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VANUATU AT FULL STRENGTH FOR WANTOK CUP
Tuesday, 01 July 08, 01:52 PM
Vanuatu will field a full strength side for the Telekom Wantok Cup which kicks off this Thursday at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara.
Their squad is the same one that recently lost 3-0 to New Caledonia in the World Cup qualifiers in Noumea.
They will come with the intention of winning the inaugural Telekom Wantok Cup and cash prize attached to it.
The last time they played the Solomon Islands senior team was at the South Pacific Games in Samoa in 2007 where they beat them 2-0 in the playoff for bronze medal.
It would be interesting to see them take on the two local teams who are equally as eager as them to lay claim to the silverware.
The two teams have gone into full training since the squad was assembled last week and are confident of doing the country proud in the competition.
Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) General Secretary, Eddie Ngava expressed his optimism when asked about the two local teams’ chances saying that the boys will give it their best.
Commenting on PNG’s withdrawal, he said the door is open for them to participate in future Wantok Cup competition.
The PNG soccer team informed SIFF of their decision to withdraw from the competition on the eve of their arrival.
Despite that he said the competition would go ahead with slight changes to the fixtures because of PNG’s withdrawal.
Initially, there was supposed to be two matches per day for the duration of the competition however, there will only be one match with one team on bye per match day.
The Telekom Wantok Cup will kick off this Thursday with the opening match between Solomon Bonito and Solympics. Vanuatu is on bye.
Vanuatu’s opening match will be against the Solympics on Saturday before they play against Solomon Bonito on Monday to coincide with the country’s 30th Independence Anniversary.
3rd July 2008 Solomon Bonito vs Solympics 4.00pm
Bye: Vanuatu
5th July 2008 Solympics vs Vanuatu 4.00pm
Bye: Solomon Bonito
7th July 2008 Solomon Bonito vs Vanuatu 4.00pm
Bye: Solympics
Posted by OFC · Comments (12)
Topics: Solomon Islands OCEANIA Vanuatu
Tags: Solomon Islands OCEANIA Vanuatu
0
really? PNG not going? or, it's going to be boring just having 2 countries!!!! might as well call it training sessions!! but i fully agree: Mr PNGFA President, you might as well resign. you're
on
the wrong place!!
the wrong place!!
0
Why P.N.G not joining..What's the problem?..Could we blame their govt for not inserting fund for thier coming?..How about the relationship between solo and P.N.G?.Is it ok?..
P.N. G makes this
competition incompetitive but the strongest vanuatu side will be an interesting thing for the solomon spectators to watch..
People just enjoy the remaining wantok cup games and wish you happy
independence..
P.N. G makes this
competition incompetitive but the strongest vanuatu side will be an interesting thing for the solomon spectators to watch..
People just enjoy the remaining wantok cup games and wish you happy
independence..
PNGFA could not send its team most probably because they are at the eve of their elections. I am of the view that PNGFA will do better by getting rid of its current President who has
no interest whatsoever in developing football (soccer) in PNG. He has been at the helm of PNGFA for the last 4 years and what has he done? The current PNGFA competitions like the semipro national
league are initiated by others (I need being corrected here) and not the hopeless President. He is more interested in the OFC football politics than football development in Melanesia, especially
in PNG.
Even SIFF has oferred to meet 50% of the PNG team's return airfares. Yet they withdrew in the eleventh hour. PNGFA has spoilt what could have been a very interesting Wantok football
party.
Cheers from Honiara.