Over 15,000 fans flocked to Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara to watch the opening day of matches of the long-awaited Solomon Cup.

Honiara Warriors and Temotu Arrrows lead their respective pools after day one of the Solomon Cup on Saturday (October 15). Match reports courtesy of the Solomon Star (www.solomonstarnews.com)

The Warriors had to come from behind to eventually beat a very determined Real Kakamora 3-2 after an early scare, Samani saves Warriors

They were joined in the winners circle by the Commins Menapi led Temotu Arrows, who accounted for the Lauru Kuvojo 3-0, Arrows penetrate Kuvojo stronghold

The Guadalcanal Hornets also took three points, beating Central Shields 1-0, as chances went begging for both sides.

While Isabel Frigates drew with defending champions Malaita Eagles 1-1, Frigates reach Eagles height

Western Turtles and Avaiki (Renbel) Chiefs had a bye in the first round.

Round two action begins on Monday 17 October, with pool matches continuing until Thursday.

Fun and games galore has been the order of the day during the Elementary School Tournament in American Samoa over the past month. The tournament is currently being fought out by 44 teams and 1,000 young boys and girls, check out the full story on the American Samoa FA website, Fun and games galore

Over 200 soccer players from around the country will be participating in the Solbrew Solomon Cup tournament which kicks off at the Lawson Tama Stadium tomorrow (Saturday 15 October).

Dubbed the biggest ever soccer tournament in the country, the Solomon Cup will finally come alive tomorrow after a long break. After the 1999 Solomon Cup hosted in Gizo, Western Province, the tournament was never organised over the years.

This year, the Solomon Islands Football Federation ((SIFF) decided to revive the national tournament which will be unveiled at the national stadium tomorrow.

Despite a short notice, all 10 provincial teams including the Honiara City Council are now ready to march into Lawson Tama tomorrow.

With the hype of participating in World Cup qualifications and hosting international matches at home, this year's tournament will no doubt be of high standard. All provincial soccer teams apart from Honiara are also expected to step up to the challenge despite the gap between the players.

In Pool A are Malaita Eagles, Isabel Frigates, Honiara Warriors, Renbel Chiefs and Real Kakamora. Pool B are Temotu Arrows, Guadalcanal Hornets, Western Turtles, Lauru Kuvojo and Central Shields.

There will be an opening ceremony before the first match at 12pm, so the Lawson Tama gates may open two or three hours earlier. Entrance fee for the grand stand is $10 all across the board for all age groups, $5 for hillside and standing and $3 for students.

All primary school students will be granted free entry and have been encouraged to be in uniform as of Monday next week. Disable people will also be granted free entrance by the organising committee. High school and tertiary students need to produce their identification cards to qualify for the student fee.

There will be four matches each day starting tomorrow, but Sunday is a rest day. Pool matches continue on Monday until Thursday before the semi finals on Friday 21st October 2005. The losers final and the grand final will be played on Saturday 22nd October 2005.

Tomorrow at 12pm, four time winners Honiara Warriors will take on Pool A hopefuls Real Kakamora. This is a decisive match as the Kakamora side consisting of young players have taken Makira Ulawa Province to the pinnacle of national youth championships. The Warriors are dominated by experienced players who are regulars in the national squad as well as plying their trade in the capital's top soccer league.

The second game will see Temotu Arrows taking on Lauru Kuvojo. Arrows will be led by national striker Commins Menapi who made his presence felt in the similar tournament. The Kuvojos have been consistent performers in past Solomon Cup and will rely on their young players to deliver them the needed result.

Central Shields will take on one time winner and two time finalist Guadalcanal Hornets at 4pm tomorrow. Shields consist of both old and new players and will be led by Under 20 defender Eddie Ngaitini. Veteran striker Silas Diau who played in all Solomon Cup tournaments since 1993 is also back in the Shields squad this year. Hornets are comprised of mostly home grown players with Solympics mid fielder Jerry Sam among them.

The final match tomorrow at 6.15pm will be between current champions Malaita Eagles and Isabel Frigates. Both sides drew 1-1 during their pool match in the 1999 Solomon Cup in Gizo, but the Eagles went on to win the Cup. This year, Eagles recruited three national players in Leslie Leo, Abraham Iniga and Richard Anisua. But the core of their team that won in 1999 are still there. The likes of captain Ellison Mark Ki'i, Nelson Kabitana, Roy Enori, Nicky Lamani and David Selwyn are back to defend the title. Frigates who finished third behind the Arrows in 1999 will have the services of national defender Gideon Omokirio along with Mark Mehau, Robert Aaron and John Pangora.

