Tahiti – Tuvalu Match Summary click here
The well-drilled Tahitians’ speed and movement was too much for a determined Tuvalu outfit to contain, although, based on this effort, the underdogs have improved since last year’s competition and appear to have the ability to cause their Group B rivals plenty of problems.
Those rivals will be more worried about the potential of Tahiti though, having watched them control the match and score a raft of well-worked goals.
They wasted little time in getting their noses in front, Manu Faarahia pouncing in just the fourth minute to give his side the upperhand.
It was an advantage they looked unlikely to relinquish when further strikes from Tahiarii Tutavae and Capo Turinoho, in the seventh and 12th minutes respectively, had them 3-0 up at the break.
Any hopes Tuvalu might have had of getting back into the contest were quickly extinguished within minutes of the second spell as Chocalat Maperi and Michel Maihuri both got themselves on the scoresheet.
Maperi’s goal was a fine individual effort, the big striker cutting in from the left and rifling an unstoppable shot into the top corner, while Maihuri had the simple task of sliding the ball home from close range after a fine passing move.
Tutavae then grabbed his second and Tahiti’s sixth in the 29th minute when he got his foot to a low cross and diverted the ball past Tuvalu goalkeeper Siopepa Tailolo.
Tuvalu enjoyed more of the ball in the latter stages and caused the Tahiti defence several scares but there was no further scoring as the victors closed the game out to post a comprehensive win.
Quotes
Tuvalu coach Takiao Vave:
We haven’t been together much as a team so it is hard for us. But it is a good experience for our players and we need to make the most of being here. We want to score some goals of course and our main aim is to win a game because we haven’t done that at this tournament before. We have seen some of the mistakes we have made today and we now need to put those right for our next match.
Tahiti stand-in coach Ethel Taputu:
We’ve been training for a while now so it was pleasing to see that hard work pay off. We told the boys that we wanted them to play with width and attack down the flanks and that’s exactly what they did. It was good to see them follow the game plan well.