PNG prepares for youth champs

PORT MORESBY: The Papua New Guinea Football Association has targeted the two OFC youth tournaments next year as important dates and have begun their preparations in earnest with a planned national youth championship next month. The PNGFA confirmed yesterday that a combined Under 19 and Under 23 men’s championship will take place in Goroka from…

ASA: 30 year old Cheryl Salisbury will lead a new-look Australian Women’s Football Team to Athens in August. Only four members of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Team remain, Dianne Alagich, Heather Garriock, Salisbury and Sacha Wainwright. 14 first-timers are bound for Athens but Salisbury is convinced talent and raw enthusiasm will take the Team a…

OFC, Auckland: Australia’s pacific island contingent grew by three more last weekend, when Solomon Islanders Joel Konofilia, Jack Samani and Paul Usumae made their debuts with Queensland Premier League outfit the Brisbane Wolves. The Solomons trio did not disappoint in their first outing, with Usumae netting the Wolves match winner in a 2-1 win against…

OFC, Auckland: English Coaching Instructor, Alan Gillett, has praised the attitude of the eighteen coaches attending the 2004 OFC Indigenous Senior Coaching License courses, being held at the OFC Academy in Auckland, New Zealand. “The coaches have been excellent so far and gone way beyond my expectations,” said Gillett. “Since the first course was held…

OFC, Auckland: The Oceania Football Confederation has today announced the match schedule for the forthcoming OFC Futsal World Qualifying Tournament in Canberra next month. The original dates have also been pushed back one day to allow the six teams to train at the match venue before the start of the tournament. The new confirmed dates…

OFC, Auckland: Following on from the first two stages of Oceania’s World Cup qualification campaign, Australia’s pacific island contingent returned to their respective club sides over the weekend with varying successes. In Australia’s North, all four islanders plying their trade in Queensland enjoyed victories, with Vanuatuan striker Richard Iwai getting amongst the goals in Mitchelton’s…

MADANG: Port Moresby pulled off a miracle golden goal in extra-time to retain the Papua New Guinea national women’s soccer crown in Madang. Locked at 1-all after regulation time, the reigning champion had to fend off a strong challenge from arch rivals Lae in extra time to retain the PNGFA national title at Madang’s Laiwaden…

OFC, Auckland: The Oceania Football Confederation has confirmed six entries for the 2004 OFC Futsal World Qualifying Tournament in Canberra, Australia next month. The hosts will be joined by trans-tasman rival New Zealand and island nations Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to find the sole OFC representative to the FIFA Futsal World Championship in…

MADANG: Ten teams are contesting the 2004 Papua New Guinea Football Association women’s national championship which kicked off in the coastal township of Madang over the weekend. Over K5000 in prizemoney is on offer for the winning team. Reigning champions Port Moresby were up against rival associations Lahi, Lae, Boana, Kimbe, New Britain, Goroka, Wabag,…

ASA: Australian Soccer Association (ASA) Chief Executive John O’Neill has revealed that 20 submissions have been received for entry into the new national competition set to start in 2005. O’Neill also announced the appointment of former Acting Australian Rugby Union (ARU) CEO Matt Carroll as the ASA Head of Operations, with the new national competition…