FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup 2016

Foundation assures payment of stadium contractors

The workers were engaged through Parohu EPC Engineers by the Papua New Guinea Sports Foundation (PNGSF) to construct the Bava Park, PNG Football Stadium and 16 training fields.

PNGSF chief executive officer Peter Tsiamalili Jr confirmed that the workers will receive part of their overtime claims on Friday, December 23.

Parohu country manager Micah Vines clarified that all their wages have been paid however, they were promised bonuses of about K500,000 for their hard work during the nine months of work.

Referees vital for successful matches at World Cup

The matches could not be played without their important and challenging function.

Local media representatives had the opportunity to attend a training session of the match officials on Friday which provided an insight into the daily training and preparation of the referees.

FIFA referees' department senior manager Kari Seitz explained that there’s a lot of work put into preparation for the matches.

FIFA official: Need for more PNG female referees

Seitz said the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup 2016 has only two referees from the Oceania region, Finau Vulivuli from Fiji and Maria Tamalelagi from Samoa.

A total of 17 referees and 28 assistant referees from 34 different countries have been officiating at the World Cup.

Seitz encouraged women in PNG to think of refereeing as an option.

“If women see this as an option, then we can encourage them and then get them trained, but first we need to recruit,” Seitz explained.

Sweden’s Blackstenius maintains lead goal scorer status

The tournament ended the group round robin matches on November 21 with the top eight teams confirmed for the quarterfinals.

Unfortunately for Blackstenius, Sweden has bowed out of the competition after finishing third in Group A.

Blackstenius currently is the top scorer so far, scoring a total of five goals in the tournament.

The number 9 scored four goals against home side Papua New Guinea and one goal against Brazil.

Coming in at second place are Brazil’s Gabi Nunes, Mami Ueno of Japan and Korea DPR’s Kim So-hyang, all with four goals each.

Pugh a player to watch in the U20 Women’s World Cup

 She shone on the pitch against France and New Zealand in their past two outings, causing problem for the defence with her speed and ball control.   

Pugh is already an established member of the USA senior national team squad, even scoring at the recent Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in Rio.

The 19-year-old had already played in 6 FIFA sanactioned matches and scored 2 goals.

Pugh showed her class on Thursday night against the New Zealand scopping the the player of the match for her outstanding performance.