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The win leaves Papua New Guinea in second place in Group A with four points, two behind Vanuatu who have already booked their spot in the semi finals after a 2-0 win over Fiji earlier today.
In sunny conditions, Max Foster’s side were gifted an indirect free kick inside the box after 16 minutes when American Samoa goalkeeper inadvertently picked up a back pass from his own defender. From 10 yards out, Papua New Guinea captain Simon Emmanuel rolled the ball to Embal who thundered the ball past a host of players lined up on the goal-line.
Vanya Malagian had an easy tap in to make it 2-0 on 25 minutes after American Samoa failed to clear a corner and that’s how it remained going into the break.
Having drawn 0-0 with Fiji in their opening match, Papua New Guinea looked to be on the hunt for goals and were on track with two more for Embal five minutes after half-time.
But Rupeni Luvu’s side showed resistance and had a well-earned goal in the 54th minute thanks to a cushioned header from Ismael Herrara.
American Samoa, who have yet to pick up a victory at any Oceania qualifier event, continued to frustrate Papua New Guinea for the remainder of the half, outmuscling their opposition and denying them time and space.
The goal of the match came deep into stoppage time with a left-foot screamer from Nigel Dabingyaba to make it 5-1 but it wasn’t enough to please coach Foster.
“We know that goal difference will be important in this group and I honestly thought we were going to get to 10 or 11 with the chances we had,” said Foster.
“There were certainly some good spells but we didn’t play well for 90 minutes.”
Luvu was also philosophical about his team’s performance.
“There are a lot of things we need to work on,” said the Fijian-born Luvu, who also works as a development officer at Football Federation American Samoa.
“We were pleased to score our first goal but we have to lift our standards for our next match against Fiji to take something out of this tournament.”
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