This week, we review the Oceania Football Federation's Women's Nations Cup in July, which saw Papua New Guinea—traditionally seen as the second-best team in the region after New Zealand—take the regional title for the first time and advance to the Intercontinental Playoffs in New Zealand next February, where will join with nine teams from the other regional confederations to vie for three Women's World Cup Finals spots. We look at the results at each stage of the tournament, analyze the tournament overall and then review the rosters for each team. We also report on the Puerto Rico Sol as they have extended their Guinness World Record for consecutive wins to 49 as they won a 2022 Puerto Rico Women's league title—their third in a row.
OFC Women's Nations Cup 2022
On July 13, the opening day of the OFC Women's Nations Cup—which this year does not include six-time champion New Zealand (which includes the OFC Women's Championship which began in 1983) and American Samoa (dealing with COVID travel restrictions)—with the winner moving onto the Intercontinental Playoffs for a chance at one of three berths allocated to 10 competing sides in the 2023 Women's World Cup, with the ten-team event taking place in February 2023 in New Zealand. With nine participants in 2022, the top two teams from each of the three groups advanced to the quarter-finals, alongside the two best-performing third-placed teams. All the matches were held in Suva, Fiji.
Group Play
On July 13, Samoa defeated Tonga 2-0 in Group A. Samoa received goals from New Zealand-native Monique Fischer (30), who played at Mallbacken in Sweden in 2020 and for 2018/19 in Yeovil Town in England, in the 28th minute and New Zealand-born Jayda Stewart (20), who scored in the 70th minute on an assist from Lianna Soifua (21), the latter who grew up in Nevada in the States.
On July 14, Papua New Guinea defeated Vanuatu 3-1 in Group B, with goals by Marie Kaipu (24—NCD Hekari United), Ramona Paido (24—Port Moresby Strikers) and Charlie Yandin (25—Bara). Vanuatu tied the match in the 72nd minute through Vanessa Keletia (22—United Malampa in Vanuatu) but PNG then scored twice within seven minutes for the final scoreline.
There was a surprise on the second day of the competition on July 14 in Group C as host nation Fiji (ranked 69th by FIFA and third in the OFC) tied the Solomon Islands (ranked 120th and 9th in the OFC) 1-1 in Suva. Australian based Vanisha Kumar (27—Labasa/Scots Lions, who will be discussed in more detail below) opened the scoring for Fiji's Kulas in the 22nd minute but Solomon Islands' veteran forward Ileen Pegi (29—Koloale) scored in the 37th minute from the penalty spot. Fiji's American coach Lisa Cole and some of her players were missing from the match because of COVID protocols.
Australian-based Vanisha Kumar (white jersey on the left) scores for the Fiji Kulas in their 1-1 tie versus the Solomon Islands on July 14. Photo courtesy of FBC News in Fiji.
Host nation Fiji lines up ahead of their first OFC Nations Cup match versus the Solomon Islands on July 14. Photo courtesy of Fiji Football Federation.
This was Vanisha Kumar's (27) first competitive match for Fiji for seven years since the South Pacific Games in 2015 in Papua New Guinea [where Fiji finished at the bottom of their three-nation group with 1 point and did not qualify for the semifinals]; she began playing internationally at the age of 15 in 2011 at the SPG games in New Caledonia [where Fiji finished in third place]. Kumar told FijiLive that she had given up the game for a while in order to concentrate on her schooling in Australia, where she was born and raised, to Fijian parents. She explained that, "I started playing around five years old, and I started playing Premier League (state league or second tier) in Australia around age 20. Then…I took about six years off to focus on my studies and I went to university and then last year I got back into playing again….I've been wanting to come back into football for a long time. And actually, one of my assistant coaches, Naomi [Waqanidrola, who is an OFC football ambassador from Fiji, played for the national team and is an assistant coach for Fiji at the tournament], actually mentioned that the girls were going to the World Cup qualifiers and she asked me if I wanted to get back into things." Based in Sydney, she had to work hard to get back to fitness and then mesh with her national team members, coming to train with the national team in Fiji two months ago. She has noticed improvements since she was last with the national team program, "I think, since I was here last time, the game has improved so much because of the speed of play and the sharpness of the sport. The perception of the game—I think it's a lot. It advanced so much and I think that's credited to the competition games that they have throughout the year." She scored three times in two international friendly matches victories against Tonga (5-0) and Cook Islands (4-1) prior to the tournament. Her grandfather, Karna Reddy, played for the Fijian national team and Lautoka and he was happy that she was lining up for the national side again.
