2011 South Pacific Games Football - Papua New Guinea

National Flag of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea have made appearances in all bar one (2007) of the previous football tournaments at the South Pacific Games. Although they have never managed to come away with the Gold medal they have had a reasonable amount of success; placing in the top four on five occasions.

They have also entered the 1998 and 2006 World Cups but failed to qualify. In 1998 they advanced to the second round of qualification but were drawn in a difficult group against New Zealand and Fiji and were subsequently knocked out at this stage. As a result of not entering the 2007 South Pacific Games which doubled up as a preliminary qualifying round for Oceania they were disqualified from the further 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

Along with a few other entrants in this year’s South Pacific Games, Papua New Guinea are at the bottom of the FIFA World rankings. This ranking is mainly due to Papua New Guinea having not played a match since the summer of 2007. If they do not play a match within the next month then they risk being removed from the FIFA World rankings.

The team is currently managed by former Australia striker Frank Farina. Farina had a very brief loan spell in England in 1992 with Notts County although he only played 3 games and didn’t score.

Since 1987, Papua New Guinea have failed to progress further than the first round in the Games. Unless they get a very easy draw in the group stages this year, it is unlikely that they will reach the knockout stages due solely to the fact they haven't played a competitive fixture for 4 years.

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2011 South Pacific Games Football - Kiribati

The island nation of Kiribati is one of two nations (alongside Tuvalu) in the South Pacific Games football tournament which are not members of FIFA. They do not therefore have an official FIFA world ranking.

As the national football team has only ever played in 7 competitive matches it is almost impossible to analyse their chances in the forthcoming games. If their last appearance at the Games (in 2003) are anything to go by then they could be in for a rough ride later this summer.

They started the 2003 Games with a narrow 3-2 defeat to Tuvalu and unfortunately for the I-Kiribati (the name given to Kiribati natives) things went quickly downhill from there. They followed up the defeat to Tuvalu with a 7-0 loss to the Solomon Islands, a 12-0 loss to Fiji and finally succumbed to an 18-0 defeat at the hands of Vanuatu.

34 year old midfielder Lawrence Nemeia is Kiribati’s most capped player having earned 5 caps. He is also the top goal scorer thanks to his brace against Tuvalu in the 2003 South Pacific Games. The 2003 Games were in fact the only time Kiribati national team have appeared at the tournament because in 1979 they were represented by one of the islands clubs.

The I-Kiribati will be hoping for a smoother ride in the group stages this year. They are unlikely to have their hopes set on qualifying for the knockout rounds but picking up a win would give the island nation a lot to cheer about. They will be hoping to have a certain amount of luck in the draw for the group stages if they are to pick up their first ever win. Their best hope of 3 points would be against Tuvalu who have a similar footballing history as a nation.

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2011 South Pacific Games Football - Cook Islands

The Cook Islands are one of the smallest FIFA member in terms of population and are currently ranked 190^th in the world alongside Tonga and one place above Djibouti. 

If the example of everyone from American Samoa being able to fit inside Old Trafford with a lot of room to spare came as a surprise to you then your jaw will hit the floor with this fact; the entire population (according to the 2006 census) of the Cook Islands can fit inside Plymouth Argyle’s Home Park. 

If you had to pick a side to compete in such international competition as World Cup qualifying from the crowd at an average Plymouth Argyle home match it is highly unlikely that it would make the World Cup finals. 

So spare a thought for the Cook Islands who have never qualified for a World Cup and only qualified for the group stages of the Oceania Nations Cup twice. 

The Cook Islands first venture into international competition came in 1971 when they played Tahiti. Unfortunately this historic first game ended in a 30-0 defeat and it remains their biggest defeat. 

They have featured in the group stages of the South Pacific Games on three occasions but have never made it past the group stages. Their last appearance at the Games in 2007 saw them finish 4^th in their group of 5 although they did manage to pick up 3 points against Tuvalu in a 4-1 win which is their record biggest win. They were drawn in what was perhaps the toughest group, as the two teams which progressed from it ended up as the two finalists (New Caledonia and Fiji). 

The Cook Islands national stadium

Due to Rugby Union and Rugby League being so popular in the Cook Islands, it has been difficult for football to gain much popularity throughout the country. It is perhaps a case of waiting for the sport to be played by more Cook Islanders before the national team can expect any success in international tournaments, even in smaller tournaments such as the South Pacific Games.

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2011 South Pacific Games Football – American Samoa

At the time of writing American Samoa lay in 202^nd position (equal last) in the FIFA World Rankings; joint bottom with a few fellow pacific island teams.

To give an idea of the size of American Samoa, the entire population could fit inside Old Trafford and there would still be roughly 10,000 seats left to spare. With such a small population it is not surprising that the national football team of the US owned island has made very little impact on the footballing world, if any at all. American sports such as Basketball, Baseball and American Football all enjoy a lot more popularity than football throughout the island and this of course hinders the growth of the sport on the island.

