Socceroos look ahead to South African challenge

ASA RELEASE: London, UK – Australia’s national football team will be heading to London for their next international friendly match. The Socceroos have confirmed that they will be kicking off against their arch sporting rivals, South Africa, at Loftus Road Stadium, London at 8.00pm on Tuesday 30 March. Following the Socceroos’ impressive 1-1 draw against…

PORT VILA: The Vanuatu Football Federation announced earlier this month that two of their star senior national reps had secured contracts to play for the Mitchelton Soccer Club in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. Strikers Richard Iwai and Etienne Mermer were announced as the lucky recipients. Iwai was a star back in the 2000 OFC Nations…

PAPEETE: While the Federal Championship playoffs loom next week, the Tahiti Cup (formerly Polynesian Cup) reached its semi-finals stage last weekend. Tefana cruised to a surprisingly easy 3-0 win over the season upstarts Tamarii Faa’a while national league champion Pirae ended Dragon’s fairytale run with an emphatic 5-1 drubbing. The stage is now set tomorrow…

SUVA: There were stunning upsets during the second round of action in the Fiji national soccer league last weekend. There were losses for league giants Nadi and Suva while Ba was taken to the wire before escaping with a 1-1 draw against Nadroga. The Suva team were stunned by Nasinu 2-1 in a match they…

NOUMEA: AS Poum and JS Baco are neck and neck heading into New Caledonia’s division d’honneur playoffs battling for the third and final berth. Reigning champ AS Magenta leads with 52 points but AS Mont Dore is right behind in second on 50 points and assured of the second playoff berth. The third spot is…

ASA: The teams for the final NSL Championship Series have all been decided, following tonight’s 4-2 loss by Sydney United at the hands of league leader Perth Glory, with Nick Mrdja scoring a hat-trick for Glory. The only thing to decide now is which positions the top-six will finish and that could be decided on…

FIFA: Meeting today in Zurich, the Organising Committee for the FIFA Club World Championship decided on the format of the tournaments planned for 2005 and 2006. This decision now needs to be ratified by the Executive Committee at its next meeting, in London on 29 February 2004. Under the chairmanship of Viacheslav Koloskov (Russia), the…

OFC, Auckland: The Oceania Football Confederation today announced that it would commence a referee exchange programme with the Asian Football Confederation as part of the ongoing relations between the two regional organisations. This will be effective as of the OFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament which will be held in Ba, Fiji from 2-6 March 2004….

FIFA: The Goal Bureau convened in Zurich on 17 February 2004 under the chairmanship of Mohamed Bin Hammam (Qatar). During the meeting, which was attended by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, the Bureau approved new projects in Malaysia and Guyana as part of the FIFA development programme Goal. The Goal Bureau also selected the following…