On Saturday July 16, Tonga (92nd in FIFA rankings and 4th in OFC) took on the Cook Islands (102nd/6th) in what was viewed by many as a Group A battle of two minnows in the region. The two teams tied 1-1 as Lyric Davison (19—based in New Zealand with Manukau United) gave Cook Islands the lead in the 49th minute before Kiana Swift (21—based in Canada with Victoria Highlanders and who played collegiately at the University of Northern British Colombia in the picturesque but remote city of Prince George—population 75,000) scored on a long-range shot for the equalizer for Tonga in the 72nd minute. The tie was enough to see both teams through to the quarterfinals. Also, Cook Island's 15-year-old goalkeeper Kimberly Uini's (Matavera Ngatangila) made a first-half penalty save which was crucial to the final result. Cook Islands head coach Gary Phillips (see more below) said after the match, "It's ugly at times but in this environment, it is not about the performance, it's about results. As I said, as ugly as it was, we still could have won it at the end there with the one-on-one. So there's some positives to take out of it but we will go back and do our homework and freshen up and get ready for the next one."
On Sunday July 17 in Group B, Papua New Guinea defeated Tahiti 2-1 for their second win of the tournament to qualify for the quarterfinals. Ramona Padio (24—Port Moresby Strikers) scored from a penalty spot in the 28th minute and then Meagan Gunemba (27—Poro) scored in the 83rd minute, while Tahiti's Deana Tahia Tamarii (21—Pirea) scored from the penalty spot in the 90th minute for the final scoreline. The stats were quite even as PNG had 9 shots vs. 7 for Tahiti, (6 vs. 5 for shots on goal). Tahiti's French-head coach Stephanie Spielmann felt that, "Not a lot of people [placed] trust in us before the game but should regard Tahiti better [after] tonight." She said the team had received lots of supportive messages from home. For the winners Papua New Guinea, their head coach Nicole Demaine said, "I would have been happier with more goals. If felt our performance deserved a bigger scorelines….we are well organized and a force to be reckoned with." The player of the match for PNG was defender Lucy Maino (26), who played at the College of the Canyons Community College in Santa Clarita, California and at the University of Hawaii-Hilo. She was Miss Earth Papua New Guinea in 2020 and competed at the Miss Earth 2020 beauty pageant.
On Sunday July 17 in Group C, Fiji faced New Caledonia in a match between two favorites to win the Nations Cup. Defender Aliza Hussein (21—BA FC) got Fiji going in the right direction with a 4th minute goal and then midfielder and captain Sofie Diyalowai (28—Labasa) added a brace before forward Jackie Pahoe (20—AS Academie Feminine) scored a consolation goal for New Caledonia in second half injury time from the penalty spot for the final 3-1 scoreline.
On Tuesday July 19 in Group A, Samoa defeated the Cook Islands 1-0 with Jayda Stewart's (20—who is from Canterbury, New Zealand and played for the Football Ferns at the youth level) goal—her second of the tournament—in the 14th minute and the ultimate difference between the two teams.
Samoa won group A on 6 points from their two wins while the Cook Islands finished second with 1 point, the same as Tonga but with a slightly better goal differential
(-1 vs -2). Tonga advanced to the quarterfinals over Vanuatu on Fair Play Points (0 vs -3) for yellow and red card infractions, while the other third place side, New Caledonia, had scored 3 goals to only 1 for the other two sides and was safe on the goals scored criteria.
On July 20 in Group B, Tahiti (ranked 104 by FIFA and 7th in the region) played Vanuatu (ranked 121st by FIFA and 10th in the OFC) to a 0-0 tie. Papua New Guinea won the group, as expected, on 6 points while Tahiti and Vanuatu tied with 1 point from their draw in their final game, but Tahiti finished second in the group with a slightly better goal difference over Vanuatu (-1 vs. -2), with the latter being eliminated from the quarterfinals on the basis of earning more cards (3 Yellow Cards in their second match for the Fair Play Tiebreaker). Tahiti goalie Camille Andre's (19—Strasbourg in France) saved a last-minute penalty kick from Vanuatu substitute Liyo Eramol, (20—Huka 21) to secure Tahiti a 0-0 draw. Without Andre's fine diving stop to her right side and, if Eramol had scored, Vanuatu would have advanced to the quarterfinals and the Fair Play decision would have been between Tahiti and Tonga—since neither team had received any cards in their two matches (a sign of good discipline), the OFC would have had to flip a coin to decide would miss the knockout stage. After the exciting match, Tahiti head coach Stéphanie Spielmann said, "I just have to keep to the positive things which is that we are in the quarter-finals. We have [had] a hard game. We expected to score goals because I think we had the opportunity but Vanuatu are a good opponent. We are extremely happy to be in the quarter-final and we are now focused on the next game." Vanuatu head coach Jean Robert Yelou (38—a former player in Vanuatu and a club and national team coach) said, "For me I think for the whole game nothing was wrong. The game was what we planned for. We got one penalty but we did not get the goal so we come in with the draw. I thought that in the first-half we should be leading the game already but hard luck, we did not score the goals; that is how football is."
