Big year for soccer in Papua New Guinea (Post Courier 30/12/17)

PNG`s forward Nicollete Ageva celebrating after scoring the only goal for Papua New Guinea i the U20 Womens World Cup

By FIDELIS SUKINA

It has been a big year in sports for Papua New Guinea, with the hosting of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup as the pinnacle of a successful year.

A successful hosting of the FIFA U20 Womens World Cup from the 13th of November to the 3rd of December 2016 saw Papua New Guinea rise to the challenge.

PNG built training fields, two new mini stadiums and refurbishing two major stadiums in Sir John Guise Stadium and The National Football Stadium to meet FIFA standards all done in 17 months at a cost of almost K60 million.

The Papua New Guinea U20 Womens team made history in scoring the only goal for PNG in a World Cup tournament with Nicolette Ageva scoring the goal in the 16th minute against the eventual World Cup winners Korea DPR causing the host crowd of PNG to cheer in excitement.

Papua New Guinea conceded 22 goals in the tournament; they lost to Brazil (9-0), Sweden (6-0) and Korea (7-1).

A patriotic word of thanks was given by the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea thanked the nations U20 womens team and the people of Papua New Guinea.

“To the women from our Papua New Guinea team, on behalf of a proud nation I thank you and I congratulate you for the heroic effort that you put in during your games,” he said.

“Every one of you served our nation with pride and distinction.

“You stood your ground against the best teams in the world and you earned their respect as true warriors in your sport.” Prime Minister Peter O’Neil

The PNG Mens soccer team the Kapuls also made history after 43 years making it into the final of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Nations Cup but went down to New Zealand in a penalty shootout.

Their performance has earned them the right to contest in round three of Oceania’s road to Russia 2018.

The play off will see Papua New Guinea in Group A along with New Caledonia, Tahiti and Samoa while Group B consists of New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu.

Their matches are scheduled for March and June in 2017. The winner of the subsequent Oceania final will advance to the intercontinental play-off in November 2017 against the fifth-placed South American nation.

New Zealand are the most recent Oceania nation to feature at the World Cup, with the All Whites exiting at the group stage from South Africa 2010 despite being the only side to remain unbeaten at the 32-nation tournament.