U20s in hammering

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The National, Tuesday 26th March 2013

 By WAISEA NASOKIA of Fiji Sun and HENRY MORABANG

MIDFIELDER Dalong Damalip bag­ged a hat-trick of goals as Vanuatu thumped Papua New Guinea 6-1 in the OFC Under-20 World Cup qualifier at Churchill Park, in Lautoka, Fiji, yesterday.

The loss by the PNG U20 men means the  PNGFA has a lot of work to do in youth development, especially when bulk of the team came out of its development squad, Besta PNG United. 

Besta team players form the nucleus of the U17 and the U20 sides, and they take part in the Telikom National Soccer League as part of the development programme with limited specialised coaching from the PNGFA technical team. 

The Wesley Waiwai-coached side now has no chance of finishing in the top three, and are likely to finish last on the ladder.

Yet to play New Caledonia and Fiji, PNG will have to pray for a miracle to beat those two teams who have won their respective matches.

Fiji were on a bye yesterday after two wins, and they are looking forward to a good win against New Zealand and PNG.

Damalip, the 19-year-old Vanuatu midfielder who plies his trade with Tafea FC in his homeland, scored his side’s first goal in the 25th minute and again found the back of the net in the 44th and 48th minutes.

Defender Kevin Shem scored in the 58th minute with fellow midfielders Jackson Tasso and Philippe Tabilip scoring in the 64th and 88th minutes respectively.

Papua New Guinea’s lone goal came from striker Patrick Aisa in the first minute. 

Vanuatu led 2-1 at half time. 

Vanuatu coach Moise Poida was over the moon with the score line.  

“Happy with the performance to score six goals,” Poida said. “This was the kind of game we came to play. We could have scored more. The results showed that the boys are improving, unfortunately we were not able to find our form in our first two games.”

PNG coach Wesley Waiwai was a disappointed yet content man.

“I am not happy with the score line, but good for the boys … they came here to gain exposure,” he said. “Unfortunately we lost to a good side,” Waiwai said.