Also, on June 20, the group stage of the OFC Women's Nations Cup 2022 ended with a thrilling 2-2 draw between New Caledonia and Solomon Islands, a result that sent both teams onto the quarter-finals. The French Territory side had two goals from forward Jennifer Neporo (18—AS Wetr) in the 73rd and 78th minutes for a 2-1 lead. Solomon Islands—who have pulled points off of both group C favorites New Caledonia and Fiji and been a pleasant surprise at the tournament—opened the scoring early through forward Almah Gogni (21—Naha F.C.). In the 85th minute, Solomon Islands scored a late second goal to secure the tie through midfielder Mary Maefiti's (28—Solright F.C.) long-range shot five minutes from time. The ball should have been easily saved by New Caledonia keeper Lorenza Hnamano (19—Gaitcha) with no one around her but it slipped through her fingers into the net. New Caledonia saw a very late shot rattle off of the Solomon Islands crossbar and overall, it was a good result for the Solomons. After the match, New Caledonia head coach Michel Berbeche said, "I would have loved for it to have been 3-1 or 3-2 but at the end of the game I am just so happy that we are qualified." Solomon Islands head coach Batram Suri was also pleased with his squad's effort in the match, "I am so happy with the girls. They worked so hard although the tempo went down in the second-half…we went 2-1 down close to full-time but…I am so proud of the girls [with their performance]."
Fiji won the group with 4 points, Solomon Islands gained the quarterfinals in second with 2 points and New Caledonia was third with 1 point and a -2 goal difference, but also made the quarterfinals.
Knockout stages
Quarterfinals
On July 23, Samoa eliminated New Caledonia 4-2, with Monique Fischer putting Samoa on the scoreboard first at the 35-minute mark and then Jayda Stewart scored a second half hat-trick to send Samoa to the semifinals. Sarah Uregei (25—Colomiers in France) scored a brace for New Caledonia, who finished fourth in 2018 and third in the first tournament in 1983—both as hosts. Samoa should at least equal their best ever finish of fourth in 2003 at the Finals in Australia (when only 5 teams participated), which they did by falling to the Solomon Islands in the 2022 third-place match on penalty-kicks after a 1-1 tie.
Jayda Stewart (#10 in the dark blue uniform) scored a hat-trick to move Samoa into the semi-finals of the 2022 OFC Women's Nations Cup with a 4-2 win over New Caledonia. [Photo Source: Oceania Football Confederation].
Papua New Guinea, among the 2022 Nations Cup favorites as they have finished second on three occasions and third in five tourneys across the last eight events, were tested to the maximum by Tonga in a 3-3 tie that needed penalty kicks, which PNG won 3-2 to knock Tonga out of the tournament on July 23. The match was stirring to watch. Tonga took a shocking 2-0 lead into the halftime break from goals by Daviana Vaka—on a long-range blast from well outside of the penalty area, with an assist by her sister Laveni—and Jazmine Loto'aniu (see more below on the three players). PNG came back to tie the match by the 70th minute with goals by Ramona Padio and Meagan Gunemba. In the 30-minute overtime period, Padio (99th minute) and Loto'aniu (109th minute) traded goals before going to PK's. PNG keeper Fidelma Watpore (34—Souths Hinamo) saved three of Tonga's penalty kicks to help her team to the victory. Tonga's best previous finishes at the OFC Nations Cup was third in 2007 and fourth in 2014.
On July 24, Fiji took a first half lead through team captain Sofi Diyalowai in the 21st minute after sustained pressure on the Cook Islands' goal. Forward Luisa Tamanitoakula (23—Ba), who had come on three minutes earlier as a substitute for Diyalowai, doubled the scoreline in the 74th minute. Despite the low score, Fiji controlled the match throughout and led 14-4 on shots, 9-2 for shots on goals, had 4 corner kicks to none for their opponents and received no cards to 2 yellow cards for the Cook Islanders. Fiji's American head coach Lisa Cole said, "It was a real professional win for us. Getting that second goal in the second half kind of put us at ease, but I think the biggest thing is we kept the tempo of the game quick and fast….We played our game and that is what I was the most proud of to be honest." The President and Prime Minister of Fiji were at the match, which Cole felt was great because "you feel like you are special." Fiji's player of the match Cema Nasau (22—Labasa) thanked her coach on the OFC telecast after the match for all that the players had learned from her in the past two months.
Fiji finished runners-up in 2018 and, as hosts, were strongly favored to make the Final game again, losing to New Zealand 8-0 four years ago; New Zealand is not participating in this addition as they are qualified for the 2023 Women's World Cup as a co-host. Fiji finished fourth in 1983 and 1998. The Cook Islands finished third in 2010 and 2014.
Also on July 25 in Suva, Solomon Islands continued their tremendous run in the tournament by defeating Tahiti 1-0 on a 38th minute goal by Mary Maefiti (her second of the tournament). After the game, Tahiti head coach Stéphanie Spielmann expressed optimism for the future of Tahiti's team, "We have a very young team. A lot of those girls come from the U-19 [side] and will be in the next competition for [the] U-19's. As we always say in Tahiti 'we are working for the future.' The plan is for 10 years and we are in the middle, the fifth year, so we will continue what we are doing." Solomon Islands head coach Batram Suri said about his side, "I can't ask for more. The girls did very well for us. I am so glad and pleased and happy with ourselves. I knew they would come hard against us in the second-half. But I told them that if we don't score the next one, we have to protect that only one goal so that we can win the game. The defenders and everybody got behind the ball and they did well." The result for Batram Suri's side is all the more impressive considering their place as the tournament's second-lowest ranked nation at 120th in the world (just ahead of Vanuatu at 121st )when the competition began. Tahiti had never made the last four of the tournament while the Solomon Islands finished fourth in 2007 and 2010.
