Legend
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almost 9 years
Wonder if the Nix ever considered taking a game to Fiji when Krishna was a player.

A game(s) in Suva against their National team would actually be useful, over this WC break. Handy acclimatisation with some sweltering Australian kickoffs, no doubt soon to come.

https://www.oceaniafootball.com/brian-kaltak-homecoming-is-a-chance-to-inspire-as-central-coast-mariners-head-to-vanuatu/

The tournament gives the Mariners, who have three players in Qatar as part of Graham Arnold’s Australia squad, a chance to keep sharp over the break period with 21 players, including some youngsters who are looking to impress, making the journey.

But it is also a chance to bring Kaltak back to his homeland and perhaps inspire the next generation.

“With Brian at the Mariners it was an opportunity to bring the team here, bring Brian back and the fans can obviously celebrate Brian,” said Montgomery.

“Brian’s journey is a special one. I find it hard to believe that nobody picked him up from his time in New Zealand as he is an unbelievable athlete, and he learns so quickly. I think everyone has seen in the early rounds of the A-League that he is a big talent.

“I am just humbled that I have been the one to give him his opportunity in professional football. He is a real pioneer for football in Vanuatu.”

As a footballer from the Pacific playing in the A-League Kaltak is a rarity, with former Wellington Phoenix striker Roy Krishna the other high-profile example. The A-League’s transfer system is set up to protect the development of domestic players, with only five foreign ‘visa players’ allowed to be registered to a club at any one time. It means players from the nearby Pacific Islands have a tough task in getting opportunities to break through into the competition.

Montgomery is pleased Kaltak has managed to make that leap but thinks there is an opportunity for more talented players from the region to play professional football in Australia.

“It would be an amazing thing to have a plus one quota player from Oceania. I know there is talk about Asia as well, but I don’t see why there can’t be one from Oceania when you have places like Fiji and players like Roy Krishna and obviously Brian now from Vanuatu.

“That’s a pathway that would be welcomed. At the moment it is very hard, you only have five Visa spots at every A-League club so to try and give up Visa spots is not easy, but I think Brian can be an inspiration for that as was Roy Krishna.

“Look there are good players out here they just need the platform and opportunity to perform at the highest level and that’s always the challenge.”

But while those opportunities are currently limited, it won’t stop Montgomery and the Mariners staff from keeping their eyes peeled for the next Brian Kaltak during this tour.

“We have got three games which give us an opportunity to look at players,” said Montgormery.
Starting XI
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With everything that's going on in the footballing world at the moment, this one crept up out of the woodwork.

Is New Zealand, amongst others, about to be getting another professional team?
Phoenix Academy
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I wonder if they'll go with established amateur clubs or go the a league franchise model
Starting XI
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Rock Hopper
I wonder if they'll go with established amateur clubs or go the a league franchise model

Will be interesting to find out more on this for sure, although it is pretty early days if it's going to be a league that is potentially starting in 2025. Intrigued to see the format of it all too to be honest. The logistics of it all looking at it from afar indicate that it'll cost an arm and a leg to run & administer a league of this nature as well. Plenty to ponder for those looking to get it off the ground.

Personally think teams from the likes of Vanuatu, PNG, Fiji & the Solomon Islands stand to be the best supported sides. Definitely looks to be a real game changer for football in the Pacific, and hey, if New Zealand gets a 2nd professional team out of it then I'm all for it.

Exciting times all round!
Starting XI
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Sounds promising ⬇️


The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have signed an agreement they say will see more matches between the two continents.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in Bahrain during the Asian body's annual congress.

Oceania President Lambert Maltock said the agreement is hugely significant and beneficial for football in the Pacific. 

"We are pleased that the implementation of this agreement means a focus on high level competitions between representative teams from both confederations," Maltock said.

A joint statement said the MoU would result in "high-level competition" for men's and women's teams and the exchanging of knowledge, experience and resources.

The statement does not say whether the new competitions would be for clubs or national teams. Both continents have their own men's Champions League competitions.

An OFC spokesperson said the MoU opens up the possibility of the OFC Champions playing in the Asian equivalent competition; and vice-versa, the top Asian side playing in the OFC competition.

