Cautious but confident

PAPUA New Guinea will be gunning for another appearance in the final of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Women’s Nations Cup as they head up an all Melanesian semifinal with Fiji at Stade De La Roche in Mare, New Caledonia, at 3pm today.
Since 2007, PNG have appeared in every OFC Women’s Nations Cup final, meeting defending champions New Zealand.
Having qualified for the semifinals with a clean-sweep of their group A opponents, they are firm favourites going into the encounter against the group B runners-up.
These Melanesian rivals last met in the 2010 OFC Women’s Nations Cup where Papua New Guinea won 3-0 in a group fixture.
Despite the statistics going in their favour, PNGlooked vulnerable in their final group match against Tahiti having to come from a goal down to earn a victory.
PNG coach Peter Gunemba was pleased his side finished top of their group to ensure a favorable semifinal meeting with Fiji.
“I’ve been watching a lot of the games and I’d like to play Fiji in the semifinal,” he said.
“We’re prepared to meet them. They’re a very good team but I know where to get them and my objective is to play New Zealand in the grand final.”
Fiji have made huge strides in women’s football making their first semifinal appearance since 1998, when they finished fourth after a 7-1 defeat to PNG in New Zealand.
Fiji qualified from the preliminary stage edging Vanuatu, American Samoa and Solomon Islands in Lautoka earlier this year.
Two big wins in group B against the Cook Islands and Tonga before a defeat to New Zealand saw Fiji advance into the semifinals as runners-up. While they’ve looked impressive throughout this campaign, previous results indicate PNG have more of an advantage.
Fiji have beaten PNG just once with a 1-0 victory in the 2007 Pacific Games in Samoa.
However, based on current form, the semifinal is set to be a close affair as both teams are capable of making it to the final.
Fiji coach Marika Rodu is having faith in the work they have had been putting into the team and says that his players are keen to create history by winning the semifinal.
“History says that we haven’t beaten PNG in a long time but we want to change that,” he said.
“What better time it is we have a good pack of players 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.
“These girls, who are 16 and 19, have bright futures ahead of them.
“We want to develop football in PNG and we want to reward people with this semifinal win.” – OFC