Semifinals
On July 27, Papua New Guinea defeated Samoa 3-0 as Charlie Yandin (25—Bara) scored just before halftime from a Ramona Padio assist and then Meagan Gunemba added a brace in the second half as PNG advanced to the 2022 Nations Cup Finals. PNG Coach Nicola Demaine—a native of England who is now based in New Zealand—coached Samoa in the 2018 Nations Cup when they lost to PNG 5-0 in their first group game, when Gunemba scored a hat trick. PNG goalkeeper Faith Kasiray (22—NCD Hekari United) saved a penalty kick from Samoa captain Monique Fischer to preserve the shutout.
Fiji defeated Solomon Islands 3-1 on July 27, after the teams tied 1-1 in their first group stage match. Cema Nasau scored twice in the first half and Luisa Tamanitoakula added a third goal in the second half for the Kulas, after Ileen Pegi's penalty had given the Solomon Islands the lead. After the game, Fiji's head coach Lisa Cole said, "It is going to take a team effort (to win the final), which has been the case the whole tournament. Really, everybody needs to give what they can, stay with the game plan, make sure they know their role, do their role well and make sure they keep their agreements. If we do those things well, we are going to be a tough team to beat but we have also got to defend really well against a good Papua New Guinea squad." Solomon Islands head coach Batram Suri felt that his team had had a superb tournament, "We are underdogs and we have come this far so we are proud and I think the players are happy about where we are now. It is a stepping stone for us now, especially as a country that were bottom of the [FIFA and OFC] ranking. So I am proud of the result but not happy with it."
Third Place Match
Samoa took an early lead through Monique Fischer's goal in the 16th minute but the Solomon Islands tied up the match five minutes before the halftime break from forward Jemina David (27—Frigates United). There was no further scoring and the Solomon Islands won in penalty kicks 6-5 for their best ever finish, after two fourth places in 2007 and 2010. All five of each team's penalty kick takers scored, taking the shootout to sudden death. Samoa Shontelle Stevens (26—Manukau United of New Zealand) saw her effort saved by Solomon Islands keeper Sylvester Maenu'u (28—Koloale) and then Merina Joe (27—Koloale) scored the winning penalty for the Solomon Islands.
Championship Final
Papua New Guinea defeated the host nation Fiji 2-1 on July 30, with goals from Meagan Gunemba and Ramona Padio within the first half hour of the match. Cema Nasau reduced the deficit to 2-1 for Fiji just before the halftime whistle, but as in the third-place match, there were no goals in the second half played at a crisp tempo by two strong sides. After the match, Papua New Guinea head coach Nicola Demaine—who guided her nation to an historic first-ever Nations Cup victory—said, "We've got seven mothers on the team and these ladies have been together for two and a half months and made massive sacrifices. This is all on them [for] what they have achieved so far so we can watch and see what they can achieve at the next stage. They are amazing women warriors who have earned the right to take this trophy home today and to represent Oceania at the next stage."
Pius Letenge, the CEO and General Secretary of Papua New Guinea Football Association, graciously told TribalFootball.com his reaction with the women's team's regional championship, "The FA is happy with the team's success and we are happy to support the team in their second leg of the FIFA WWC 2023. The Intercontinental Play-off will be great opportunity for the team to showcase their potential and as we have a long way to go, we are excited to be up there rubbing shoulders with our sister from the other confederations."
Interestingly, according to my calculations which I will detail in a column in the weeks to come, PNG (ranked 49th by FIFA in its June rankings of women's national teams) would be a fourth seed at the Intercontinental Playoffs, behind the anticipated number 1 seed from Europe (still to be determined in October), Chile from CONMEBOL (38), Chinese Taipei from the AFC (40) and then PNG. Thailand, also of the AFC, has a higher ranking at 43 but FIFA will only seed one team from a confederation. Papua New Guinea would thus be seeded higher than both teams from CAF and CONCACAF and one each from CONMEBOL and the AFC. The top two seeds will play in a three-team group and thus have to play only one game to qualify for next summer's Women's World Cup, while PNG (and Chinese Taipei) would be in Group C and need to play two games to qualify for the WWC.