SIFF has guaranteed security with the Royal Solomon Islands Police officers and security personnel at hand to curb any disturbances. SIFF hopes the revival of the Solomon Cup will be a fan-filled soccer bonanza for all to enjoy rather than destroy.

SOLOMON CUP PREVIOUS WINNERS

1991 - Honiara 4, Western 2

1992 - Honiara 4, Guadalcanal 0

1993 - No final (Malaita fans rioted

1994 - Guadalcanal 7, Honiara 6 (penalty shootout)

1995 - No competition

1996 - Honiara 2, Malaita 0

1997 - Malaita 3, Guadalcanal 2

1998 - Honiara 1, Malaita 0 (SIFF awarded game)

1999 - Malaita 1, Temotu 0

Australia's opponent for the vital FIFA World Cup qualifier will be Uruguay.

Just as they did four years ago Uruguay concluded the South American qualifying tournament as the fifth ranked nation earning them a home and away sudden death play-off against Australia for a place at Germany 2006.

Full story, Australia to face Uruguay again

FOOTBALL KIDS LEND A HAND IN QUEEN'S BATON RELAY

On the 11th October, 2005 the Queen's Baton Relay passed through Goroka, Papua New Guinea on its long journey to Australia.

Papua New Guinea was the first Oceania country to recieve the baton and over the coming months the baton will find it's way through the Pacific covering Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Cook Islands and New Zealand.

The Queen's Baton Relay is one of the great traditions of the Commonwealth Games, the relay symbolises the gathering of people from across the Commonwealth at the four-yearly festival of sport and culture.

Over 3,000 people from Goroka celebrated its journey and amongst the baton carriers were three young footballers from the PNGFA Besta skills development programme, Kasuogia Gaisane, Eddie Matona and Belinda Gawot.

The Besta skills development programme is part of a recently signed $300,000K sponsorship from International Food Corporation Ltd. (IFC) which was launched at the national Sports institute in Goroka.

Under their brand name Besta Tin Fish, the sponsorship will support PNGFA development programmes over the next three years. The PNGFA received bibs, balls, cones, corner flags, t-shirts and books as part of the sponsorship.

Over 100 schoolchildren are registered for this program in Goroka alone, and all took part in a skill session involving dribbling, passing, and general ball control for the official opening.

Other centres around Papua New Guinea are currently running programmes including the PNGFA Football Academy in Lae, Madang, Port Moresby, and Kimbe.

CASH BOOST FOR SOLOMON CUP TOURNEY

SIFF Marketing Manager, Vivian Wickham is pleased to announce that the Solomon Islands largest softdrink manufacturer Solomon Breweries will provide cash prizes worth almost $30,000 for the Solomon Cup tournament.

An agreement to formalize this deal was signed last week between Wickham and Solomon Breweries management. Solbrew is one of football's biggest partners and SIFF is confident this relation will continue to expand into the future.

Under the sponsorship deal, Solbrew will meet all the cash prizes for the competition. The winner of the tournament will receive $10,000. The other prizes are; $7,500 (first runner up), $5,000 (second runner up), $3,000 (third runner up).

Wickham has also negotiated increases to the "golden boot" prize from $200 (previous agreement) to $1,000. The "Fairplay" prize has also been increased to $2,000 and Player of Tournament $1,000.

Meanwhile, Honiara, the nation's capital is building up for the week-long soccer festival, with a grand opening ceremony planned before the matches kick off in the afternoon (October 15).

All the participating teams will be dressed in the province's traditional costume and led into Lawson Tama grounds by some of the countries top child Futsal players.

2005 Solomon Cup

Pool A

*Malaita Eagles

Isabel Frigates

Honiara Warriors

Real Kakamora

Renbel Chiefs

Pool B

*Temotu Arrows

Central Shields

Lauru Kuvojo

Guadalcanal Hornets

Western Turtles

2005 Solomon Cup - Fixtures

Saturday 15 October, 2005

12:00 Honiara Warriors vs. Real Kakamora

14:00 Temotu Arrows vs. Lauru Kuvojo

16:00 Malaita Eagles vs. Isabel Frigates

18:15 Central Shields vs. Guadalcanal Hornets

Renbel Chiefs (bye)

Western Turtles (bye)

Monday 17 October, 2005

12:00 Lauru Kuvojo vs. Central Shields

14:00 Isabel Frigates vs. Honiara Warriors

16:00 Real Kakamora vs. Renbel Chiefs

18:15 Guadalcanal Hornets vs. Western Turtles

Malaita Eagles (bye)

Temotu Arrows (bye)

Tuesday 18 October, 2005

12:00 Isabel Frigates vs. Renbel Chiefs

14:00 Temotu Arrows vs. Central Shields

16:00 Malaita Eagles vs. Honiara Warriors

18:15 Lauru Kuvojo vs. Western Turtles

Real Kakamora (bye)