American Samoa are probably best known on the international football circuit for being on the wrong end of the record victory in an international match. They lost 31-0 to Australia in a 2002 World Cup qualification game. The match saw Archie Thompson score 14 goals and David Zdrilic score 8. The match is not a particularly fair reflection on the football ability of the Samoans as many of their first choice players and reserve players could not play due to visa problems upon trying to enter Australia. As a result, Samoa had to field a very young side which even included some 15 year olds who had never played a 90 minute match before.

Rawlston Masaniai, Am.Samoan midfielder

American Samoa have only appeared at 3 South Pacific Games Football tournaments before with a sixth place in 1987 being their best finish. The last games (2007) saw Samoa’s first entry in the football tournament since that sixth place finish in ’87.

In terms of their aims for this year’s tournament; qualification from the group stages would be a success and one which they could use as a platform from which to build on for the future of football in American Samoa.

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2011 South Pacific Games Football – Fiji

In the sporting world, Fiji are best known for rugby rather than football but the game is growing in popularity after some good results at the South Pacific Games and OFC Nations Cup in recent years.

Fiji were the silver medallists in the last South Pacific Games, losing narrowly to New Caledonia. Together with 2007’s winners, they have to be considered one of the favourites for Gold this time around.

The Fijians are currently ranked by FIFA at 156^th (04/05/11) in the World and although they have never qualified for a World Cup, they are a force to be reckoned with in the South Pacific and cannot be taken lightly later this summer. Since the Games began, Fiji have been in the medals no fewer than 7 times. However, they have only gone home with Gold medals twice in their 10 appearances at the Games. 

Roy Krishna

The man who can help make Fiji 3 time winners this year is Roy Krishna; their 23 year old star striker. Krishna plays his club football for Waitakere United in New Zealand and has scored 31 goals in his 58 appearances for the club. His performances have earned him the New Zealand Player of the Year award and he will be hoping he can be the man to guide Fiji to Gold in August.

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2011 South Pacific Games Football - New Caledonia

The football tournament at the South Pacific Games this coming August will consist of three groups of four teams (although currently only 11 teams are confirmed). The top 3 from two groups and the top 2 from the other will qualify for the Quarter-Final stage. From the Quarter-Finals onwards it’s a straight knockout competition just like the World Cup. The teams that finish 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd will also qualify for the next round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

At the last South Pacific Games, held in 2007, New Caledonia won the Gold medal by beating Fiji 1-0.

We’ll be reviewing every team that will be playing at the Games later this summer and the best place to start would be with 2007’s Gold Medal winners; New Caledonia.

New Caledonia

National Flag of New Caledonia

New Caledonia has been an overseas territory of France since 1946 but in 1998 an agreement was reached that would ultimately give power to the island nation itself rather than being fully under the control of France. New Caledonia is an island off the East Coast of Australia, just over 900 miles North-East of Brisbane.

The football team are currently (21/04/11) ranked 151^st in FIFA’s World Rankings which makes them the highest ranked team participating in the upcoming South Pacific Games. It is New Caledonia who are the most successful team ever at the Games, winning it 5 times and having almost always been in the medals (’79 and ’95 being the exceptions) since the Games began in 1963.

Perhaps the best New Caledonian player is Christian Karembeu, who featured in the Premier League for Middlesbrough and he also has the privilege of counting Real Madrid amongst his former clubs. Although Karembeu was born and raised in New Caledonia, he opted to play for France and was part of the French team that won the 1998 World Cup.

All the players in the current New Caledonia national team play their club football in New Caledonia itself and although the team that will feature at the South Pacific Games is yet to be announced, they should be one of the strongest teams there.

Stade Numa-Daly Magenta

As the games as a whole are being held in New Caledonia, the final of the football tournament will be held at the national stadium; Stade Numa-Daly Magenta. The stadia being used for the football matches have capacities of between 600 and 1,000 so Stade Numa-Daly Magenta’s capacity of 16,000 is huge in comparison.

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2011 South Pacific Games

As the final rays of the summer sun wash over Britain (hopefully) at the end of August, a football tournament will be taking place which for some people will be incredibly important. It is likely that the majority of football fans in Britain will never have taken notice of this tournament or even heard of it; The South Pacific Games.

The games, which are very similar to the Olympics albeit on a considerably smaller scale, will be taking place between August 27^th and September 10^th.  The football part of the tournament, which will be followed in as much detail as possible here, will be spread over the two weeks of the games which are being held in Nouméa, New Caledonia.

This brief introduction to the football tournament at the 2011 South Pacific Games will be followed by a preview in the next few days. The more detailed preview will take a look at the 12 national teams who will be competing in Nouméa , how the tournament works and who the favourites are.  To give you some background and an idea of which teams to look out for, a brief look back at the past tournaments will also feature.

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