Tournament Analysis
This reporter has long written about the need for increased support by FIFA and the OFC for the island nations in particular in order to grow women's football in the region. COVID impacted most of the participants' nations dramatically—on the men's side, the regional World Cup qualifying tournament earlier this year had to be held in Qatar (also the 2022 World Cup host this winter) and what was to have involved eleven teams saw withdrawals from American Samoa, Samoa and Vanuatu for COVID-related reasons and Tonga because of their volcanic eruption and tsunami. After playing one match in Qatar, the Cook Islands also withdrew because of COVID test results. Having watched most of the Women's Nations Cup games on live stream, and after watching multiple UEFA and WWC Qualifiers from CONCACAF, CONMEOBL, and Africa over the past few weeks, the quality of play in the OFC tournament does pale in comparison to other regions, particularly for:
- Refereeing
- Penalty-kick taking
- Shot selection taking during the run of play
- Goalkeeping—a real problem with some poor positioning and far too many soft goals were allowed (PNG's winning goal in the Final came because Fiji's goalkeeper muffed an easily savable shot)
- Closing down players on defense, with too much standing around at times, allowing forwards space to attack
At times, the level of play was below watching a U-17 level club game in Europe or North America. Some OFC teams were very young, which is good as they received great experience and exposure this summer, but more money needs to be invested on the player development side.
The gap is so appreciably large compared with other FIFA Confederations that I am worried that the team that advanced to the Intercontinental Finals—Papua New Guinea—
could be just overwhelmed, particularly if they are drawn against a top seed from Europe, COMEBOL or Africa. Developmental efforts need to be increased at the Federation level and facilitate more local players getting experience with clubs abroad—even for loan arrangements—or playing in colleges in America, Europe or Australia/New Zealand.
This is a different issue that the use of diaspora. Former New Zealand youth international Jayda Stewart of Samoa was my pick for player of the tournament but other diaspora had a strong effect including Australian-born Vanisha Kumar from Fiji, Tonga's sister pair of Daviana and Laveni Vaka from Utah and Tahiti's 19-year-old goalkeeper Camille Andre from France, who saved a late penalty kick against Vanuatu to send her side to the quarterfinals. The OFC players do have fine individual dribbling skills which are a delight to watch and can be built upon, but until more domestic players have opportunities to play in colleges or top leagues abroad (including Australia and New Zealand) the gap will remain.
All the teams had good coaches, with some imports—two from Australia, two from New Zealand (where they reside—but originally from England and Barbados—see more below) and one from America. These foreign coaching appointments need to be done for longer periods and not just a few months ahead of the Nations Cup or Pacific Games [which will be held in Honiara, Solomon Islands for the sixth edition in 2023, with Papua New Guinea winning each previous edition, defeating Guam, Tonga, Samoa (once each) and New Caledonia (twice) for the title].
The Federations should continue to have more national team tours, as we saw this year (Tahiti to Europe, Fiji and Tonga to Australia as well as Papua New Guinea to Singapore). More nations from outside the region (even with U-20 national teams or top international club sides) touring to multiple nations for 4-6 games in total would help to improve the quality of play in the region. The chance to tour the South Pacific is very attractive and a dream to many players abroad and I think the OFC would have its pick of interested clubs.
An islands-based team in the A-League Women is an idea that I have promoted since 2019 and is particularly salient now since Wellington Phoenix from the OFC joined last season and improved quite nicely towards the end of the campaign, in spite of playing all their games in Australia because of COVID restrictions. This Island Nation-based squad could comprise an all-star team from multiple nations but, for travel expense and logistics reasons, might have to be based in Australia. The increase in the A-League Women season from 3-4 months in the past to 6-7 months for next season and perhaps 8-9 months in 2023 could complicate that plan and add expense, but it is worth the Confederation and the A-League Women considering. it
The use of diaspora is a controversial issue around the world, with proponents stating that using them helps to rapidly improve a national team while others question their commitment to the nation where they have roots—which examples cited that the new players sometimes have little knowledge of their new nation and can't speak the language, even to sing the national anthem. The diaspora strategy does work in some cases and can help create more interest in the team among the general population when they are successful. However, it should not replace the development of youth teams at home, which Haiti started about a decade ago by using a very young national team base and now are through to the Intercontinental Finals (see: The Week in Women's Football: CONCACAF reflection; Arsenal keep Miedema; Man City sign Venezuela star Castellanos - Tribal Football) while the Philippines qualified for the 2023 WWC earlier this year at the AFC Women's Asian Cup in India with only six locally based players and 17 American diaspora. Samoa only had one domestic player in the squad but were forced to recruit from abroad due to COVID (see more below).
There is a lot to think about as the OFC Nations Cup participants analyze their team's preparation and performance at this tournament and plan for the future. There is no one perfect path to success at the national team level in Oceania, but giving the players more higher quality games is a must, both at league and through the national teams' programs.
