Oceania teams go down in their first matches

BELFAST: The Samoa and Otago youth teams both went down in their first up matches at the Northern Ireland Milk Cup on Saturday, 19 July. Samoa were overwhelmed by local side Country Armagh 11-0 Mourneview Park, Lurgan, while Otago put up a good fight but were beaten by Greek side Panathinaikos 1-0 at Rugby Avenue…

FIFA has released its inaugural FIFA women’s ranking with the United States not surprisingly ranked number one. The USA won the last World Cup when it hosted the event in 1999. And because of the SARS threat in Asia, they get to host it once again this September after it was moved from China. The…

NOUMEA: The New Caledonia football team has earned praise at home and abroad despite falling short at the last hurdle to gold medal winners Fiji at the South Pacific Games last Friday. Not rated a chance before the tournament, New Caledonia showed the benefits of having a well organised high standard domestic national league and…

APIA: The Samoa U-15 national team departed for the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland last week, but not before receiving a set of brand new adidas football boots from a Good Samaritan in Hawaii. On hearing about the plight of the young players that many of them were training in bare feet, Pacific Magazine editor…

SA RELEASE: The 20-member Australian Team (the Qantas Matildas) to contest the 2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup in the USA has been announced today by National Women’s Coach Adrian Santrac. This same team will start preparations for September/October’s World Cup by travelling to Japan next week to compete in the 3 Nations International Women’s Soccer…

OFC (SUVA), 12 July 2003: Fiji have won the men’s football gold medal at the South Pacific Games after beating New Caledonia in the gold medal playoff, 2-0, at the National Stadium in Suva last night. New Caledonia took out the silver medal while Vanuatu beat Tahiti, 1-0, for the bronze medal in last night’s…

LAUTOKA, 10 July 2003: Over eight thousand spectators, packed into Lautoka’s Churchill Park, were treated to two action packed men’s semi-finals at the South Pacific Games football tournament last night. Hosts Fiji needed a golden goal from defender Ratu Veresa Toma in the 106th minute to seal an epic 2-1 victory over defending champions Tahiti…

South Pacific Games football tournament: Women’s round seven preview NAUSORI, 9 July 2003: The women’s football tournament at the South Pacific Games will go down right to the wire tomorrow in the final round of competition at Ratu Cakobau Park in Nausori. Today’s results from round six have conjured up a number of possible outcomes…

LAUTOKA: A huge crowd is expected tonight at Lautoka’s Churchill Park for the crunch semi-finals of the South Pacific Games men’s football tournament. Fiji and Vanuatu prevailed in Pool A and will meet Tahiti and New Caledonia respectively from Pool B. Over six thousand were present last Monday for Fiji’s epic 2-1 win over Melanesian…

SA RELEASE – Australian Under-17 coach ANGE POSTECOGLOU today named a 20-man Qantas Joeys squad for the FIFA U-17 World Championship to be held in Finland next month. The squad is based entirely on players that featured in either the Oceania qualifiers in February or the recent two-match tour of Finland. The 20-man Australian Under-17…