The spokesperson also said it could result in more pan-continental matches, for example, New Caledonia or Solomon Islands playing against China, to test them against higher-ranked and more experienced national sides.

It would not mean, however, that the respective World Cup qualifying competitions would be merged. AFC President Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa said both organisations share similar challenges as well as common interests and he was "confident the exchange of best practices will provide fresh impetus to take the beautiful game to even greater heights."

There are 11 national football associations in the OFC and two associate members, and 47 in the AFC. At the 2022 men's World Cup, Asia was represented by hosts Qatar and five qualifying nations; Oceania's top team New Zealand fell to Costa Rica in the Intercontinental Playoff.

The top-ranked Asian nation is at Japan at 20, followed by Iran (24) and South Korea (25). New Zealand is the best-ranked Oceania side at 105 with Solomon Islands at 136.
First Team Squad
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YoungHeartHM
Sounds promising ⬇️


The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have signed an agreement they say will see more matches between the two continents.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in Bahrain during the Asian body's annual congress.

Oceania President Lambert Maltock said the agreement is hugely significant and beneficial for football in the Pacific. 

"We are pleased that the implementation of this agreement means a focus on high level competitions between representative teams from both confederations," Maltock said.

A joint statement said the MoU would result in "high-level competition" for men's and women's teams and the exchanging of knowledge, experience and resources.

The statement does not say whether the new competitions would be for clubs or national teams. Both continents have their own men's Champions League competitions.

An OFC spokesperson said the MoU opens up the possibility of the OFC Champions playing in the Asian equivalent competition; and vice-versa, the top Asian side playing in the OFC competition.

The spokesperson also said it could result in more pan-continental matches, for example, New Caledonia or Solomon Islands playing against China, to test them against higher-ranked and more experienced national sides.

It would not mean, however, that the respective World Cup qualifying competitions would be merged. AFC President Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa said both organisations share similar challenges as well as common interests and he was "confident the exchange of best practices will provide fresh impetus to take the beautiful game to even greater heights."

There are 11 national football associations in the OFC and two associate members, and 47 in the AFC. At the 2022 men's World Cup, Asia was represented by hosts Qatar and five qualifying nations; Oceania's top team New Zealand fell to Costa Rica in the Intercontinental Playoff.

The top-ranked Asian nation is at Japan at 20, followed by Iran (24) and South Korea (25). New Zealand is the best-ranked Oceania side at 105 with Solomon Islands at 136.

If AFC cares about OFC so much, how about - as part of this 'agreement' - allowing the Nix a pathway to qualify for the AFC Champions Leauge?
Legend
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The AFC Champions League is a highly over rated comp to take part in. Played at night mid winter, against champions of Thailand, Vietnam and the like. Filled with players we know nothing about & would soon forget. Only the Japanese & Korean teams would draw any sort of crowd once the novelty quickly wore off.

No one turns up for these games in Aussie. WSW's fairytale title win seems an age ago. Welnix would just likely lose even more money.
First Team Squad
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coochiee
The AFC Champions League is a highly over rated comp to take part in. Played at night mid winter, against champions of Thailand, Vietnam and the like. Filled with players we know nothing about & would soon forget. Only the Japanese & Korean teams would draw any sort of crowd once the novelty quickly wore off.

No one turns up for these games in Aussie. WSW's fairytale title win seems an age ago. Welnix would just likely lose even more money.

Fair enough, although I think the novelty might last a little longer for a NZ team seeing as we don't have our national team playing constant qualifiers/games in those countries. Personally, I have a strange sleep/work schedule so would love week night late games in NZ or middle of the night matches in asia even if it's against a club from a country I've never heard of, the more football the better.

Not sure what the prize money is like just for qualifying, but if the team did well (a bigger if than even qualifying) it might not be a money killer for Welnix. Middle of the winter would be a problem though if it doesn't overlap with the A-League season.

Plus if the Nix won the AFC comp we could get an Auckland v Wellington match at the CWC, how ridiculous would that be!
WeeNix
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siac
coochiee
The AFC Champions League is a highly over rated comp to take part in. Played at night mid winter, against champions of Thailand, Vietnam and the like. Filled with players we know nothing about & would soon forget. Only the Japanese & Korean teams would draw any sort of crowd once the novelty quickly wore off.

