Solomon Islands bowed out of Marseille 2008 in style by beating El Salvador 6-3 in the battle for third place in Group B. James Naka headlined the victory, scoring four goals to take his tournament tally to eight.
Naka opened the scoring in the early stages, and he doubled his side’s lead 13 seconds after the first restart. Jose Ruiz and Elias Ramirez got on the score-sheet for the Salvadorans in the second period, but Naka added another two to send Solomon Islands out for the last 12 minutes holding a 4-2 lead.
Tomas Hernandez pulled the Central Americans to within one goal of their opponents, but a double from Omo put the game out of their reach.
The win capped off a memorable tournament for James Naka who was undoubtedly the standout player for the Bilikiki Boys.
"We played much better in our final game and I’m really happy with the result. We’ve had a great experience and it was great to finish the tournament with a victory. We’ll hope to do better next year," Naka said.
El Salvador Coach Rudis Mauricio Gonzalez Gallo also had praise for the Solomon Island star.
"I was really pleased with the attitude of my players. The problem today was that we couldn’t contain Naka. But it was great to be here. The organisation from FIFA was excellent and really like Marseille and its fans. I hope France win tonight and can go to the final," Gallo said.
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Marseille 2008
| Team |
MP |
W |
W+ |
L |
GF |
GA |
Pts |
| Portugal |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
26 |
10 |
8 |
| Italy |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
15 |
10 |
6 |
| Solomon Islands |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
14 |
23 |
3 |
| El Salvador |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
18 |
0 |
Solomon Islands 6 (NAKA (4’12", 12’13", 15’27", 22’45")OMO (27’51", 34’41) El Salvador 3 (12’54")Elias RAMIREZ (23’07")Tomas HERNANDEZ (27’22")
El Salvador: 12 Jose PORTILLO (GK); 4 Jose LOBOS (C); 9 Elias RAMIREZ ; 10 Tomas HERNANDEZ ; 11 Jose RUIZ
SUBS: 1 Luis RODAS (GK); 2 Wilber ALVARADO; 3 Jose MEMBRENO; 5 Saul BLANCO; 6 Jose CASTRO; 7 Walter TORRES; 8 Jose QUINTEROS
Coach: GONZALEZ GALLO Rudis Mauricio (SLV)
Solomon Islands: 12. (GK) Fred HALE; 2.TAKA; 8. (C) OMO; 10. James NAKA; 11.
Gibson HOSEA;
SUBS: 1. (GK) Henry PADAVERANA; 3. Franco NEE; 4. Eddie NGAITIN; 5. Hickly RENCE; 6. Nicholas MURI; 7. Michael TAEMAN; 9. Joe LUWI;
Coach: KOTO Henry (SOL)
Officials
Referee: GENG Zhiwei (CHN
)
Second referee: JACOB Denis (BEL)
Third referee: PALHIES Sylvain (FRA)
Timekeeper: RODRIGUEZ Juan (ARG)
Solomon Island Results at FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup – Marseille 2008
17 July
14.45 Hrs (Local Time)
Italy 7 Solomon Islands 4
19 July
16.15 Hrs (Local Time)
Solomon Islands 4 Portugal 13
21 July 22
16.15 Hrs (Local Time)
El Salvador 3 Solomon Islands 6
Solomon Island Goal Scorers:
James Naka 8
Gideon Omikirio 2
Gibson Hosea 2
Franco Nee 1
Nicholas Muri 1
Photos provided by FIFA media. For more visit www.fifa.com
