After downing the U-20 side from the ‘U’ of Chile, coach Eddy Etaeta’s troupes showed they are on their way to matching a professional team when they beat second division Chilean club Deportes Magallanes 2-1.
As in the previous match, Etaeta used the opportunity to give as many of his players as possible some game time, with just Ricky Aitamai, Tamatoa Wagemann and Vincent Simon not taking part in the victory.
With an eye on the Confederations Cup, the game plan saw the Tahitians organised into a formation leaning heavily towards playing defensively, which explained the first half possession statistics falling in favour of the home side.
The approach was successful throughout much of the first period until a clash between Teheivarii Ludivion and a Magallanes attacker had the referee pointing to the penalty spot in the 44th minute. Despite goalkeeper Gilbert Meriel diving the right way he couldn’t stop the ball from hitting the back of the net and allowing the Chilian club side to take a 1-0 lead into the break.
Half-time saw captain Nicolas Vallar taken off with an ankle injury, a huge blow for the Toa Aito with the length of his recovery yet to be determined. Striker Marama Vahirua also left the field, with the responsibility of wearing the captain’s armband falling to Ludivion.
The second period kicked off similar to the first and despite being behind by one goal Etaeta’s men refused to give up – and it eventually paid off.
In the 75th minute Steevy Chong-Hue found himself on the right flank and at the receiving end of a long ball from Yoann Tihoni. The Dragon attacker sent in a cross-shot which was picked up by Lorenzo Tehau who sent it into the goalmouth to bring his side in line with the hosts.
In the action following, a release from goalkeeper Mikael Roche was picked up by Alvin Tehau who beat two players before playing the ball to Edson Lemaire who knocked it in behind the keeper to give the Toa Aito a 2-1 lead.
Second half captain Ludivion said following the team’s video analysis of their first match against the U-20 side, they adjusted and performed much better defensively against Deportes Magallanes.
“We communicated better and filled the gaps better. What I retain is that we didn’t give up. We continued to defend and defend and then it paid off. We will stick with the positive points, but there are still some points we will work on with the coach,” Ludivion says.
“The team we played were a bit quicker and more technical than that of the first match. They were maybe missing a bit of aggressiveness but they played well and put us under some pressure.”
Earlier in the day, well before the match kicked off, the Toa Aito had their first experience of taking part in an international competition when they were visited by FIFA’s anti-doping officials.
Samuel Hnanyine says it was a different experience being woken at 7am before being led to a medical room for anti-doping tests.
“There wasn’t any particular order. Each person took their turn in the order that they arrived,” he says.
“The nurse started by inserting a needle in my right arm but she could find the vein, so she used the left arm. Then I had to urinate in a bottle. A nurse followed my into the bathroom to watch. Then all the tests were verified in front of me. It was the first time that I’ve done an anti-doping tests with both blood and urine tests.”
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