No one turns up for these games in Aussie. WSW's fairytale title win seems an age ago. Welnix would just likely lose even more money.

Fair enough, although I think the novelty might last a little longer for a NZ team seeing as we don't have our national team playing constant qualifiers/games in those countries. Personally, I have a strange sleep/work schedule so would love week night late games in NZ or middle of the night matches in asia even if it's against a club from a country I've never heard of, the more football the better.

Not sure what the prize money is like just for qualifying, but if the team did well (a bigger if than even qualifying) it might not be a money killer for Welnix. Middle of the winter would be a problem though if it doesn't overlap with the A-League season.

Plus if the Nix won the AFC comp we could get an Auckland v Wellington match at the CWC, how ridiculous would that be!
From the next edition the AFC Champions League will run a split-year competition (ie in 2023/24), probably at the behest of the West Asian teams, so would then fall in line with the A League being a summer league. That might help the A League teams a bit, being in-season, as it's currently a bit of a situation where there's little interest so little effort and that just goes round in a cycle.

The trouble with the Phoenix is whether they'd be considered an Australian club - given they play in Australia after all. If that were the case then they'd only be allowed five non-AFC, non-Australians which would mean they'd have to sign a whole squad of Australian players specifically for the AFC CL. That would kind of defeat the purpose, as the players who qualified the team wouldn't be able to play, or that the A League team would feature mostly Australian players which would defeat the purpose of having a professional New Zealand team.

Albirex Niigata in Singapore faces a similar quagmire in that they're a Japanese team with mostly Japanese players. They've won several titles but are still ineligible for AFC competitions due to being a 'foreign team' in their own league, which would be the precedent probably even if the 'different confederation' issue was ignored. It also would probably the main obstacle for the Phoenix if NZ ever were to ever be accepted into AFC.

If they did accept the New Zealand players to be the domestic, then the inverse would happen, all but one of the Australian players signed wouldn't be able to be registered. That would be the better scenario as it would force a focus on signing New Zealand players, but also the far more unlikely one.

There was an RNZ interview the other day with OFC General Secretary Frank Castillo where he outlined the extent of what the MoU would likely entail. On the national team side it's sounds like more friendlies between members associations of the two confederations. He said that the OFC teams would just be paying for their flights, with the accommodation, transport and food costs taken on by the hosting AFC teams with most games likely to be in Asia. That would probably start next year. 

He also said it opened up the possibility for AFC national teams to play in official OFC competition, which would be great, but that it would have to be kept separate from World Cup qualifying, which could mean the Nations' Cup gets separated from WCQ. If they could get five AFC teams to give a clean 16 for the OFC Nations' Cup, that could make it a really decent competition. Countries in Southeast Asia you'd think would be the most likely to take up any invitation, and would bring some more value and credibility to the competition.

On the club side he said that they were looking at making a Super Cup-style tournament for the professional OFC Super League, set to be up by 2025 with at least seven teams participating. That would involve the winner/runner-up of the OFC SL comp playing the winner/runner-up of the AFC Champions League, and also possibly the winner/runner-up of the OFC Champions League - which would remain amateur, separate and below the Super League - against winner/runner-up of the AFC Cup. The timeline for that would be around 2025 or 2026.
Starting XI
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Oceania announce new format for Champions League

Auckland City and Wellington Olympic (not United as Oceania have in the PR) will play each other for NZ's place. Also 1st ACFC v Olympic game is 11 March not 11 Feb as the PR indicates (it's a two leg playoff)

https://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc-champions-league-explained/
Legend
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carlind
siac
coochiee
The AFC Champions League is a highly over rated comp to take part in. Played at night mid winter, against champions of Thailand, Vietnam and the like. Filled with players we know nothing about & would soon forget. Only the Japanese & Korean teams would draw any sort of crowd once the novelty quickly wore off.

No one turns up for these games in Aussie. WSW's fairytale title win seems an age ago. Welnix would just likely lose even more money.

Fair enough, although I think the novelty might last a little longer for a NZ team seeing as we don't have our national team playing constant qualifiers/games in those countries. Personally, I have a strange sleep/work schedule so would love week night late games in NZ or middle of the night matches in asia even if it's against a club from a country I've never heard of, the more football the better.