A look at the 12 team's rosters follows below, with interesting news on preparation matches, players and a focus on the use of players based with clubs abroad
Group A
Samoa
Head Coach Paul Ifill, originally from Barbados in the Caribbean and who played in England and for Wellington Phoenix in the A-League, used only one player based in Samoa ,with eleven players from New Zealand—where Ifill and the Samoan Federation has been conducting diaspora identification camps earlier this year (see: The Week in Women's Football: OFC Nations Cup 2022 schedule; Southeast Asian Games results; Papua New Guinea triumph - Tribal Football). Four players were from the States (three from Hawaii), one based in Australia, one in Switzerland and one from the U.K. This was done because of COVID restrictions in Samoa and, according to a TribalFootball.com exclusive discussion with Jess Ibrom—the technical director of Football Federation Samoa—they were forced to recruit from abroad since borders in Samoa weren't set to open until August 1. Ibrom said that the nation does have a vibrant youth development program at home, with a women's U-17 and U-19 program and a 12-team local league. Samoa also has a domestic training program, that includes a national center of excellence and academies. Samoa brought a strong team to the 2022 tournament in Fiji (finishing fourth after a loss in the third-place game to the Solomon Islands on penalty kicks) and their diaspora allowed them to play and was an emergency situation, but long-term, this strong reliance on diaspora can ultimately hinder the game locally, and Football Federation Samoa seems to understand that.
Cook Islands
Coach Gary Phillips, a native of Australia who played with Sydney Olympic and Brisbane Strikers and coached the PNG women's national team in 2014-15 and coached with Nepal's women's national team for a few years, took on the Cook Islands job in May of this year. Phillips also coached Newcastle Jets in their first year of the A-League Women (formerly the W-League) in 2008-09. Phillips had 18 local players on his 26-player roster, with 8 from New Zealand.
Tonga
Head coach Connie Selby of Australia, who played ten full internationals for her country and is an experienced coach at home, used 18 local players, with 1 unattached, two from the U.S.—sisters Daviana and Laveni Vaka from the Utah Avalanche Soccer Club and BYU University in Provo, Utah—Kiana Swift from Canada (see above) and forward Jazmine Loto'aniu (23), who plays at Castle Hill United in Australia. Selby has been the head coach since May of 2021 after coming out of retirement with her husband (who is coaching Tonga's men's side) to take the position and has done a nice job of preparing the side while having to deal with an underwater volcanic eruption and resultant tsunami in the country, a COVID epidemic on the island and forced to travel great distances for international friendlies (see: The Week in Women's Football: OFC Nations Cup 2022 schedule; Southeast Asian Games results; Papua New Guinea triumph - Tribal Football).
Selby said, "We didn't want to just go there, coach, and then leave. We both want to leave a legacy. If these kids went to a World Cup, they wouldn't know what to do with themselves. It would just be mind-boggling for them. So many of them are still teenagers, so many of them have barely even left Tonga before. We're getting ready, I reckon, for the next one [Nations Cup tournament in four years' time]. If the team can stay together, keep training, play more games, maybe they can do well. All we can do is try."
Former Matilda Connie Selby (back row, second from the right) is head coach of the Tongan women's national team. (Courtesy of ABC Grandstand and Connie Selby)
Group B
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea used an entirely home-based roster during the tournament in Fiji.
Tahiti
Stephanie Spielmann, a native of France, is the head coach of the Vahine 'Ura 22 player roster, of which 15 are based at home, 5 play in France and 2 play in the U.S.:
Defender Tauahere Lin (19) of the University of Utah
Midfielder Delani Guyot (22) who played at Orange Coast College in California.
Spielmann came to Tahiti in 2015 and started to work with the local Federation in 2016, focused on the development of women's football at all levels of the game
TribalFootball.com communicated with coach Spielmann during the tournament and she also talked in detail with Desire Teivao of Tahiti-infos.com about her roster building process and her hopes for the side. Spielmann said, "We always work a bit the same way. We first established a pre-selection; we open the doors to a certain number of players. We [then] had kept a group of 25 girls locally and we also had expatriate girls in France and the United States. That's why in February, we went to make international matches in France to be able to play our girls from Tahiti with those who are expatriates. This tour allowed us to refine our choice. It is a team that is made up of players with a little more experience who already have several international competitions to their credit and also the best youngsters, the most promising who will learn a lot during this competition in Fiji."
The Vahine 'Ura train ahead of the 2022 OFC Women's Nations cup at the Federation Tahitienne de Football Technical Center. Photo courtesy of Federation Tahitienne de Football.
"Kiani Wong (21), is part of this younger generation. She was the first to join a high-level centre in France. It's been six years now that she leads her career in metropolitan France, she has also passed through Germany [and] Wales. Kiani has gained a lot of experience and is a real role model for young Tahitian women." Wong went to University in Strasburg in France and played with Cardiff City in Wales, Yeovil Town in England, Saarbrucken in Germany and is now with Lens in France.
Spielmann has two Americans on her Fiji squad and talked about their recruiting process, "With Delani [Guyot], we've been in contact for almost three years. Her grandmother is actually from Tahiti and I was then informed that she was eligible for the Tahitian selection. During the period of [COVID] health restrictions, we could not bring her to Tahiti, so Delani came for the first-time last December. And we immediately saw that it was interesting, especially in terms of athletic qualities. She has a lot of play on the pitch and we really liked her attitude during training; always thorough, always forward and very motivated. We brought her with us for the February games in France and she confirmed what we saw during training. And she fit in really well into the group too. And there is also another Tahitian who plays in the United States, Tauahere Lin. She plays for the University of Utah. We followed her in the youth selections and playing in America did her a lot of good."
