Tahiti and New Caledonia have kept alive their dreams of FIFA U-17 Men’s World Cup qualification with important wins at the OFC U-16 Men’s Championship.
Tahiti beat Samoa 2-1 and New Caledonia beat the Solomon Islands 6-2 for both nations to book places in the tournament semi-finals on Thursday (NZT).
Main photo: Tahiti players share their delight as they head to the semi-finals. Photo credit: OFC Media / DJ Mills / Phototek.
Late winner for Tahiti sees Samoa’s hopes dashed
Tahiti scored a late winner to deny Samoa a semi-final spot at the OFC U-16 Men’s Championship in Papeete.
The hosts’ 2-1 victory at Stade Pater secured top spot in Group B with the result ensuring New Caledonia claimed the runners-up place on goal difference.
Tahiti will play Fiji and New Caledonia — whose 6-2 victory over Solomon Islands earlier in the day gave their chances a boost — will play New Zealand for a place in the final.
The earlier result secured Tahiti’s place in the semi-finals, and coach Raiarii Golhen opted to rest several of his star performers, notably captain Tahiti Colombani.
Tahiti scored from their first real opportunity, through Rohan Tereroa, who rose to meet an in-swinging corner and head home the opener in the 12th minute.
The hosts had chances to extend the lead through Tereroa, with a thunderbolt effort that Mana Fa’apale in the Samoan goal tipped over the bar, and through Teraiefa Hururau, who forced Fa’apale into making a nice save low down to his right.
Out of nothing, Samoa were level on the stroke of half-time when the ball was half-cleared in the Tahiti box to Isaac Edward, who rifled a powerful shot into the roof of the net.
The second half meandered until the 63rd minute when Hururau got in behind the Samoan defence only to be denied by a committed Fa’apale in the Samoan goal.
Despite a wealth of possession, Tahiti struggled to find the breakthrough as the likes of Dante Leota and Isikeli Brown were stoic in defence.
Samoa was gutsy and deserved an enormous amount of credit for their effort and composure throughout the match.
Thirteen minutes from time, Anahoa Aharau broke down the right and crossed across the face of the goal for Anuhea Arapari to fire in what would prove to be the winner.
Samoa finish third in Group B and will meet Cook Islands on Friday (NZT) in the play-off for 5th place, with Solomon Islands and Vanuatu meeting in the play-off for 7th place on the same day.
New Caledonia keep World Cup dreams alive with big win
New Caledonia gave themselves a chance to qualify for the semi-finals at the OFC U-16 Men’s Championship in Tahiti with a dramatic 6-2 win over Solomon Islands in Papeete.
Coach Leo Lopez’s side needed to win by three clear goals to give themselves a chance of qualifying for the last four, and they did more than that, after appearing to be out on their feet midway through the second-half when leading by one.
Striker Alexis Ijelipa was the hero for the New Caledonians, scoring four of his side’s goals in a Player of the Match performance.
New Caledonia must now hope Tahiti can defeat Samoa in the final Group B match at Stade Pater, to sneak into the last four.
Samoa need a point to progress.
The top three teams at the tournament win automatic qualification to the 2025 FIFA U-17 Men’s World Cup in Qatar.
New Caledonia side took the lead slightly against the run of play in the 17th minute, after a superbly worked move down the right Baptiste Kutran crossed for Alexis Ijelipa unmarked inside the box, who calmly fired past Alick Hale in the Solomon Islands goal.
A minute later Ijelipa almost had a double when he turned and volleyed just over the crossbar from the edge of the box.
Almost half an hour in and the Solomon Islands broke down the right, Carlwin Wane firing just over the bar from an acute angle.
Two minutes later Lopez made a substitution, taking off his captain Yvrick Hmae, who didn’t appear to be injured, and replacing him with Malik Padome.
They came close to levelling the scores a few minutes later when Ashley Kwaimasia got in behind the defence and forced Nicolas Kutran in the New Caledonia goal to make a strong save.
New Caledonia doubled their lead in the 35th minute, when from a long throw Ijelipa got in front of the keeper and prodded home as Hale failed to gather cleanly.
Rukumana made a couple of substitutions just before the break in a bid to spark his side into life, but it remained 2-0 at the interval.
New Caledonia should have had a third in the opening minute of the second half, but Ijelipa’s left-footed effort with just the goalkeeper to beat lacked the power to get past Hale.
Like a flash, Solomon Islands pulled a goal back.
Ashley Kwaimasia blasted against the crossbar and Allen Makana — who had come on before the break — was on hand to tuck away the rebound.
Kutran made a great diving save to deny Kwaimasia as Solomon Islands pressed for an equaliser.
New Caledonia restored their two-goal advantage in the 63rd minute when substitute Jemmanuel Siwoine burst through and took the ball away from the keeper, keeping his composure inside the box before passing to Ijelipa who tapped in for his hat-trick.
Solomon Islands captain Kennedy Sihiu then blasted in with his right foot from just inside the area to close the gap.
Following a concerted period of pressure, the Solomon Islands were caught napping on defence as hat-trick hero Ijelipa turned provider for Roman Pautre to tap in 13 minutes from full time.
Michael Trohmae put the icing on the cake for New Caledonia with ten minutes remaining, with a long-range effort over Hale to ensure the New Caledonians will be interested spectators at the final match between Samoa and hosts Tahiti.
Acknowledgement
We are grateful for the help of OFC Media in providing information for this story.
Results
Games played on Monday August 5, 2024 (NZT)
Group B
Solomon Islands 2 (Allen Makana 53′, Kennedy Sihiu 67′)
New Caledonia 6 (Alexis Ijelipa 17′, 35′, 62′, 80′, Roman Pautre 77′, Michel Trohmae 86′)
Samoa 1 (Isaac Edward 45+1′)
Tahiti 2 (Rohan Tereroa 12′, Anuhea Arapahi 78′)
Fixtures
Games to be played on Thursday August 8, 2024 (NZT)
Semi-finals
New Zealand v New Caledonia
Stade Pater, Pirae, Tahiti, 1pm (NZT)
Tahiti v Fiji
Stade Pater, Pirae, Tahiti, 4pm (NZT)
Games to be played on Sunday August 11, 2024 (NZT)
Play-off for third place
Losers semi-final 1 v Losers semi-final 2
Stade Pater, Pirae, Tahiti, 1pm (NZT)
Final
Winners semi-final 1 v Winners semi-final 2
Stade Pater, Pirae, Tahiti, 4pm (NZT)
This story was first published on August 5, 2024.
More football stories