Not sure what the prize money is like just for qualifying, but if the team did well (a bigger if than even qualifying) it might not be a money killer for Welnix. Middle of the winter would be a problem though if it doesn't overlap with the A-League season.

Plus if the Nix won the AFC comp we could get an Auckland v Wellington match at the CWC, how ridiculous would that be!
From the next edition the AFC Champions League will run a split-year competition (ie in 2023/24), probably at the behest of the West Asian teams, so would then fall in line with the A League being a summer league. That might help the A League teams a bit, being in-season, as it's currently a bit of a situation where there's little interest so little effort and that just goes round in a cycle.

The trouble with the Phoenix is whether they'd be considered an Australian club - given they play in Australia after all. If that were the case then they'd only be allowed five non-AFC, non-Australians which would mean they'd have to sign a whole squad of Australian players specifically for the AFC CL. That would kind of defeat the purpose, as the players who qualified the team wouldn't be able to play, or that the A League team would feature mostly Australian players which would defeat the purpose of having a professional New Zealand team.

Albirex Niigata in Singapore faces a similar quagmire in that they're a Japanese team with mostly Japanese players. They've won several titles but are still ineligible for AFC competitions due to being a 'foreign team' in their own league, which would be the precedent probably even if the 'different confederation' issue was ignored. It also would probably the main obstacle for the Phoenix if NZ ever were to ever be accepted into AFC.

If they did accept the New Zealand players to be the domestic, then the inverse would happen, all but one of the Australian players signed wouldn't be able to be registered. That would be the better scenario as it would force a focus on signing New Zealand players, but also the far more unlikely one.

There was an RNZ interview the other day with OFC General Secretary Frank Castillo where he outlined the extent of what the MoU would likely entail. On the national team side it's sounds like more friendlies between members associations of the two confederations. He said that the OFC teams would just be paying for their flights, with the accommodation, transport and food costs taken on by the hosting AFC teams with most games likely to be in Asia. That would probably start next year. 

He also said it opened up the possibility for AFC national teams to play in official OFC competition, which would be great, but that it would have to be kept separate from World Cup qualifying, which could mean the Nations' Cup gets separated from WCQ. If they could get five AFC teams to give a clean 16 for the OFC Nations' Cup, that could make it a really decent competition. Countries in Southeast Asia you'd think would be the most likely to take up any invitation, and would bring some more value and credibility to the competition.

On the club side he said that they were looking at making a Super Cup-style tournament for the professional OFC Super League, set to be up by 2025 with at least seven teams participating. That would involve the winner/runner-up of the OFC SL comp playing the winner/runner-up of the AFC Champions League, and also possibly the winner/runner-up of the OFC Champions League - which would remain amateur, separate and below the Super League - against winner/runner-up of the AFC Cup. The timeline for that would be around 2025 or 2026.

Adding 5 AFC teams to OFC Nations Cup has merit. Both CONEMBOL's Copa America & CONCACAF's Gold Cup have invited teams from outside their Confederations.

The OFC Nations Cup is scheduled for sometime next year at the moment. It hasn't been held now for 7 years (PNG 2016). Could make some sense for NZF to send a U23 team, if it's to happen before the 2024 Paris Olympics.

2024 may make it hard to invite any AFC teams, as they will be still in 1st round AFC qualifying (all teams). If you played the OFC Nations Cup in 2025, after 1st round AFC World Cup qualifying, alot of the weaker East Asian teams would be available for an invite having not made it through to 2nd round AFC WC qualifying.


Legend
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Wonder if NZ will be invited to enter teams, and how many?

https://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc-and-fifa-talk-ofc-professional-league/


Following a four-year consultation process – and subsequent ratification by the OFC Executive Committee – President Maltock is now looking ahead to the next steps of the project, with the target of kicking the new league off in 2025.

The OFC President Maltock reemphasised the importance of the project.

“When I was elected, one of the most important projects that I wanted to do during my mandate is to create this professional league in Oceania,” the OFC President said.

“This is one of the most needed platforms of the competition that we need to prepare in order to be competitive on the international level.”