Speilmann felt that three weeks with her full squad were sufficient for Nations Cup preparation, "The girls already know each other well. During the matches in France, there are automatisms that have been created. And then there they trained every day, sometimes even twice a day. So the automatisms are there and I have players who have experience and who adapt quickly. The hardest part to deal with was the physical aspect. The girls who play in France arrived with a certain physical level and those from Tahiti had a gap to fill. We called on a physical trainer who managed to put everyone on the same level."
On their trip in February to Europe, Tahiti lost by 5-0 and 11-0 scorelines to Luxembourg 5-0 and then tied Andorra 0-0 (see: The Week in Women's Football: Tahiti goes to Europe; Women's Africa Cup of Nations - Tribal Football) and (The Week in Women's Football: Women's Africa Cup of Nations results; CONCACAF qualifiers reach halfway point - Tribal Football). Spielmann acknowledged that the trip to Europe was going to provide some challenging matches, "We knew it was going to be difficult. But we wanted to convey two messages. The first was to show our girls that when you stay in Tahiti, you are [the] champion of Tahiti, but she does not necessarily say to herself that she has to make more effort in training because she wins every weekend. And these matches for them in metropolitan France were like an electroshock. It was quit or double for me because they could have let me go when they came back. But we had to do it because if we didn't, we would have wasted more time. And in fact, when they came back, they were the first to ask me when we were going back to training. Technically, our Tahitian women have abilities. But it's especially on the speed of play where we were downright late. Then we played against Luxembourg, who play15 international matches every year. We hadn't played an international game since 2019 at the Pacific Games [in Samoa, when Tahiti finished third in Group B with 4 points, behind ultimate tournament winners PNG (12 points), the Cook Islands (9 points) but ahead of the Solomon Islands (3 points) and Vanuatu (1 point)]. And it was also this message that I wanted to convey to the management of the FTF [Federation Tahitienne de Football]: 'You want us to progress, we have to go out and play international matches.' In the end, this experience in France was positive for the whole group, the players and the staff, and we hope that it will bear fruit."
Finally, Spielmann talked about her objectives in Fiji this summer, "It will be to win this Nations Cup. After frankly, if we do it will already be huge because we restarted women's football only in 2018 [the Tahiti Women's National Team played at the 2010 OFC Women's Nations Cup and then at the 2011 Pacific Games but then was inactive for several years]. It's still very recent and there's obviously still a lot to do. We need to stabilize the local championships to raise the level of girls' [play]. We have very good youngsters coming in behind and it really makes good selections in U-16 and U-19."
Vanuatu
Vanuatu used an entirely home-based roster for this summer's regional championships.
Group C
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands used an entirely home-based roster. Head Coach Batram Suri (50) had almost 50 caps with the Solomon Islands men's national team as a player and was with the A-League Football Kingz in Auckland and played for other clubs in New Zealand and in Fiji, Tahiti, Vanuatu and at home.
Fiji
All 26 players were local except for American forward Trina Davis (see: The Week in Women's Football: Interview with Fiji star Davis; Johnson joins San diego; Houston face Pumas UNAM - Tribal Football and Australian midfielder Vanisha Kumar, who plays in Australia with Scots Lions in New South Wales, as well as American coach Lisa Cole. Cole, who joined in January, is confident that her team was ready for the competition before it began, explaining that, "We feel we are prepared and in a really good place. The preparation has been good, especially with their improvement. It's been impressed with the improvements from January until now. The players are paying attention to what's important such as nutrition, fitness, and sleeping habits. They've really bought into everything we've asked them to do. It's been really impressive." With two consecutive wins under their belt in pre-tournament friendlies against Tonga (5-0) and the Cook Islands (4-1) at home just before the Nations Cup started, the Fiji side were confident of doing well before their home fans.
Fiji squad for the 2022 OFC Women's Nations Cup
Goalkeepers: Seruwaia VASUITOGA (Rewa FC), Mereseini WAQALI (Ba FC), Selai TIKOISUVA (Nadroga FC), Merevesi OFAKIMALINO (Rewa FC).
Defenders: Filomena RACEA (Tailevu Naitasiri FC), Veniana RANADI (Suva FC), Unaisi TUBERI (Labasa FC), Maria VERONIKA (Tailevu Naitasiri FC), Aliza HUSSEIN (Ba FC), Angeline REKHA (Ba FC).
Midfielders: Adi BAKANICEVA (Tailevu Naitasiri FC), Mereoni TORA (Suva FC), Vanisha KUMAR (Scots Lions FC, Australia), Cema NASAU (Labasa FC), Jotivini TABUA (Labasa FC), Sofi DIYALOWAI (Labasa FC), Shayal SINDHIKA (Labasa FC), Vivian NAISALUWAKI (Labasa FC), Evivi BUKA (Ba FC).
