PNG clinch third

Sports

PAPUA New Guinea showed great efficiency as they crushed hosts New Caledonia 7-1 on Saturday to secure bronze at the Oceania Football Confederation Women’s Nations Cup.
It started great for the Papua New Guineans as joint golden boot winner Meagan Gunemba scored a brilliant goal after just five minutes. She broke through on the right flank and sent a shot from a very tight angle which caught New Caledonia goalkeeper Dolores Bodeouarou off guard.
Bodeouarou was expecting a cross but instead, the ball sailed over her hands and into the far corner.
After New Caledonia started the game on the front foot, PNG took over more and more. An free kick inside the New Caledonia box, thanks to a back pass, was cleared away in the 30th minute.
PNG were rewarded for their pressure in the 36th minute as a sloppy pass from the hosts in midfield led to Gunemba once again being played through and the pacey striker kept her cool to double their lead.
PNG’s third came five minutes later as Gunemba and Yvonne Gabong combined nicely. An attempted New Caledonian clearance bounced off Gabong, allowing the midfielder to take the ball into the box and smash it home to secure a 3-0 lead for PNG at halftime.
New Caledonia were feeling the effect of so many games in a few days and were just lacking the final key pass every time they tried to break through. They produced a few chances but most were wide of Betty Sam’s goal.
In the second half, Sam was put to work by Sydney Gatha when she was played through, and her volley had the goalkeeper just getting a hand to it and putting it over the bar. New Caledonia looked like they were clawing their way back.
But then a copy of the first goal was conceded in the 52nd minute. Selina Unamba received the ball and tried her luck from almost out by the sideline on the left side. Bodeouarou jumped for it but couldn’t get her hands high enough and New Caledonia’s nice start was ruined.
Two minutes later, Gunemba got her hat-trick. She raced through and again kept her cool one-on-one with Bodeouarou to give PNG a 5-0 lead.
New Caledonia brought on Jackie Pahoa just before the hour mark and she only needed a few seconds to put her mark on the match. A low cross found the young winger and she tapped it in from close range.
Pahoa kept being a constant nuisance to the PNG defence and her speed seemed to wake up the rest of her teammates as New Caledonia lifted their performance to a whole new level over the next fifteen minutes.
But it wasn’t to be for New Caledonia as Claire Kaemo lost possession eight minutes before fulltime. The ball was picked up by Gabong who once again found Gunemba. The striker rounded the onrushing goalkeeper and tapped the ball into the open net for her fourth.
A minute later, PNG captain Sandra Birum put the icing on the cake by getting her name on the scoresheet. She ran through and put the ball past Bodeouarou for the final goal of the match to help PNG continue their impressive run of medals at the OFC Women’s Nations Cup.
Meanwhile, New Zealand beat Fiji 8-0 to qualify for next year’s women’s World Cup in France.
– Football Oceania