Guadalcanal Hornets (bye)

Wednesday 19 October, 2005

12:00 Temotu Arrows vs. Western Turtles

14:00 Malaita Eagles vs. Renbel Chiefs

16:00 Lauru Kuvojo vs. Guadalcanal Hornets

18:15 Isabel Frigates vs. Real Kakamora

Honaira Warriors (bye)

Central Shields (bye)

Thursday 20 October, 2005

12:00 Central Shields vs. Western Turtles

14:00 Honiara Warriors vs. Renbel Chiefs

16:00 Malaita Eagles vs. Real Kakamora

18:15 Temotu Arrows vs. Guadalcanal Hornets

Isabel Frigates (bye)

Lauru Kuvojo (bye)

Friday 21 October, 2005

14:00 Semi Final (Winner Pool A vs. Runner Up Pool B)

16:00 Semi Final (Winner Pool B vs. Runner Up Pool A)

Saturday 22 October, 2005

14:00 3rd/4th Playoff

16:00 Final

LAUTOKA END 20-YEAR DROUGHT AT IDC

Lautoka broke a 20-year drought in the IDC when it beat Ba 2-0 in a toughly-contested and incident-packed final to hoist the Lloyd Fairbrother Cup at their home ground, Churchill Park last night (October 10).

The match started brightly until Ba's Kiniviliame Naika was red-carded for a foul early in the first half.

It took the home side midway into the second spell before it finally broke the tight Ba defence with a goal to star midfielder Jone Vono Junior for a 1-0 lead.

Lautoka's cheers quickly turned to dismay as Vono was issued with his second yellow card after taking off his jersey while celebrating his goal.

With both teams down to 10-men the match was still balanced on a knife-edge, but minutes later Ba goalie Isikeli Seva, dashed all hopes of a comeback for the "Men in Black" when he headbutted Lautoka's Australian import Nicholas Marinos.

Marinos was stretchered off the field with a head wound and Seva was shown the red card and the Blues awarded a penalty.

Penalty specialist Alvin Avinesh cemented the home side's win when he beat replacement 'keeper Laisenia Tuba with his spot kick.

The goal capped a superb tournament for Avinesh who was later crowned IDC Player of the Tournament and became the inaugural recipient of the Fiji FA New Find of the Year award.

Elsewhere, Tailevu Naitasiri striker Zayeed Zuleman was the toast for his side when he scored the golden goal in extra-time against Seaqaqa to help his side hoist the IDC Premier Division title.

Zuleman also scored his side's first goal in the first half of normal time.

In the secondary schools final Apisalome Turuva gave DAV Suva a memorable victory as his goals saw the side beat Tilak High 3-1 in the final yesterday.

The Rewa district rep managed a goal in each half to give the Nabua-based school a historic win at the tournament.

It is after 25 years that the school won the tournament.

Turuva was bought back into the DAV side after Rewa was bundled out in pool play in the Super Premier division. His second goal was a classic as he rifled in a powerful shot which left the Tilak defence and goalkeeper sprawling.

And Ba was in a class of its own as it took out the Inter-District primary school title beating Labasa 4-1 on penalty kicks.

The youngsters, who were favourites from Day One to win the grade, kept their composure and managed to outwit the junior Babasiga Lions in the tournament.

It will be the defending champions Ba versus the host district Lautoka in this afternoon's IDC final.

Ba's 'men in black' were guided through to the final on the back of two goals from 18 year-old Avinesh Swamy to defeat Nasinu.

And the host scored a dramatic 1-0 win over Navua. Penalty specialist Alvin Avinesh stepped up to the spot late in the first half to score.

The final kicks off at 4pm (Fiji time).

SEMI FINALISTS FOUND AT IDC

Defending IDC champions Ba, 2005 Battle of the Giants champions Navua, host district Lautoka, and Nasinu will vie for the 2005 IDC title.

The defending champs will take on an in-form Nasinu side, while Navua play Lautoka, who will have the backing of a vocal home crowd.

Ba recovered from a 1-1 draw with Rewa on day one, and a 0-1 loss to Navua on day two, before registering 1-0 wins over Labasa and Tavua to scrape through to the knockout stage.

For unbeaten southern district Navua, a 0-0 draw with Rewa on day three was the only time they failed to gather three points. Wins over Labasa (1-0), Ba (1-0), and Tavua (3-0) ensured them of top spot in Pool 1.

Like the defending champoins Ba, Lautoka snuck into the final four. With just 2 points registered heading into day four the hosts looked to be out of contention for the semi finals, but a 2-0 win over Nadroga in the last game of the day was enough to get them through.