Forwards: Koleta LIKUCULACULA (Ba FC), Anasimeci VOLITIKORO (Labasa FC), Trina DAVIS (Washington Rush, USA), Luisa TAMANITOAKULA (Ba FC), Narieta LEBA (Ba FC), Imeri NAI (Rewa FC), Timaima VUNIYAYAWA (Rewa FC).
New Caledonia
Head coach Michel Berbeche has included three women who currently play their football in France among the 20 selected, with the other 17 all based in New Caledonia. Six players are with Women's Academy FCF, while four play at home with AS Academie Femenine, New Caledonia club side Sc Ne Drehu had three players, two were with Hienghene Sport and one each played at AS Wetr and ASC Boulouparis. The full squad list is as follows:
M-Christine ALIKIE (FCF Académie Femenine)
F-Claudette BOA (ASC Boulouparis)
D-Lola DELAVAULT (Nîmes Olympique, France)
D-Clémence FRIOCOURT (Hienghène Sport)
D-Marielle HAOCAS (Hienghène Sport)
M-Elodie HMEJ (FCF Académie Féminine)
GK-Lorenza HNAMANO (ASC Gaïtcha)
D-Marthe KATRAWA (SC Ne Drehu)
D-Laëtitia LEME (AS Académie Féminine)
D-Josette MOLE (SC Ne Drehu)
F-Jennifer NEPORO (AS Wetr)
GK-Irène NIGOTE (AS Académie Féminine)
F-Jackie PAHOA (AS Académie Féminine)
M-Thérèse PAWAWI (FCF Académie)
D-Kamen SIMANE (FCF Académie)
F-Sarah UREGEI (US Colomiers, France)
M-Claudia WASSIN (FCF Académie)
M-Maryline WASSIN (FCF Académie)
F-Alice WENESSIA (AS Académie Féminine)
Head Coach Berbeche came to New Caledonia in 2019 and helped France as an advisor when the U-17's won the FIFA 2012 U-17 Women's World Cup in Azerbaijan (7-6 on penalties after a 1-1 tie against Korea DPR) and is generally targeting 2027 for success with his national team, though New Caledonia finished in fourth place as host at the last tournament. He said, "It is difficult to situate oneself before this competition. Like us, other nations have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis for two seasons, without real championships and without international meetings. We have a goal that is, that of 2027, with a fairly young workforce but a squad of the future. That said, we will prepare the meetings [first round matches] very seriously."
The Women's A Selection of New Caledonia is preparation camp at LIFOU in New Caledonia in preparation for the 2022 OFC Women's Nation's Cup. Photo credit: Fédération Calédonienne de Football.
Puerto Rico Sol extends their Guinness World Record for Consecutive Wins.
Earlier this year, we reported on the Mayaguez-based Puerto Rico Sol FC in CONCACAF setting a Guinness World Record for consecutive wins with 39 (and running) at the end of the 2021 season, surpassing the previous record held by Brazilian Sao Paolo-based team Corinthians in 2019 with 34 consecutive wins (see: The Week in Women's Football: CONCACAF focus; NWSL sign Mexican internationals; Puerto Rico Sol breaks world record - Tribal Football). We have an update in that this streak is now 49 wins, as the Sol has won its third league crown in 2022 and has scored 344 goals and allowed only 8 goals during those 49 games.
Puerto Rico Sol line up in 2022 League Play. Photo courtesy of Shek Borkowski/Puerto Rico Sol F.C.
Puerto Rico Sol and head coach Shek Borkowski (third from left in the back row in the yellow shirt) celebrates its Liga Puerto Rico title in 2022, while extending its Guinness World Record for consecutive wins by a senior women's club football team to 49. Photo courtesy of Shek Borkowski/Puerto Rico Sol F.C.
Now some could say that the Sol is playing in a weak league (the argument to offset that is that the other teams in Puerto Rico simply need to raise their funding and support for their programs) but this is still an extremely impressive winning streak. It also speaks to the need for a CONCACAF women's club championship, which has been talked about for a few years but we have yet to see it come to fruition. The Sol is a professional organization (women's head coach and former Haiti and Puerto Rico women's national team head coach Shek Borkowski also coaches their men's side). A significant factor in Haiti reaching the 2023 Women's World Cup Intercontinental playoffs last month (see last week's column: The Week in Women's Football: CONCACAF reflection; Arsenal keep Miedema; Man City sign Venezuela star Castellanos - Tribal Football) was the vision of Shek Borkowski, who coached the national team from 2012-2017 and developed a lot of the young talent that is now playing professionally in France, even bringing the side to play at FC Indiana in the summers—a plan that other Caribbean nations are now considering implementing. If a CONCACAF Club Championship did take place, champions from the Liga MX Femenil, the NWSL, an entrant from a possible new Canadian Division II league, a team from the USL Super League Division II which begins in 2023, and perhaps two or three sides from the champions of Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Belize and then the Puerto Rico Sol and maybe another qualifier from the West Indies, could produce some interesting games and drive the women's club game forward in the region.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get yours copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
