New Zealand open the day’s proceedings when they take on Papua New Guinea at 9.30am before the Cook Islands play Fiji at 12.30pm while New Caledonia will face hosts Vanuatu at 3.30pm in the day’s final match.
The winner of the tournament will qualify for the FIFA U-17World Cup, which is set to take place in United Arab Emirates from October 17 to November 8.
Here’s a look at the action that’s in store across the three matches on the final day of the OFC U-17 Championship.
New Zealand vs. Papua New Guinea – 9.30am Thursday 25 April
New Zealand have all but secured the OFC U-17 Championship title as the only unbeaten side at the tournament so far. Their closest opponents are New Caledonia who are three points behind, but even if the Young All Whites lose this match, the Caledonians would need to put away 12 goals in their match to knock the Kiwis off the top. New Zealand is aiming for a record five wins and they will be fielding a side capable of securing that. After being given a fright by Fiji on Tuesday coach Darren Bazeley will not be taking this Papua New Guinea side lightly as they have the potential to cause an upset of their own. Attacker Monty Patterson is currently leading the goal scorer standings with seven goals to his name and will no doubt be looking to seal the tournament’s Golden Boot in the side’s final match. Papua New Guinea are faced with a tough task on Thursday. The side will be down two men with Joshua Talau suspended after receiving his marching orders in the 90th minute against New Caledonia following two cautions, while Abraham Mandawali is also out after earning yellow cards against Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Coach Bobby Morris is hopeful a knock Steven Inia picked up on Tuesday will clear ahead of this encounter in order to give his team some options on attack. The plan is to try and keep the Kiwis scoreless, and with captain John Ray sitting in the centre of Papua New Guinea’s defence, it’s not an impossible task.
In their own words
“We came into the tournament saying we needed to win five out of five and were four from four with one game left. Papua New Guinea are a good team and have some good players so we need to get some recovery into the boys and get them ready for another tough game. It comes really quickly, you only have one day’s rest to recover and then we have to throw them in again. We’ll see who’s fit and who’s got 90 minutes in them and then we’ll put a team out to try and win.” – New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley
“I think with several players down, especially number four my central back who got a red card yesterday and will miss tomorrow’s game, it will be difficult for us. The plan is to hold the New Zealand margin and then at least we will go back with better statistics at least in terms of goals against so that is the plan for training my boys up for tomorrow’s match.” – Papua New Guinea coach Bobby Morris
Cook Islands vs. Fiji – 12.30pm Thursday 25 April
The Cook Islands have slowly improved with each match day, and were finally able to get themselves on the score sheet when 14-year-old Te-Ava Wichman knocked one in against hosts Vanuatu. The goal is sure to be a morale-booster for the table dwellers who are yet to earn a point at this tournament and are trailing behind Fiji who have four points following a win over Papua New Guinea and a draw with the hosts. Central defender Maro Bonsu-Maro has been sturdy throughout the tournament and has been responsible for a number of the Cook Islands forward advances. The side will have to push their defence higher if they are to have any chance of scoring, but to do so against the quick Fiji attackers could prove costly. The Fijians gave the Young All Whites quite a fright on Match Day 4 when they came from a goal down to equalise. Having proven they can challenge the best of them Fiji will be looking to earn a win to lift them above Papua New Guinea on the points table. Cautions against both New Zealand and Papua New Guinea mean Fiji will be without key defender Rupeni Rabici but are likely to have enough depth on the bench to keep the Cook Islands attack under control.
In their own words
“Fiji are a pretty physical side and they have some good players in the team, again it will be a big challenge for our boys but we will definitely be going hard. I thik we need to push up a bit higher defensively and we’ll be looking to score a couple of goals so that we can finish the tournament with a goal or two.” – Cook Islands coach Tuka Tisam
“We’ll have to prepare well to face the Cook Islands because I think they are also a side that is gradually improving and we need to get a result against them to finish as high in the points table as we can. I think we have improved as the tournament has gone on and slowly we have picked up the tempo. We played very well against New Zealand and this improvement is good for Fijian football because we will continue developing these players for the next U-20 side.” – Fiji coach Kamal Swamy
New Caledonia vs. Vanuatu – 3.30pm Thursday 25 April
With outside factors affecting New Caledonia’s starting line-up for Tuesday’s match coach Kamali Fitialeata is hopeful his side can recover in time to put up a strong challenge in this encounter. The team looked nowhere near their best against Papua New Guinea as passes went astray and shots were off-target. With nine points New Caledonia have secured second place but they have no intention of lifting their foot off the gas as they enter their final match of the tournament. Vanuatu will be fighting to lock in third place ahead of Fiji and Papua New Guinea, as well as notch a final win for the loyal home crowd. Both sides possess players who can change a game and if both are playing to their potential this is sure to be an entertaining match-up. Vanuatu will be buoyed by the return of defender Remy Kalsrap who sat out Match Day 4 on suspension. With both sides having nothing to lose this is sure to be a thrilling match to close up the tournament.
In their own words
“I think we will play freely. Vanuatu have five points and we already have nine. We will play uninhibited, we will play for the honour and pride of the country firstly and then for the respect of the other teams. We are here to play to win and if we can finish the tournament with a win and second place that would be ideal.” – New Caledonia coach Kamali Fitialeata
“We’re confident of taking on New Caledonia because we did quite well against New Zealand. New Caledonia are a good ball-playing side but so are we so we’re confident we can do well. Our expectations were a bit higher than what we’ve done and I think those first two games cost us. We were really looking to win those and set ourselves up for the latter part of the tournament but it just didn’t go our way.” – Vanuatu manager Antony Pisano
OFC U-17 Championship – MATCH DAY 5 PREVIEW
This is the official preview of Match Day 5. Please note squads are subject to change.
