1 week Ago By postcourieronline
Qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 26TM resumes in Oceania this week as Group A action continues in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Match day one in Suva saw crucial victories for New Caledonia and Fiji, leaving hosts Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands with it all to do to give themselves a chance of advancing to next year’s semi-finals. It will be a first men’s national team match on home soil for almost seven years for Papua New Guinea, with the chance to perform in front of what is sure to be a passionate and partisan home crowd, a significant motivator for Felipe Vega-Arango and his side.
“It [home advantage] should definitely be a motivation. From what they are telling me, when they play here the crowd goes crazy and that’s what we want to see. “The most important thing though is doing the job.
Have tactical order, don’t make the mistakes that we made against New Caledonia. I expect them to do the job, to concentrate, to fight and to play for their lives, because they’re playing at home for the first time in seven years,” Vega-Arango said. Having lost their opening match to New Caledonia, anything less than a win will mean the hosts will be hoping for favourable results elsewhere to give them a chance of qualifying past the group stage.
Their opponents Fiji overcame losing a man to a red card to register a victory over Solomon Islands last month. Coach Rob Sherman however is only looking forward, knowing his team still have two considerable challenges to overcome before they can start thinking about next March. “It’s a vital game, there’s not denying that.
But it is just another game, so we can’t put too much emphasis on the outcome. What we need to do is look at performance outcome – there’s certain things we expect or hope to achieve and then that leads to results, so that’s what we’re focused on,” Sherman said. Solomon Islands take on New Caledonia, with Joshua Smith’s side desperate for three points having disappointingly lost to Fiji back in October.
Smith had only just joined as Head Coach before match day one, but with more time to work with his squad – and some fresh legs – there is an added confidence as they look to bounce back. “The boys have been really good, they’ve been receptive. We’ve been able to bring in some new players that have brought added energy and professionalism.
“The eagerness for players to work to get into the team and push the starting players has been fantastic, so I can’t complain at all,” the coach explained. Opponents New Caledonia were arguably the group’s standout, well worth their 3-1 victory over Papua New Guinea. Johann Sidaner boasts a strong squad, with a number of players coming over from France to bolster the ranks.
“We knew it was an important match against Papua New Guinea in that first match day and we were able to win, but we now have more matches to think about. “That first win was very important for the New Caledonia fans, so we’re preparing for these matches as best we can as we know what the expectations are of the fans in New Caledonia,” Sidaner said. With Oceania receiving 1.
5 qualifying spots for the FIFA World Cup 26TM, there is even more at stake for the four teams in Port Moresby. The barest of margins could very well define who will be heading to New Zealand in March and keeping their World Cup dream alive..
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