Football

Although they couldn’t get the win, the Kapuls played much better than they did in their previous match going down to the Fijian side, 1 – 5 in a disappointing start to the tournament.

 Kapuls head coach, in a press conference after the match against Tahiti, highlighted that his side is capable of producing better result.

Moon said, “That’s more of a team I know of and that performance I feel was what we were capable of and we played very well today. We were the better side.

The opening Group matches have been impressive from the teams that are considered favourites to win the Championship.  

Countries considered front-runners for the Euro 2024 Championship title have a team comprised of very good class players. Some have a very good chance to give a crack at the title given the strength of the opponents. So far, some teams have already staked their claims to finish on top.  

Having a team comprising superstar footballers, England is considered the favorite this year to register their first-ever Euro title. 

New Zealand kick off their campaign in Group A against Solomon Islands at VFF Freshwater Stadium on Tuesday, June 18^th, 2024.

All Whites coach, Darren Bazeley is looking forward to working with his squad for an extended period.

PNG forward, Tommy Semmy was working hard up front for Warren Moon’s side, but they struggled for much of the opening 45 minutes to truly test Isikeli Sevanaia in the Fiji goal. Fiji was a better side in attack and defence disallowing PNG many opportunities.

A match that would mean a lot to both sides. For Scotland, it is a match to prove that they are no longer an easy push and for Germany, it is the match they shouldn’t lose.   

Going into this match, Germany has a better record than Scotland winning their last two meets at this tournament and are favorites likely to win this opening encounter. Scotland have only won once against Germany since 1999.

The tournament, which runs from June 15 to July 14, the competition promises to be part of a feast of football over the coming weeks. After an extensive qualification process, 24 of the best football teams in Europe will come together across 10 host cities in a bid to be crowned champions.

Italy will make the journey as the defending champions, having beaten England in the final of Euro 2020 — a tournament that was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eight years on, the new squad coached by Englishman Warren Moon will be playing the opening match in Suva this weekend against co-hosts Fiji.

Moon has the biggest responsibility in hand to go one better than 2016 and deliver Papua New Guinea its first-ever Men’s Nations Cup title.

In an open vote, Brazil was appointed to host the tenth edition of the tournament after receiving 119 votes while the joint bid of Belgium, Netherlands and Germany received 78. 

Despite playing on the back foot in most of the match, Hekari United put on a resilient show against the reigning OFC Men’s Championship League champions, until the 93rd-minute goal to Auckland City FC took them home.

Hekari backline was on song containing the well-oiled Auckland City FC’s attack. Credit their defensive coaching staff. But as it has been proven over time, ‘nothing beats experience’ and that was what the New Zealand side had at their advantage. 

Although the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Rankings for football has existed since December 1992 and women’s senior national football teams have been officially ranked by FIFA since 2003, that has not previously been the case for futsal.

However, the indoor game has enjoyed exponential growth in recent years and this milestone moment represents the natural next step, as well as being the first time that FIFA men’s and women’s rankings have been launched concurrently.