In other action New Caledonia edged past Solomon Islands with a 1-0 victory, the same margin which separated New Zealand from hosts Papua New Guinea, while Tahiti came from behind to secure a 2-1 win over Vanuatu.
Fiji coach Carlos Buzzetti was apologetic after the match, but requested a level of ruthlessness from his side as they chased the 30 goal target set by Tahiti on the opening day. Chris Wasasala, making his international debut with Fiji during this tournament, opened the scoring in the 2nd minute and went on to rack up a tally of nine goals total. He was bettered only by teammate Tony Tuivuna who scored ten.
Also getting on the board were Iosefo Verevou (5), Napolioni Qasevakatini (4), Garish Prasad (5), Masana Nawakula (2), while Savenaca Nakalevu and Tevita Waranaivalu scored one each.
Buzzetti says to get the record wasn’t an objective, but after Tahiti’s win they needed to make sure they were secure should moving to the next stage come down to goal difference.
“I’m happy for the boys because we’ve done something good for the country, but at the same time I feel very bad about that. We had a benchmark set by Tahiti and as we’re playing them next we didn’t have any other options.
“After the game I apologised and they understand. You still feel bad though. They are young kids, they’re coming for the first time and if it wasn’t for the 30 goals Tahiti scored we would never have done that.”
Federated States of Micronesia coach Stan Foster says this is a learning curve for a side still learning the football trade.
“We just want to improve in our marking ability and just make sure that we fought right to the end. I didn’t want anybody just dropping their heads and walking away from the game without putting an effort in,” Foster says.
“I believe what you get back what you put in to the game, it’s all about the heart and this is why I keep coaching. I don’t care about the score, it’s all about improvement and development in the Micronesian country because we’ve only just really started into football at this level.”
New Caledonia got their Pacific Games gold medal defence off to a relatively good start with a 1-0 victory over the hosts, and once again it was the slimmest of margins separating them from their opponent following an own goal off a Johan Idrele free kick in the 85th minute.
At times it looked like Solomon Islands might be the side that would open the scoring with Timothy Bakale looking especially dangerous on the counter attack. However goalkeeper Thomas Schmidt was in impressive form and consistently denied his opponents with some help from defenders Jorys Mene, Aquilas Wahnapo and Joseph Tchacko.
Solomon Islands coach Patrick Miniti says the aim was to come out and win, or at least get something out of the match, but his side was somewhat unlucky.
“Congratulations to them, they won it. It’s not a good feeling as wanted to get something out of this game. There were a few things we made mistakes on but generally I think it was an evenly contested match, it was just unfortunate.”
New Caledonia coach Thierry Sardo knows his side scrapped through, and applauded the tenacity of his players.
“It was one goal but one important goal,” Sardo says, “because we’ve qualified for the Pacific Games semi-finals”.
“Even if we weren’t perfect today, the most important thing is to win games because if you’re impressive on the field but don’t win – you’ll be booking tickets home pretty quick. We’re on track, and we’re happy.”
Vanuatu dominated the opening of their match against Tahiti, who were at times fortunate that their Ni-Vanuatu opponents struggled to put away some of their chances. The game levelled out somewhat but neither side was capable of giving themselves an advantage going into the break.
It took until the 54th minute to separate the teams as Brian Kaltack stepped up to convert from the penalty spot. Tahiti took their time responding, with Fred Tissot’s equaliser coming almost 15 minutes later.
The French Polynesians were now settling in and controlling the match and just ten minutes later a play started by Yohan Tihoni, was finished by Manuarii Hauata who sent the ball past the Vanuatu keeper Seloni Iaruel giving Tahiti the lead and the victory.
Match winning goal scorer Hauata says it was a difficult match for his side, in particular the first 15 minutes which were dominated by Vanuatu.
“We pushed and pressed a lot, and in the second half with the wind behind us we were able to lower things a bit. I’m happy to have scored the winning goal just as anyone who scores would be.”
The final encounter of the day was a big one as the hosts Papua New Guinea went in search of three points against New Zealand, a side gunning to qualify for Rio 2016.
Hekari United striker Tommy Semmy made Papua New Guinea’s intentions clear from the outset with a dangerous strike going just inches wide at the near post within the first 60 seconds.
It was a high intensity encounter with both sides playing some direct balls as they looked to get an advantage. There were some troubling shots from Semmy who worked well with Emmanuel Airem. At the other end it was Alex Rufer causing the majority of trouble with some impressive acrobatic leaps from Ismael Pole in goal for Papua New Guinea, helping deny the Kiwis that sought after goal.
After holding strong for an hour, a defensive error from Papua New Guinea proved their downfall as Monty Patterson found the back of the net off a set piece. New Zealand then went almost 100 per cent on the defensive to protect their advantage, which led to some frustrated opponents going in search of an equaliser that never eventuated.
Victorious coach Anthony Hudson says it was the match he expected.
“We expected this, listen, it was one of those scrappy, really hard, challenging games. So listen, credit to them they did very well. But listen, we’ve got some young, young kids and I thought they did really good today, stood up and played.”
While hugely disappointed not to have given the home crowd the win they desired, Papua New Guinea coach Ricki Herbert says his side rose to the occasion.
“I think the best team probably got beaten today, I thought we outplayed them and I think the stats will quite clearly show that. I thought we passed the ball so much better today and created opportunities against a side who’s developing a team to go to Russia for the World Cup,” he says.
“Most people thought we would be a mile away but I think we were the better team and we should have won today. They were quite direct which was surprising given the template I keep reading, and we just had to cope with it. If we had a chink in our armour it would be defending and dealing with those high balls.”
The XV Pacific Games/OFC Olympic Qualifier continues on Monday 6 July with Match Day 1 of the Women’s Football Tournament before the Men’s Football resumes at Bisini Sports Complex on Tuesday 7 July.

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