SIFF president Martin Alufurai says the Solomon Islands football community has Reynald Temarii to thank for the innovative idea to replace the old OFC Club Championship competition format where all participating countries congregated in one country to the home and away system.

This allows soccer fans of the participating countries the opportunity to see their big name players and those of the visiting club clash before their very own eyes.

Alufurai added that Temarii’s presence in Honiara adds an extra boost to the excitement in Honiara and urged fans to come out in significant numbers for Monday’s clash.

Monday’s match is an important one for Marist FC and a win will greatly boost their chance of qualifying if they win all their scheduled matches in the Group B O-League competition.

The winner of Group B will progress to a two-legged final against the winner of Group A containing defending champions Auckland City, NZFC table-toppers Waitakere United and New Caledonia’s top club AS Mont Dore. Auckland City currently sit on top of Group A with 4 points, Waitakere United are second with 1 point and AS Mont Dore are currently bottom following a 2-0 home defeat against Auckland City.

Group B’s fixture list has been affected by last minute travel cancellations and no games have been played as yet. Ba FC and Marist FC are heavily favoured to contest the top spot in this section with AS Temanava of Tahiti struggling to find their form domestically.