New Zealand vs. Papua New Guinea
9.30am local time, Thursday 25 April
Luganville Soccer City Stadium
Luganville, Vanuatu
Referee: John SAOHU [SOL]
Assistant Referee 1: Douglas METE [SOL]
Assistant Referee 2: Paavo MUSTONEN [COK]
4th Official: Ravitesh BEHARI [FIJ]
New Zealand: 1. Zac SPEEDY [GK], 2. Riley KELLIHER, 3. Cory BROWN, 4. Nick FORRESTER, 5. Adam MITCHELL, 6. Alex PALEZEVIC, 7. Andrew BLAKE, 8. Michael DEN HEIJER, 9. Elijah NEBLETT, 10. Matthew RIDENTON, 11. Monty PATTERSON, 12. Sam COPP [GK], 13. Spiros AGATHOS, 14. Andre DE JONG, 15. Thomas PROBERT, 16. Meysum SHAFAHI, 17. Nick SUGDEN, 18. Stuart HOLTHUSEN, 19. Alex RUFER, 20. Tamupiwa DIMAIRO
Coach: Darren BAZELEY [ENG]
Papua New Guinea: 1. Peter PITOR [GK], 2. Jonel KAMBUAL, 3. Felix KOMOLONG, 4. Nigel MALAGIAN, 5. John RAY (c), 6. Kepas KAMEN, 8. David MINGAI, 9. Joshua WADUNAH, 10. Steven INIA, 12. Glenn KAMB
UKA, 13. Nicky BENJAMIN, 14. Peter DABINYABA, 15. Dallas NAMUESH, 16. Maya BOB, 17. Stanley STEVEN, 18. Randoll BONGI, 20. Koniel VAGI [GK], 23. Andrew AOPI [GK]
Coach: Bobby MORRIS [PNG]
Cook Islands vs. Fiji
12.30pm local time, Thursday 25 April
Luganville Soccer City Stadium
Luganville, Vanuatu
Referee: Nelson SOGO [SOL]
Assistant Referee 1: Mahit CHILIA [VAN]
Assistant Referee 2: Glen LOCHRIE [NZL]
4th Official: Albert MARU [PNG]
Cook Islands: 1. Keegan INIA [GK], 2. Sunai JOSEPH, 4. Cahjun WILLIS, 5. Ford HENRY, 6. Takuina TARARO, 7. Dwayne TIPUTOA, 8. Kimiora SAMUELA, 9. Pekay EDWARDS, 10. Thane BEAL, 11. Maro BONSU-MARO, 12. Wiremu TEMATA, 13. Jarves APERAU, 14. Terei GEORGE, 15. Morgan WICHMAN, 16. Te-Ava WICHMAN, 20. Antonio TUAITI [GK]
Coach: Tuka TISAM [COK]
Fiji: 1. Ratu YAVALA [GK], 3. Joseva KOROI, 4. Suliano TAWANANAKORO, 5. Iliesa SMITH, 6. Maikeli KETEWAI, 7. Ravnit CHAND, 8. Kelvin NAIDU, 9. Shalvin SHARMA, 10. Iosefo VEREVOU, 11. Vishwa SHARMA, 12. Prashant SHARMA, 13. Raees RAFIQ, 14. Anusheel SINGH, 15. Seremaia KOROI, 16. Mohammed MOBEEN, 17. Mataiasi TOMA, 18. Jonetani BUKSH, 19. Sekove FINAU, 20. Misiwani NAIRUBE [GK]
Coach: Kamal SWAMY [FIJ]
New Caledonia vs. Vanuatu
3.30pm local time, Thursday 25 April
Luganville Soccer City Stadium
Luganville, Vanuatu
Referee: Averii JACQUES [TAH]
Assistant Referee 1: Philippe REVEL [TAH]
Assistant Referee 2: Folio MOEAKI [TGA]
4th Official: Isidore ASSIENE-AMBASSA [NCL]
New Caledonia: 1. Thomas SCHMIDT [GK], 2. Pierre BOANEMOA, 3. Yorick WAINEBENGO, 4. Jean-Luc DECOIRE, 5. Didier SIMANE, 6. Jim OUKA, 7. Roberto NEOERE, 8. Antony KAI, 9. Valentin NYKEINE [GK], 10. Mickael PARTODIKROMO, 11. Ben WAMOWE, 12. Theo JALABERT, 13. Brandon MEAOU, 14. Eugene SAKILIA, 15. Jacky WETEWEA, 16. Emmanuel CASE, 17. Raymond XANATRE, 18. Erwan AUSSU, 19. Macinou WAMAI, 20. Jimmy WAHNAPO [GK]
Coach: Kamali FITIALEATA
Vanuatu: 1. Charlie WAIVUI [GK], 2. Jaison THOMAS, 3. Goshen DONNA, 4. Elie MELTE ROSSI, 5. Remy KALSRAP, 6. Douglas PATRICK, 7. Etienne NAIEU, 8. Alphonse TOA, 9. Gregory ROUARD, 10. Bong KALO, 11. Alex SANIEL, 12. Jacky RUBEN, 13. Justin KOKA, 14. Andre BULE, 15. Andrew VANVA, 16. Ruben FRANK, 17. Kerry IAWAK, 18. Renold IWAI, 19. Joe NAKO, 20. Samuel LOLI [GK]
Coach: Etienne MERMER [VAN]