Soccer

That was the tale of the tape at the new Sir Hubert Murray stadium tonight as tears were shed on one side of the field and singing and dancing broke at the other side. The win tonight also won Fiji gold at the Pacific Games.

In normal time, Vanuatu looked the side to score first having a mountain of opportunities in both the first and second half.

Vanuatu’s Bill Nicholls and captain Brian Kaltack came nail bitingly close to scoring but had no luck finding the back of the net as their shots sailed wide or above the bar.

Dominating possession for most of the first half, PNG eventually got a result in extra time through scoring machine Meagen Gunemba who fired a shot into the nets after a good cross from Georgina Kaikas.

The downpour did not help both sides especially Cook Islands who could not get past PNG's solid backline.

PNG got their second goal early in the second half after a shot deflected off the gloves of Cook Island's goalkeeper Marjorie Toru and onto PNG'S Fatima Rama who booted it in.

From this point, PNG turned to defence to steer them home to a 2-0 win.

One goal in the first and another midway through the second half set up the win for PNG.

There were early  worrying signs for PNG when strike player Tommy Semmy was taken off the field for some minutes,  but PNG surged on to bring home the points.

PNG’s  Jacob Sabua took on the Solomon Islands backline and stole the ball to dribble into attack and score PNG’s second for a lead of 2-0.

The Solomon Islanders rallied and got back in the game when Timothy Bakale caught the defence napping and powered a low ball from the wing into the nets.

It was a game that could have gone either way with most of the second half contested in the middle of the field.

The game intensified as tensions flared between players. PNG’s strike player Tommy Semmy was the first to get a yellow card for a foul followed soon after by New Zealand’s Luke Adams.

The young Samoan woman arrived today (Monday), and said the jet lag associated with the long journey had already made her to miss home and family.

But the FIFA and Oceania certified assistant referee is not new to the international scene, having officiated in five regional Oceania sanctioned events already.  

Salamasina said that the PNG women will be hard to beat on their home soil and are favourites to claim their fourth consecutive gold medal.    

Samoa will be fielding a women’s team only in the Pacific Games.