Nake is last line of defence for PNG

The National Sports

By HENRY MORABANG
AS one of Papua New Guinea’s former soccer stars Kisakau Posman was fond of saying: “Scoring goals is the climax of playing football — but so is defending”.
A team can score goals but they must also defend as well, if not better, to win and Hilda Nake is one defensive player the PNG Under-20 women’s coach Lisa Cole is considering as she finalises her playing roster.
The 19-year old Gloucester (West New Britain) lass is working around the clock to win a spot in the final squad.
Nake put her Grade 10 studies at Gloucester High School on hold to pursue her part-time career in training and playing football.
A strong central defender, the PNG U20 team will be counting on her to defuse any aerial attack from their opponents when the Federation of the International Football Associations (Fifa) U20 Women’s World Cup kicks off on Nov 3.
Nake said she was 13-years-old when she turned her back on other sports to play football (soccer) and does not regret her choice.
The Gloucester High School student said there were two people who inspired her to take up football;  her coach Barbara Muta, who is one of the assistant coaches with the U20 team, and US-based PNG football star Wira Wama.
She said when she saw coach Muta travelling for games out of West New Britain, she always wanted to one day follow her.
Both Nake and coach Muta are now in the same team, with Nake vying for a spot while Barbara barks orders from the sidelines.
Nake said she admired Barbara because she played like her brother, David Muta — the PNG Kapuls captain.
The West New Britain woman said she learnt a lot during the training camp, especially about her role as central defender.
She hopes that the experience can help her through to secure a spot on the team.  She plans to return home and complete her studies and, if she has the opportunity, she would like to help advance women’s soccer in Gloucester.
She wants to coach children, especially junior boys and girls and tell them what soccer can do for them if they play, talk and live soccer.