U20s tie with Samoa

PAPUA New Guinea and Samoa drew 1-1 on day two of the OFC U20 women championships at Mangere Park, Auckland, yesterday.
The drawn result scuttled PNG’s chances for the World Cup in Azerbaijan later this year.
In the earlier game, New Zealand thrashed New Caledonia 10-1 to all book their passage to Azerbaijan.
Max Foster’s girls started on a high note with Sandra Birum, Meagan Gunemba and Gira Chung launching continuous attacks in Samoa territory.
Both teams were scoreless in the opening half.
In the second half, both teams came back strongly trying to make in-roads to a score a goal each.
Gunemba had another chance from a corner kick but was saved by Samoan goalkeeper Vaelua Fautua.
Samoa celebrated the strike wildly in the 67th minute when Lanuola Mulipola tapped the ball into the net after a handling error by PNG goalkeeper Dephne Flinders.
But that exuberance was cut short just seconds later as PNG broke forward straight from the restart and equalised through Sandra Birum.
PNG had two chances to win the match in the dying minutes when Gunemba hit the bar and Birum failed to force the ball into an open goal in quick succession.
 “We almost scored at the end there but the ball just wouldn’t go in,” Foster said.
“We knew Samoa would be physically strong so I told my side to move the ball quickly and be more attacking than in the first match against New Zealand.
“We have to score more goals if we want to win games.”
Samoa counterpart Phineas Young put the concession of his side’s equaliser down to the players’ lack of concentration after taking the lead.
 “I’m happy to have got a draw but we were aiming to have a win,” he said.
“We were a bit too overjoyed after scoring the goal and the next minute PNG went and scored. We were sleeping and let them through.”
Meanwhile, in the U17 girls match today, PNG takes on New Zealand in  a decider for a FIFA U17 women’s world cup spot.