Fijians Fightback
U16 captain Josaia Sela scores 2 in win as Samoa take early 2-0 lead in Honiara
Samoa almost caused a shock upset in the opening Group B match of the OFC U-16 Championship after taking a two-goal lead over Fiji at Lawson Tama Stadium on Monday.
However, the Fijians fought back in the second half to secure a 3-2 victory over the Qualifier winners before Tahiti beat New Caledonia 2-1 in the day’s late match.
The kick-off for the opening match was delayed by two hours following disruptions to the flight arrangements for Samoa, but that barely registered for the side as they settled easily into the encounter.
So much so, within the first 10 minutes they’d had more shots than their opponent, and were rewarded with a seventh minute goal courtesy of captain Lotial Mano with an impressive back-heel.
Despite sitting deep in their half, Samoa proved lethal with a direct counter attack and were soon leading by two goals after Mano nailed in a second 10 minutes later.
It seemed a two goal deficit is what Fiji needed to kick start them into action and they were soon starting to play more organised, possessionbased football as they sought to pull their opponents back within their reach.
The pressure paid off two minutes into added time when Eshan Kumar found the back of the net for Fiji.
Fiji continued with that momentum as they came out for the second half as they forced Semu Faimata, the Samoa goalkeeper, into making a number of goal-denying saves.