“Countries like New Caledonia – we produce a lot of good players, and one of these players has been a winner of the 1998 FIFA World Cup with France. That’s why we know that the potential in Oceania is huge, but it’s very much untapped because we had no competitions of this level in Oceania. This is why there is not much attention from the rest of the world so far, because, you know, there are good players in Oceania.”

Starting XI
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coochiee
Wonder if NZ will be invited to enter teams, and how many?

https://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc-and-fifa-talk-ofc-professional-league/


Following a four-year consultation process – and subsequent ratification by the OFC Executive Committee – President Maltock is now looking ahead to the next steps of the project, with the target of kicking the new league off in 2025.

The OFC President Maltock reemphasised the importance of the project.

“When I was elected, one of the most important projects that I wanted to do during my mandate is to create this professional league in Oceania,” the OFC President said.

“This is one of the most needed platforms of the competition that we need to prepare in order to be competitive on the international level.”

“Countries like New Caledonia – we produce a lot of good players, and one of these players has been a winner of the 1998 FIFA World Cup with France. That’s why we know that the potential in Oceania is huge, but it’s very much untapped because we had no competitions of this level in Oceania. This is why there is not much attention from the rest of the world so far, because, you know, there are good players in Oceania.”


To give the competition any level of legitimacy, a NZ side will be involved. It would be a very unwise move from the OFC to go the opposite way on this one and alienate the strongest nation in the Confederation.

In saying that, it wouldn't be the first time that the OFC would have tried to pull a swifty over us.
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Legend
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Cool story. Realise it's a bit complicated, but be great if each ALM club could sign 1 OFC player as a non visa. 

Ups to CCM for taking a punt on Kaltak.

Legend
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coochiee
Cool story. Realise it's a bit complicated, but be great if each ALM club could sign 1 OFC player as a non visa. 

Ups to CCM for taking a punt on Kaltak.


How hard could it be for the league to change one of the existing visa spots to be an player from the Islands, rather than OFC (cos that incudes NZ)? If they dont want to lose an import then add an non-NZ OFC player spot.

I realise we play in an AFC league, but if the league wanted to promote/develop football within the region then the league should be offering to pay the wages of any non-NZ OFC players selected.
Legend
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Also the ALM has dwindling crowds, and agruably is getting a bit dull as a game day experience. Looks like this little Vanuatu Kaltak fan club bring a bit of colour to CCM games. I'm sure Melbs & Sydney especially have diasporas from every OFC nation. You could end up with energetic loud mini fan clubs at each ALM club. That wouldn't be a bad thing.

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Good to see Solomons arranging these friendlies against nations outside of the OFC.

Those South-East Asian nations are excellent markers for sides like Fiji & the Solomon Islands.
WeeNix
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The New Caledonia U16 side that went to the Montaigu U16 international tournament in France finished their group stage this morning. They lost the first two games to England (0-2) and Belgium (0-1), before beating Central African Republic 2-0 in the third match. Perhaps my expectations for that team were too low, because those are some really respectable results. 

The results of the other teams in the group: England beat CAR 3-2, England beat Belgium 3-0 and Belgium beat CAR 2-0.

We saw New Caledonia be unfortunate not to win the OFC U17s, and this squad is a year younger, so they could be really sneaking up on NZ in youth development. These results could get some scouts having a look, New Caledonians are French/EU citizens so no troubles like Lea'i had. They have two more games in the placing stages; Cote d'Ivoire next apparently. Pick up a result there and that'd definitely turn some heads.

Still disappointed NZ couldn't manage to find a way into such tournaments. There's an OFC U15 tournament on next week at OFC HQ in Auckland even, yet apparently no NZ team is taking part. We should never get complacent and take our position in OFC for granted.
Marquee
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This popped up in my YouTube feed this morning....
Highlights from Rafael Leai's latest game
Legend
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carlind
The New Caledonia U16 side that went to the Montaigu U16 international tournament in France finished their group stage this morning. They lost the first two games to England (0-2) and Belgium (0-1), before beating Central African Republic 2-0 in the third match. Perhaps my expectations for that team were too low, because those are some really respectable results. 

The results of the other teams in the group: England beat CAR 3-2, England beat Belgium 3-0 and Belgium beat CAR 2-0.

