Women ready for historic clash

By PATRICIA KEAMO
THE Papua New Guinea women’s football team are gearing up for a historic match against Panama on Sunday in Auckland, New Zealand, in the inter-confederation playoff for a spot in the Fifa Women’s World Cup.
The match, scheduled for 5pm kickoff (PNG time) at the North Harbour Stadium, will mark the highest level of football PNG has reached, in its quest to qualify for the World Cup.
After four months of preparation between PNG, Australia and New Zealand, head coach Spencer Prior said his side would not be focusing on the results ahead but on how to contain Panama.
“We don’t want to get stuck in thinking too far ahead in the result because if we’re focused on that then we’ll lose concentration in terms of the process and how we want to play,” Prior said.
“Everybody has integrated well including the new players that haven’t been in the national team before.
“The great thing about the new players is that they’ve never been exposed to that sort of environment before but there’s no element of fear within them because they don’t have any expectations which is great.”
While Prior has not named his first 11 for the game, a potential lineup will see Faith Kasiray start as goalkeeper with Lucy Maino leading the defence with assistance from Lavinia Hola, Margaret Joseph and Olivia Upaupa.
Skipper Rayleen Bauelua is expected to direct play in the midfield with help from Rumona Morris and Yvonne Gabong to create opportunities for forwards Charlie Yanding, Calista Maneo and Georgina Kaikas up front. Meanwhile, the head coach said the team had spent time analysing how Panama played and worked strategies on how to contain the team headed by Quintana Ignacio.
If PNG advances past Panama, they will face the winner of Chinese Taipei and Paraguay to battle for one of the three remaining spots in the World Cup.
“If we’re solely focused on trying to dictate Panama, then we’ll be in a position where we don’t have a plan in terms of how we’re going to attack,” Prior said.
“There’s obviously two or three sides to the game so we’ll have to ensure we cover all bases.
“When we go into this game, we want to be super competitive right from the start.”
Prior added that he plans to utilise the entire 23-man squad and not just the starting 11 that will be named possibly the night before PNG’s clash with Panama.
“We’re going to use as many of them as possible if we’re successful to get into the World Cup,” he said ahead of the women’s do-or-die encounter on Sunday.