robertson (4-2)
Referees: Ben Lemana (Samoa) and Robert Porritt (Australia)
Thirs Official: Alain Alick (Vanuatu)
Time-Keeper: Adrian Tamplin (Australia)
Yellow card: Ronald Ram (25' and 29')
Sent Off: Ronald Ram
Vanuatu - Solomon Islands
7-1 (3-0) The battle between the two most entertaining teams in the competition saw a simply exciting end to end battle. Even though losing 7-1 Solomon Islands all the time kept attacking and trying things. Unfortunately Vanuatu's experience in the sport proved too much with them finally running away with the game.Solomons pegged one back in the 39th minute from a 10 metre freekick. Vanuatu now go into the final game of the tournament in second place , facing first placed Australia, a fitting climax to the whole event. They are eight goals behind Australia on goal difference , but anything is possible.
Scorers:
4' Edward Ben (1-0)
8' Seule Soromon (2-0)
16' Bridly Hakwia (3-0)
24' Saen Fenai (4-0)
25' Bridly Hakwia (5-0)
27' Derek Malas (6-0)
30' Edward Ben (7-0)
39' Jerry Sam (7-1)
Referees: Lyle Hudson (Australia) and Adrian Tamplin (Australia)
Third Official: Rakesh Varman (Fiji)
Time-keeper: Robert Porritt (Australia)
Yellow Cards: Eddie Marvin (Solomon) 19', Tibon Billy Oge (Solomon) 24'
Australia - Samoa
5-0 (1-0)Bottom placed Samoa lifted themselves for the game against undefeated Australia and spent to first half fighting hard to beat their opponents to the ball which frustrated Australia's game. With a halftime score of only 1-0 down , Samoa went into the break on a high. In the second half Samoa continued strongly but Australia put away three goals in six minutes to take the game away, but still did not take away from Samoa's spirited effort.
Scorers:
3' Lachlan Wright (1-0)
25' Andrew Nolan (2-0)
29' Danny Ngaluafe (3-0)
31' Scott Manson (4-0)
35' Andrew Nolan (5-0)
Referees: Aleck Alain (Vanuatu) and Teariki Goodwin (Cook Islands)
Third Official: Atufili Talaia (American Samoa)
Time-Keeper: Rakesh Varman (Fiji)
Yellow card: Ki Anufe (Samoa) and Kiwi Tinio (Samoa)
Special thanks to Alistair Miller (Chief Executive Officer - Queensland Futsal Association) for his help.
