Victory a must – Lose and Hekari is out of Champions League

 By HENRY MORABANG

HEKARI must win or they kiss good bye to their 2013 Oceania Championships League semi-final hopes when they take on Amicale at the Port Vila Stadium, in Vanuatu, tomorrow. 

The champion Papua New Gui­nea club have just a single point to show for their effort from the past three outings.

That leaves them with no choice but to go all-out for the win as failure will result in the 2010 champions being forced out at the group stage.

Goal-scoring has been an issue for Hekari. 

They have managed to find the net just once, through Kema Jack, pictured, in the opening match against Fiji’s Ba.  

But the national representative mis­sed a penalty in the loss to Ba on Saturday and will have to find his range quickly if Hekari are to stay alive. 

Hekari will have to keep Amicale’s lethal strike force of Fenedy Ma­sauvakalo and Pape Gueye quiet although the Reds proved they have the ability to score from elsewhere against the Warriors as Alphonse Bongnaim and Dominique Fred got on the score-sheet. 

Hekari’s semi-final hopes are further in tatters after missing key players, Fijian Pita Bolaitoga through a red card, and Koriak Upaiga through injury. 

Amicale are set to be without Samuela Kautoga and Jack Wetney. 

Amicale have made a good start to the campaign and share the Group A lead with Ba after posting two wins and a draw from their three matches. 

They will be keen to keep that unbeaten run going and will hope to turn Port Vila Stadium into a fortress, having defeated Solomon Warriors 2-0 in front of their fanatical fans last Saturday.