Posted By Staff Reporter
Papua New Guinea are confident of advancing to the OFC Women's Nations Cup football final. The Lakatois have finished runners up to New Zealand at the past three regional championships. PNG take on Fiji in the first semi final today in Mare after convincing victories against Samoa, New Caledonia and Tahiti in Kone gave them a perfect record in Group A. PNG coach Peter Gunemba said they had proven themselves against tough opposition. "I think our pool was the toughest pool because I have seen a lot of improvement from especially Samoa," he said. "Samoa, Tahiti, New Caledonia they played very good football. The game against Tahiti was the toughest one. We didn't expect it... and when I compare all the games that we played I thought that Pool A was the toughest and I believe that that has given us much strength to go into the semi finals." PNG and Fiji last met at the 2015 Pacific Games, when the hosts prevailed 5-1 in Port Moresby. Gunemba is backing his team to beat their Melanesian rivals and progress to the decider. "Yes, they have some strengths in there while I have come up with some strategies to play against them," he said. "I have seen their weakness, I have seen their strengths and during the training yesterday and today I talked about it and I believe we will be ok against them and we are confident of winning the game." Fiji recorded big wins against Cook Islands and Tonga before a second-string team was thrashed 10-0 by New Zealand in the Group B decider. Fiji coach Marika Rodu said his players were keen to create history. "History says that we haven't beaten PNG in a long time. We want to change that," he said. "We have a good pack of girls that can change this history. It's a matter of paying attention to the details of our game, believing in the philosophy and the vision of football we want to bring across." source: Radio New Zealand Comments are closed.
|
Sports NewsGo to Kumuls Profile >> |