The arrival of Papua New Guinea international, Raymond Gunemba has definitely boosted Henderson Eels’ chances of qualifying for the 2018 Oceania Champions League.
Gunemba became the latest overseas player to grace Solomon Islands’ semi-professional competition- the Telekom S-League, after signing with his new club at the start of round two last weekend.
The goal-scoring machine is not alone playing alongside former PNG national team captain, David Muta at the Henderson Eels.
The Kapuls forward made an impressive start scoring on his debut last Saturday in the Eels’ 6-1 thrashing of FC Guadalcanal at the Lawson Tama Stadium.
Eels’ Head Coach, Christopher Asipara described Gunemba as an important element in his squad’s campaign to finish in the top two at the end of this season.
The top two teams from the Telekom S-League will represent Solomon Islands at next year’s Oceania Champions League.
“He (Gunemba) is a quality player and we hope he will do a lot of good things for us in our upcoming games.
“Since joining us we did some training sessions with him and he is fitting in very well because of his experience playing quality football overseas,” he added.
Asipara added Gunemba has settled in well with his new Solomon Islands teammates.
But the real test for Gunemba and the Henderson Eels will come this Sunday when they take on champions Marist FC.
Marist FC have gone on a recruitment drive themselves bringing in three Brazilian imports to help in their title defence this season.
Both Henderson Eels and Marist FC are level on 16 points at third spot, one point behind second placed Kossa FC and five points behind leaders Solomon Warriors.