Nasinu's record of three wins and a draw was easily enough to secure them top spot in Pool 2, the Solomon Island-laden team scored wins over the hosts (2-1), Nadroga (4-0), Nadi (2-0), before a final day draw with Suva (1-1).

The Navua - Lautoka semi final will be played at 9am (Monday October 10, 2005) with the second semi final at 10:30am. The final is scheduled for 4pm.

2005 IDC Pool Matches

Pool 1 - Ba, Labasa, Navua, Rewa, Tavua

Day One

Labasa 0 - 1 Navua

Ba 0 - 0 Rewa

Tavua (bye)

Day Two

Ba 0 - 1 Navua

Tavua 0 - 5 Rewa

Labasa (bye)

Day Three

Tavua 3 - 1 Labasa

Rewa 0 - 0 Navua

Ba 1 - 0 Labasa

Day Four

Navua 3 - 0 Tavua

Ba 1 - 0 Tavua

Labasa 0 - 0 Rewa

Final Standings (P; W; D; L; GF; GA; Pts)

1. Navua 4 3 1 0 5 0 10

2. Ba 4 2 1 1 2 2 1 7

3. Rewa 4 1 3 0 5 0 6

4. Tavua 4 1 0 3 3 9 3

5. Labasa 4 0 1 3 1 5 1

Pool 2 - Lautoka, Nadi, Nadroga, Nasinu, Suva

Day One

Nadi 1 - 0 Suva

Lautoka 1 - 2 Nasinu

Nadroga (bye)

Day Two

Nadroga 2 - 3 Suva

Lautoka 1 - 1 Nadi

Nasinu (bye)

Day Three

Nasinu 4 - 0 Nadroga

Suva 1 - 1 Lautoka

Nadi 0 - 2 Nasinu

Day Four

Nadroga 5 - 0 Nadi

Suva 1 - 1 Nasinu

Lautoka 2 - 0 Nadroga

Final Standings (P; W; D; L; GF; GA; Pts)

1. Nasinu 4 3 1 0 9 2 10

2. Lautoka 4 1 2 1 5 4 5

3. Suva 4 1 2 1 5 5 5

4. Nadi 4 1 1 2 2 8 4

5. Nadroga 4 1 0 3 7 9 3

The Socceroos have secured a confidence-boosting 5-0 victory over Jamaica in their final outing prior to their FIFA World Cup play-off matches against South American opposition next month.

Australia made the perfect start to this Powerade Series match scoring in just the second minute through a superb long-range strike from Marco Bresciano at Craven Cottage in London.

The Socceroos doubled their lead midway through the first half with Melbourne Victory's Archie Thompson finishing from the edge of the penalty area after being set-up by an inch perfect pass from Jason Culina.

There were second half goals - all from close range - for firstly captain Mark Viduka, then substitute John Aloisi and finally debutant Joel Griffiths who scored just 14 minutes after taking the field. Michael Thwaite also debuting for the Socceroos playing the full 90 minutes in central defence.

Australia will find out next month's opponent on Thursday when the final round of South American qualifiers takes place. Only three nations remain in contention to be Australia's opponent following this morning's matches with Uruguay currently sitting in fifth place on 22 points followed by Colombia and Chile on 21 points. Thursday's matches are Uruguay v Argentina in Montevideo, Chile v Ecuador in Santiago and Paraguay v Colombia in Asuncion.

Australia 5 (Marco Bresciano 2', Archie Thompson 27', Mark Viduka 47', John Aloisi 59', Joel Griffiths 84')

Jamaica 0

Australia:

Zeljko Kalac (gk), Tony Vidmar (Josip Skoko 53'), Lucas Neill, Michael Thwaite, Scott Chipperfield, Mark Bresciano (Tim Cahill 79'), Brett Emerton (Vince Grella 70'), Luke Wilkshire (Ahmad Elrich 79'), Jason Culina, Archie Thompson (Joel Griffiths 70'), Mark Viduka (John Aloisi 57').

Substitutes (unused): Ante Covic (gk), Stan Lazaridis, Jon McKain

Cautions: nil

Jamaica:

Shawn Sawyers (gk), Damian Stewart (Fabian Stewart 64'), Tyrone Marshall Claude Davis, Nicholy Finlayson (Desmond Breakenridge 53'), Jermaine Johnson (Damani Ralph 50'), Ricardo Gardner, Omar Daley, Robert Scarlett (Garfield Reid 53'), Ricardo Fuller (Jason Morrison 66'), Luton Shelton

Attendance: 6,570

Match Referee: Mike Riley

Assistant Referees: Peter Kirkup, Mike Tingey

Fourth Official: Andre Marriner

Uruguay, Colombia and Chile all remain in contention for November Play-off