We saw New Caledonia be unfortunate not to win the OFC U17s, and this squad is a year younger, so they could be really sneaking up on NZ in youth development. These results could get some scouts having a look, New Caledonians are French/EU citizens so no troubles like Lea'i had. They have two more games in the placing stages; Cote d'Ivoire next apparently. Pick up a result there and that'd definitely turn some heads.

Still disappointed NZ couldn't manage to find a way into such tournaments. There's an OFC U15 tournament on next week at OFC HQ in Auckland even, yet apparently no NZ team is taking part. We should never get complacent and take our position in OFC for granted.

https://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc-under-15-boys-development-tournament-gets-underway-in-auckland/

Six teams from around the Pacific and one from Europe have assembled in Auckland ahead of the OFC U15 development tournament in Auckland.

It is being played at the OFC ‘Home of Football’ Te Kahu O Kiwa’ from today until the 17th of April.

The tournament, which has been funded through UEFA Assist, features academy teams from Vanuatu, Tahiti, Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands, and the Solomon Islands. A development team from Liechtenstein has also entered. World Cup winner and UEFA Ambassador Christian Karembeu, who was born in New Caledonia, will be in attendance.

The tournament will provide young players with experience of an international tournament format including travel, competitive matches, and associated training. It will showcase the OFC National Academies and Centre of Excellence programmes.

Marquee
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As someone who owns 3 Liechtenstein shirts, I like this!
Starting XI
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Tahiti whipping Liechtenstein 5-1. Awesome to see!
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Good to see a player from the OFC (outside of New Zealand) contributing at club level.

Hopefully the first of many goals and assists in his career - He's still only 19! Feels like he's been around forever and a day already.
Starting XI
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Raphael Lea'i (27) assist on the weekend for Velez Mostar.

Kid looks to have bulked out a bit over in Bosnia too. 💪
Starting XI
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Feels more appropriate to chuck this here instead of the CCM thread.

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Excellent opportunity for Vanuatu this. They've only ever played nations outside of the OFC a grand total of five times.

🇬🇺 x 3
🇮🇩
🇪🇪

Vanuatu 164th in the world rankings will face up to 🇱🇧 (99), 🇮🇳 (101), and 🇲🇳 (183) between the 9th and 18th of June in India.

Obviously it's going to be a big task to try and get a result against the higher ranked India or Lebanon - Although it will be interesting to see how they fare in those games. I would say the big target for them this tournament is to get the win against Mongolia.


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Commentary in the Jets/CCM game last night confirmed that Dan Hall is in the process of getting his Fijian passport, to play for Fiji.
Legend
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Shearman's been around the OFC/Australia traps. 
Apparently highly thought of when he was at NZF.

Not sure he's got much to work with though. Krishna is aging, and Fiji have been very reliant on him for so long.


Starting XI
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First goal for Raphael Lea'i over in Bosnia in a 3-3 draw with Igman Konjic.

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Screenshot_2023-06-11-00-00-04-91_0b2fce7a16bf2b728d6ffa28c8d60efb.jpg 437.96 KB

Great experience for a side that has rarely played matches outside of OFC opponents. Great opportunity and experience for the Vanuatu boys to play in a totally different environment too.

Couple more matches to go in their Intercontinental Cup campaign against India & Mongolia. They'll really be targeting that Mongolian game as it's the one they're most likely to get a result out of. 

Good luck to them, and excellent to see these sort of matches being lined up for our OFC neighbours. 
Marquee
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I just saw PNG played Singapore away and got a very respectable 2-2 draw. Up next Malaysia. A result there would be massive.
Starting XI
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loyalgunner
I just saw PNG played Singapore away and got a very respectable 2-2 draw. Up next Malaysia. A result there would be massive.

Solomon Islands drew 1-1 with Singapore overnight.


Fifa ranking 
🇸🇧 134
🇸🇬 158
Elorating
🇸🇧 150
🇸🇬 169

Not often an OFC nation would out-rank opponents on the world stage. But still a credible result for the Solomons. 

Hopefully these games against South-East Asian nations (🇲🇾🇸🇬🇵🇭🇹🇭🇮🇩 etc) keep coming along for our OFC neighbours.



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