Eight Teams Feature in the Quarters, American Samoa out
The Oceania Football Confederation Under-17 Championship now reaches the knockout phase, which will see four big quarter-finals happening this weekend at HFC Bank Stadium in Suva.
The winning team and runners up will advance to be OFC’s representatives at the FIFA U-17 World Cup to be held in Peru in October. Already we’ve seen a couple of instant classics, with the opening Group B match between New Zealand and New Caledonia ending
in a 3-2 win for the tournament favourites.
Fiji and Tonga had to battle not just each other but the elements as well, with their game played in torrential rain.
It was a testament to the skill levels of the players that the game was a great advertisement for agegrade football, with the Fijians triumphing 3-0.
As it stands, American Samoa has been eliminated after two losses. Today: New Caledonia v Samoa at the HFC Bank Stadium, Suva kicking off at 4pm.
Both teams come in off impressive wins, with New Caledonia putting seven goals past American Samoa and Samoa winning 6-0 over Tonga.
Jean-Yves Saiko has been very prominent for the New Caledonians, while Samoan captain Pharrell Trainor scored four goals in their last win.
Tahiti v Tonga, kicks off at 7pm Tahiti comes in as favourites, with two wins as opposed to Tonga’s two losses. Tiahoti Colombani has been
Tahiti’s main goal scorer, while Titouan Guillemant has been a force on attack.
Tomorrow: Fiji v Cook Islands at the HFC Bank Stadium, Suva – game kicking off at 4pm.
The home side (Fiji) will be hoping for less rain than their last game, but have been playing very well. Ibraheem Afazel has been in eye catching form; expect to hear his name in the future. They need to be wary of a Cooks team that has shown that they aren’t afraid to have a crack at goal from a long way out, though.
New Zealand v Vanuatu, kicks off at 7pm
NZ has scored 14 goals in its two games but will need to be on their game against a canny Vanuatu side. New Zealand striker Luke Supyk already has a hat-trick in the tournament so far, while Jimmy Moso has been impressive for Vanuatu.