PNG focused on task

By PATRICIA KEAMO
PAPUA New Guinea are focused on delivering to their game plan when they meet hosts Fiji in the Oceania Football Confederation Women’s Nations Cup final in Suva tomorrow (5pm kick-off, PNG time).
The winners will compete against nine other nations from Africa, Asia, South America, North America and Europe in an inter-confederation playoff tournament for the three remaining spots in next year’s World Cup.
The February tournament will be used as a test event for New Zealand, who will host the World Cup alongside Australia from July 20 to Aug 20.
“We are just focusing on the next job and doing it right, which is getting through the final against Fiji as winners,” PNG coach Nicola Demaine told The National ahead of the HFC Bank Stadium showdown.
“We came here to create history for PNG, but we don’t want to lose focus or get ahead of ourselves.
“We will take the game as it comes and do our best on the field.”
PNG have a score to settle with Fiji following their 1-5 loss to the hosts in the semifinals of the 2018 edition of the tournament.
“We will spend time looking at Fiji’s games during the tournament and tweak a few things in our game plan,” Demaine said.
“We had a recovery session in the morning (yesterday) and the player took the rest of the day off.
“We’ll be seeing our physiotherapist for massages then we have ice baths and pool recovery to prepare for the final.
“I was pleased with our (semifinal) performance against Samoa for the most part.
“I felt we slowed to the pace of Samoa in the first half, but picked up momentum in the second half.
“We controlled play well.”
Demaine said they were awaiting medical clearance on striker Marie Kaipu (concussion).
“But the whole squad are likely to be available for selection,” she said.
“Either way, we still have enough depth on our bench.”
While the final line-up will not be named until this evening, Demaine will be counting on skipper Meagan Gunemba to lead PNG’s attack while Lucy Maino is expected to shore up PNG’s defence.
Gunemba is in contention for the golden boot award, having so far scored four goals in the tournament, a goal behind Samoa’s Jayda Stewart who is the leading goalscorer.
Meanwhile, Demaine said she was hopeful that her team’s campaign would inspire young footballers across PNG.
“The tournament has so far given us good challenges to improve our game, but also a chance to showcase what we can do,” the Englishwoman said.
“There is so much potential in PNG.
“Hopefully, young women back home are watching and wanting to go outside and kick a ball around.”