“Going into the locker room down 4-0 we had to infuse some energy back into our team,” said technical advisor Larry Mana’o. “We made a few adjustments by moving some players around and we also asked the boys to put a little more effort in it in that second half. We wanted them to play with a little more energy and what they did in that second half was amazing.”
Salapu made some great saves on point blank shots at goal while also getting help at the same time from his teammates.
“Our coaches told us what it was they wanted in that second half and we just went out and provided it,” said captain Liatama Amisone Jr.
Eight minutes into the first half saw the Solomon Islands score their first goal and throughout that opening period their passes were sharp and crisp while every touch on the ball was effortless.
The Solomon Islands scored again in the 14th, 28th and 34th minute in what looked like huge deficit against in the making.
When Salapu had to make runs at the ball or away from the goal, a host of defenders contributed with either a body or foot to turn away potential scores.
“That was a great second half by the boys,” said FFAS President Iuli Alex Godinet. “It was very inspiring but they need to do it for the whole 90 minutes, not just 45. We are all appreciative though of their efforts out there.”
Governor Togiola & First Lady Mary Ann Tulafono, ASNOC President Ken Tupua & Secretary General Ed Imo and Department of Parks & Recreation Director Semo Ve’ave’a were at the game supporting the team and also made it to the women’s match against PNG a day earlier.
They have been making it an effort to go to all games involving American Samoa teams.
The men’s next game is on September 1 against Guam at 9:00 a.m. (August 31, 11:00 a.m. local time) while the women take on New Caledonia on August 31 at 1:00 p.m. (August 30, 3 p.m., local time).
WOMEN’S GAME
PAPUA NEW GUINEA 8, AMERICAN SAMOA 0
American Samoa lost handily 8-0 against Papua New Guinea in their first game of Group A of the XIV Pacific Games New Caledonia 2011’s soccer competition.
Papua New Guinea is the 2007 defending gold medalists and they came out firing by scoring in just the first minute.
It was a good game, the main difference was experience, theirs was high and ours was low. A lot of girls this is their first time and I know our team is probably the youngest in the competition.
“One of the things that got to us really bad was the turf was so hot,” said coach Uinifareti Aliva. “The heat was so intense from the turf that it affected a few of our players.”
American Samoa managed to put up a good fight after that with one threatening chance when team captain Lela Waetin broke into the box from the left side but great defense from a defender gave PNG’s goalie enough time to kill off the attack.
But Papua New Guinea eventually wore out A.S. as they scored two goals seconds apart in the 29th minute of the match.
A final goal on the last seconds of the first period helped PNG bookend the opening half with goals for a 4-0 lead.
PNG again bookended the second half with goals to finish off American Samoa 8-0 while at the same time earning their second win of the competition to put them atop Group A.
“We may have to shuffle a lot of players around in order to fit what we can field instead of fit what we want and that is to score goals. We have to defend a bit more than we did in our upcoming games than we did against PNG.”